BOOK REVIEW Rio avoids biggest issue in his second attempt to reveal all

NOWADAYS THE career of a Premier League footballer barely needs to be started before he ‘reveals all’ in a book that has ever so cleverly been titled by his Sky Sports-christened wacky nickname.

So Rio Ferdinand should be given some credit for the fact that he waited until the last few years of his career before releasing an autobiography, plus maybe a little because he incorporated a hashtag into his title - #2sides.

However, there is not much else to get excited about in this book, ghost written by David Winner. The first thing to note is that this is a re-release, in paperback form, of Ferdinand’s 2014 book of the same name.

It doesn’t necessarily follow the same pattern as a typical autobiography would. Indeed, much of it isn’t actually about Ferdinand himself; instead he chooses to focus on big names he’s played with, or against, during his career.

The former Manchester United, West Ham and QPR player comes across reasonably well. While he doesn’t seem to take himself too seriously, his laid-back attitude leads to problems within the book, including rambling on one side of an argument only to flip and try to balance out what he previously said in the next few pages.

Maybe it’s an attempt not to offend anyone, and if that’s the plan then he does it pretty well. What he doesn’t do well is deal with one of the biggest moments of his career - apart from brief mentions in passing, the missed drugs test that landed him with an eight-month ban is absent.

How someone can release an autobiography, without dealing with the biggest issue he faced in his career, beggars belief. Okay, the book jumps and skips certain other events, but the highlights on the field are all in there.

Like some other books written in this style, the level of English is not exactly complex. Of course, adults can read anything but the whole book leaves the impression that it’s aimed at a younger audience, which probably devalues its use as an autobiography.

There are mistakes littered throughout also. Some are edit-related, while some are lazy changes that weren’t made with consistency in the re-released paperback version (2 million Twitter followers quickly turns into 6.3 million).

The sucking up to Louis van Gaal is quite hilarious, given what’s gone down in the two years since. To be fair to Ferdinand, he chose not to edit that, like he could have when bringing out the paperback version.

He also uses the old adage of the tough games in the Premier League being the reason why their international team underperforms in the summer tournaments, giving his opinion that the other top leagues are not as taxing.

There’s a chapter on Roy Keane for Irish United fans to get their teeth into. There are chapters on Ronaldo and Messi, Frank Lampard, Paul Scholes and, of course, Mr. Ferguson, although the foreword is somewhat surprisingly written by Harry Redknapp.

Ferdinand was at United for over a decade so obviously their massive fan base is a target market. Even his name is in red caps on the cover, screaming out to fans of the Old Trafford club.

When deciding whether to buy this book or not, the general sports fan is probably best off taking a leaf out of Rio’s approach to drug testing and maybe giving this one a miss. DEAN GOODISON Visit The Book Centre on Wexford’s Main Street for the very best selection of sports books.