Outnumbering the Shamrocks : The Autobiography of Kevin Kilbane (Book)

Kevin Kilbane is Ireland's most capped outfield footballer, with 102 appearances for his country, including 52 consecutive matches to date. As a result, in Ireland he is nothing less than a folk hero. This is his autobiography and a proper life story, rather than the bland musings of so many 20-year-old Premiership stars who have done nothing but play football. Kilbane has played top-flight football for a number of clubs: Preston, West Bromwich Albion, Sunderland, Wigan, and now Hull where he still enjoys Premier League action, and from which he has plenty of stories about their eccentric manager Phil Brown. His Ireland career includes his country's controversial recent exit from the World Cup at the hands literally of Thierry Henry. His upbringing was difficult: a hardscrabble childhood in an Irish immigrant family dominated by an unstable, alcoholic father a grim and often shocking tale. Nowadays playing football is not the exclusive focus of his life: besides increasingly making a name for himself as a thoughtful and sensitive analyst on the game, he gives as much time and support as he can to the Down's Syndrome Association, as the parent of a daughter with Down's.