SAS: First Man Through The Door

SAS: First Man Through The Door is the true and gripping account of the scrap during the Sierra Leone civil war between the rebel force of the RUF and Britain's (perhaps the world's) most elite force, the SAS. It's straight from the horse's mouth and in this instance, the horse is ex SAS soldier Vinnie Keane.

Names, times and identities have obviously been changed to protect the soldiers who are still serving and have since left the Regiment. Unfortunately, the Ministry of Defence, in all their wisdom, have banned its release due to their fear of the "snowball effect" it "may" have on other SAS soldiers.

The fuss is about Vinnie Keane, one of the most dedicated and honest soldiers in the UKSF Regiment, who gives his account of the battle with some mentalist rebels calling themselves the West Side Boys during the battle for the release of British soldier hostages in Gberi Bana.

This place was a rebel stronghold during the Sierra Leone civil war and the West Side Boys grabbed a unit of Irish Rangers who, for some strange reason, decided to try and parlez with them.

I'm not allowed to disclose anything Vinnie has told me about the raid even though all the details other than his own personal scrap and his kills, are freely available in all bookshops and have been shown on loads of TV stations.

I did a piece on Channel 5's Special Forces Heroes, which was shown as part of a series of SAS raids where the Paras on the very same mission divulged lots of "secrets" Vinnie had kept out of the book, yet they were freely available and willing to spill the beans.

The word mockery springs to mind. Anyway, one day I'm sure it will become available to the general public once Mainstream, the publishers, decide to do something about it and make a challenge. But I won't be holding my breath.

SAS: How Hard Can It Be?

Vinnie's second book.

We're still in negotiations over this one but again, it should be ready once the 'I's and 'T's have been dealt with accordingly. If you look on Waterstone's web site you'll see more information.

Sir Alex, United & Me

With a foreword from Sir Alex Ferguson, this book promised to be a cracker. And it was, although fans of some former players beware. I do attack one of them.

If you can still get hold of it then please don't as I believe the publishers still owe me money.

I intend to give it a rewrite as soon as I get the time and I shall also correct all the spelling mistakes those jokers at Empire decided to put in. Hopefully that will redress the balance a little.

The book will be called I Was There When We Were Crap, just as it should have been in the first place ( I swayed under publisher pressure). I'll keep you updated as and when but it won't be in the very near future.

NEW VENTURES:

Stanley's Final Glory: A football background helped me with this one, as did all the days spent at the Manchester United Library when I was researching I Was There When We Were Crap.

The Book All Football Fans Must Have: Something for the dads here. Watch this space.

Meanwhile, I'm working on another book about the Manchester underworld. The working title is Crhyme & Treason and it's coming along nicely. It's a novel surrounding the car theft and drug smuggling trade and locations are drawn from and easily recognised as many Old Trafford and Manchester spots.

I have a load more pics of the car and things going on with the house when I lived there and I'll stick them up here as and when. If you're ever passing through Partington, have a look at the third last house on the left as you're travelling out towards Dunham.

In the front garden (the thin strip to the side of the house) is a dip in the lawn. This is where all those Manchester United players' boots are buried! As you'll be aware if you're a returning visitor to the site, it is undergoing a revamp and should be ready soon.

Bear with me, it'll be worth it. Thanks for your patience.

Naughty Neighbours?

There was a hilarious time when I lived in Partington with my kid brothers, Rod and Fabes, and we drove the silly neighbours barmy with a couple of objects d'art.

The GGOOOODD neighbours loved what we did and it put little Partington on the world map. I never meant it to – it was quite by accident.

One minute there I was, happily hanging a cooker on my wall and planting a car in my garden and the next I had the world's media knocking my door and calling my phone.

I couldn't believe the fuss they were making about a car I'd elevated by 90 degrees and a cooker I'd raised by six feet. That's all I did – nothing more. It just goes to show you, when there's no news, anything will do.

It got to the stage where I had busloads of Japanese, Germans, Aussies, you name it, turning up outside the house and taking snaps of it, or the more daring of them would knock the door and ask me to pose for them. It was great.

And then the telly got involved with the silliness. First on the scene were Granada Reports who did a funny piece with Lucy Meacock punning at every turn.

Then there was Kilroy (remember him, the orange man from telly) who tried his best to make me argue with his dickhead other guests who were "at war" with their bad neighbours.

It was ludicrous. Channel 4's Cutting Edge, crew then did a bit (apparently I was a neighbour from hell) and before I knew it the Manchester Evening News was on the blower asking me if I'd be their inaugural "Legend Of Manchester" for their bi-weekly mag. Course I would.

And there was more radio than I can remember. All very silly and all very much "what's the fuss?" But it did make me laugh. And to prove it, look here.