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I've found the Shein secret of the century – now you won't have to wait weeks for your deliveries ever again

I've found the Shein secret of the century – now you won't have to wait weeks for your deliveries ever again

The Irish Sun5 days ago
A SHOPPING fan has claimed to have discovered the Shein
'secret of the century.'
So if you are fed up with long delivery times when you order clothes from the online retailer, then fear not, you've come to the right place.
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A fashion fan has claimed to have found the 'Shein secret of the century'
Credit: tiktok.com/@nat_albarudi_southern
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So before you place your next order, you'll need to listen up and take notes
Credit: tiktok.com/@nat_albarudi_southern
3
Thanks to Shein Quickship, items will be delivered to your door much faster than normal
Credit: AFP
Natalie Southern, a fashionista from the UK, has found a very simple way that will enable Shein shoppers to get their affordable hauls delivered to their doors in less than a week.
Posting on social media, the
Stunned by her findings after browsing Shein's website, she said: 'Please tell me I'm not the only one who's just realised this on Shein - Quickship.'
Natalie then added: 'Who knew that if you wanted your goods from Shein, there was a section where you can order from Quickship, where your goods come in a number of days rather than a number of weeks.'
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Read more on Shein
Following this, the content creator simply confirmed: 'I didn't.'
Thanks to Shein Quickship, shoppers will see items be delivered to their door in as little as three to five working days.
Shoppers will find a variety of items available under Quickship, including epic clearance deals, with clothes that have been reduced by up to 70%.
Quickship comes at no extra cost to Shein shoppers - but of course, standard shipping fees apply - and there are thousands of great buys to browse and choose from.
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Most read in Fabulous
So if you've got an event coming up soon and don't have time to wait for a new frock, you'll need to check this out - and fast.
Natalie's TikTok clip, which was posted under the username @
Ugly side of fashion giant Shein revealed as retailer slammed by rivals for 'unfair tactics' to keep prices low
It's also amassed 2,926 likes, 188 comments, 596 shares and 4,947 shares.
Social media users were stunned by the little-known
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One person said: 'Thank you for this video! God send.'
I will be using that from now on as I order off Shein all the time
TikTok user
Another added: 'Literally about to make an order!! Thank you, I had no clue this was a thing.'
A third commented: 'Wish I knew this 15mins ago.'
Meanwhile, one Shein shopper wrote: 'I'll be
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What is Shein and is it legit?
Shein is an online-only fast-fashion retailer, based out of China, that has become a number one shopping destination for many around the world.
The company was valued at $66billion in 2023, dwarfing that of popular high street brands Zara and H&M.
The fashion retailer was founded in late 2008, by entrepreneur and marketing specialist Xu Yangtian, also known as Chris Xu.
Shein is a legitimate selling website and is not a phishing scam.
But you may receive a disappointing order or run into shipping issues if you order from the site, according to reviews.
There have been swathes of quality complaints, which makes sense when looking at the price tag.
At the same time, another Shein lover beamed: "I will be using that from now on as I order off
However, one user claimed: "Just had a look. Items are so much dearer."
But to this, Natalie wrote back and confirmed: "But still cheaper than high street shops and I have to be honest, Shein's options are so much better than what I have on my local high street."
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‘The world opens up when you're thin' – The dark truth of extreme thinness ‘Skinnytok' trend targeting girls and teens
‘The world opens up when you're thin' – The dark truth of extreme thinness ‘Skinnytok' trend targeting girls and teens

The Irish Sun

timean hour ago

  • The Irish Sun

‘The world opens up when you're thin' – The dark truth of extreme thinness ‘Skinnytok' trend targeting girls and teens

IF you thought we left diet culture back in the 1990s, think again. Toxic ideas about bodies and weight are creeping back into our lives, and it's clear the lessons of the past haven't sunk in. Advertisement 4 Bobbi McDermott battled anorexia for years 4 Ana B has shared the challenges of the unrealistic pursuit of a perfect body 4 Barry Murphy said that the TikTok algorithm is a systemic issue Leading the charge is social media, with TikTok at the centre of it all. A disturbing trend dubbed SkinnyTok has blown up so much on the app TikTok bosses had to step in and ban the hashtag. Advertisement But that hasn't stopped sneaky variations of it from slipping through the cracks and landing in front of young girls and teens. The trend saw the social media platform, with TWO million Irish users - many of whom are underage despite the 13-year-old age limit - flooded with hundreds of thousands of videos showing weight loss tips that could "promote eating disorders" and "objectification of women's bodies". Both the European Commission and Coimisiún na Meán warned that the trend was promoting "unrealistic body images" and "extreme weight loss". Bobbi McDermott, 42, from Dublin, knows more than most just how insidious "skinny talk" can be. She battled anorexia for years in the era of a comment made by model Kate Moss back in the 2000s that "nothing tastes as good as skinny feels", a comment that the top model has since distanced herself from. Advertisement Bobbi told The Irish Sun: 'This is skinny talk. They glamourise [the weight loss] like it's amazing but they're playing with fire. 'Kate was right for about five minutes until the world shrinks along with your body, and all that is left is pain. "These trends add into that competitive nature and that need for perfection, which is so dangerous for addictions like 'The biggest interest rates in the world are the weight loss industry and the porn industry. "And both of them are designed to take you down and both promote an unhealthy body image. I think it's always going to be there.' Advertisement The English model's comment was heavily criticised in 2009 after it was adopted by a number of pro-anorexia websites. Kate was accused of encouraging eating disorders at the time, and almost a decade later the supermodel said she regretted saying the controversial quote. But years later, skinny talk is back, flooding social media channels with extreme weight loss tips. TikTok chiefs have said the #SkinnyTok searches are now blocked since 'it has become linked to unhealthy weight-loss content'. And now searches for the hashtag lead to a link to Advertisement But searches related to the hashtag 'skinny' are still available on the social media platform with hundreds of thousands of pieces of content related to weight loss. And trends like 'You Don't Need A Treat You're Not A Dog,' 'Skinny is self respect,' 'Being hot and skinny,' 'SK!NNITOK' are still attracting hundreds of thousands of views on TikTok. 'SOCIAL ADDICTION' Bobbi added: 'I think that there should be optional protections that you can put in there. "I personally would go on and ban all these hashtags and I report damaging things that come up. 'And now, thankfully, they do not come up any more because of my algorithm. Advertisement "But [skinny talk] is a social addiction. We're obsessed with how we look. 'I think if we want to fight against or if we want to starve the oxygen out of these trends, we have to push against it with more healthy trends, with more connection to real people, not these people that are, you know, putting on filters, doing angles. 'You fight it back with positive connections, positive stories, positive lifestyles.' 'PRESSURE TO BE SKINNY' She said: 'I have binge eating because of severe anxiety. I've had it since I was a teenager. Advertisement "I was around 15-years-old when I started taking weight loss pills along with laxatives, overexercising, and doing all sorts of things, because when I lived in Brazil, I really wanted to be thin. 'I really felt that pressure to be thin in Brazil. And from that point on, I started developing a binge eating disorder. 'It's still something I carry with me. Now that I'm older, with therapy and self-awareness, I understand it. I know what it is. I'm working on it but it is hard, it's really hard.' Ana has also noted a change in social behaviour - especially online - after the Covid-19 pandemic in which the plus-size bodies were embraced through the lens of body positivity which also reflected in the fashion landscape. But now, five years later, skinny talks are once again dominating the headlines - this time, the Brazilian woman believes it could be driven by the growing popularity of weight-loss drugs. Advertisement Ana added: 'The whole of society embraced the plus-size business, and curvy women, because that's what they were selling. "But today, when you walk into the shops, you can't find plus-size options anymore. 'And then people say it is because 'there's no demand' or come up with other excuses, but to me that's just not true. I genuinely believe it's tied to the pharmaceutical push — there's a lot of money involved. 'Sadly, especially on TikTok, people now feel increasingly comfortable promoting the idea that being thin is the ultimate goal. "There's even a trend going around in the US with people saying: 'I'll never be unhappy, because I'll be thin.' Advertisement 'And what scares me most is the level of engagement – so many likes and so many comments. "People feel more and more free to say these things out loud. 'But I can't even bring myself to blame them — it's a reflection of the world we live in: the fashion industry, beauty standards, society.' The 35-year-old revealed that she underwent bariatric surgery due to health reasons last April, and has lost 15kg since then. 'QUITE CHALLENGING' She added: 'After losing weight through bariatric surgery, I can see how people treat me differently now. Advertisement 'The decision to have bariatric surgery was for health, but from the moment you start to see that the world is easier and people are nicer when you start to lose weight, it is quite challenging. 'The way the world opens up to you when you're thin — it's real. The life of a thin person is way easier than the life of a fat person. Sadly, that's just the reality we're living in.' New data from the Health Service Executive showed that more than 500 people were diagnosed with an eating disorder last year, 118 more diagnoses than in 2023. And there was a 33 per cent increase in referrals for treatment in 2024. Research and Policy Officer with Bodywhys, the Eating Disorders Association of Ireland, Barry Murphy, said that the algorithm is a systemic issue, adding: 'It's like a bad neighbour or someone you did not invite to your family party.' Advertisement He continued: 'The algorithm gets to know our preferences in what we search for and what we access, view, watch and follow. "And the concern with eating disorders is the person might then fall down a rabbit hole of content that ultimately promotes eating disorders. 'The problem with weight-loss-based content is that it really brings up objectification and that your worth is tied up in this part of your appearance when it should be a focus on health and not a particular body type.' SIGNS & SYMPTOMS OF ANOREXIA ACCORDING to the HSE, the main symptom of anorexia is losing more weight than is healthy for your age and height. The full list of signs are: deliberately missing meals, eating very little or avoiding eating any foods you see as fattening lying about what and when you've eaten, and how much you weigh taking medicine that makes you feel less hungry (appetite suppressants) exercising too much making yourself sick using medicines to help you poo (laxatives) or to make you pee (diuretics) to try to avoid putting on weight an overwhelming fear of gaining weight strict rituals around eating seeing losing a lot of weight as a positive thing believing you are fat when you are a healthy weight or underweight not admitting your weight loss is serious He added: 'You can see problems with TikTok linked to eating disorders going back as far as 2020. "There are some long-term issues there that clearly haven't been fully addressed. Advertisement "They need to look at the algorithm from a risk perspective, so to identify the harms, to assess them and then ultimately report on them, so being more transparent with what's going on. 'And individually, people need to be careful where they get validation from, particularly if it is online, because online is very fleeting.' Over one million units of illegal medicines were detained by the The HPRA also noted an upward trend in detentions of GLP-1 products - medications used to treat type 2 In a statement, a spokesperson said: 'The HPRA confirmed that it detained 1,000,984 dosage units of falsified and other illegal medicines in 2024. Advertisement 'The data highlights that anabolic steroids, sedatives and erectile dysfunction products are consistently the most detained categories of medicines year on year. 'While overall numbers remain low, 1,582 units of GLP-1 products were detained in 2024 compared to 568 units in 2023 and just 40 units in 2022." An estimated 188,895 people in Ireland will experience an eating disorder at some point in their lives, according to Bodywhys. And one in 20 people across the country will experience an eating disorder in their lifetime. BODYWHYS provides a non-judgmental and confidential support and information service to anyone experiencing an eating disorder. You can get in touch at (01) 270 7906 or alex@ 4 TikTok has blocked the search results for #SkinnyTok since 'it has become linked to unhealthy weight loss content' Credit: AFP

I was on Universal Credit but just won £10k a month on Set For Life, I've made a £17k swanky buy but there is a downside
I was on Universal Credit but just won £10k a month on Set For Life, I've made a £17k swanky buy but there is a downside

The Irish Sun

time2 hours ago

  • The Irish Sun

I was on Universal Credit but just won £10k a month on Set For Life, I've made a £17k swanky buy but there is a downside

MANY people dream of winning the lottery, but for Olivia Love, who was on Universal Credit at the time, it has just become a reality. While some would be hesitant to broadcast the news , Olivia and her hubby Kevin have been speaking out about the 5 In June, Olivia Love, pictured with husband Kevin, won £10,000 a month for a year on Set for Life Credit: ALAN PEEBLES PHOTOGRAPHY 5 Now Olivia has done a Q&A video opening up about her winnings Credit: TikTok / @mrsolivialove Olivia and Kevin, from Glasgow, bagged £10,000 a month for the next 12 months, which works out as £120,000 in total, thanks to The National Lottery's Set for Life, and have already been enjoying splashing the cash. The delighted prize winner did a Q&A video this week giving some more information about how it has been so far, since winning in June. Olivia shared on her money went into my account the following Thursday. 'It is a standing order so it comes into my account on the same day every month.' More on the lottery SPLASHING OUT Many people fantasise about the first thing they'd buy if they won a jackpot and Olivia revealed her initial expense. She continued: 'I was on my way to the hairdressers when the money actually reached my account. 'So I pulled over, took some cash out of the machine to pay the hairdresser.' However, Olivia has since made some larger purchases too, and revealed the most expensive item she has bought so far. Most read in Fabulous She shared: 'I bought my husband a new car and that came to about £17,000-18,000. 'I can't remember the specifics of it, but we did buy him a Vauxhall Corsa.' Homeless man scores 'life-changing' $1m lottery jackpot - but winner facing 'very thorough vetting process' FIRST BIG HOLIDAY Recently, she documented her family's "first holiday as lottery winners" to North Wales with their four kids and Kevin's parents. They hired a stunning four-bedroom 17th century farmhouse for the week and spent just £2,202.06 in total including car rental, food, and accommodation. The draw took place on the Thursday evening, I found out on the Friday morning and the money went into my account the following Thursday Olivia Love And Olivia, who previously had to 'budget every penny,' has defended her decision to staycation in the UK instead of splashing the cash on a long-haul flight to an exotic destination. While enjoying the sunshine in her Welsh garden, she said: "To everyone that said 'why aren't you going to like the Maldives? You've won the lottery'. It's like 32 degrees and I'm in North Wales . Who needs the Maldives when you have this? "We're in a beautiful old farmhouse. It's just so stunning.' 5 Olivia has quit her job at a local supermarket and hopes to build her dream career in wedding content creation Credit: ALAN PEEBLES PHOTOGRAPHY QUIT HER JOB Olivia, 36, was also able to quit her job at a local supermarket and hopes to build her dream career in wedding content creation thanks to the massive tax-free prize. Before this, the mum-of-four was earning just £800 a month working in a Not only this, but she was also on Universal Credit to subsidise her eye-watering £1,800-a-month 5 Olivia revealed she did six lucky dips at £1.50 each on the app - with one of them winning her prize Credit: Tiktok/@mrsolivialove LIFE-CHANGING MOMENT Set For Life offers a top prize of £10,000 a month for 30 years when the five main numbers and the Life Ball are matched. Players can also win £10,000 a month for a whole year by matching the five main numbers. Olivia revealed she did six lucky dips at £1.50 each on the app, with one of them bagging the second tier prize of the cash for a year. She's never played her own numbers, explaining: 'I've always had the fear that if you did play your own numbers the one time you didn't play it, that would be the time your numbers came in.' I bought my husband a new car and that came to about £17,000-18,000 Olivia Love She was shocked when she received an email from The National Lottery team at 12.33am on May 16 June that changed everything for this couple. The winning numbers in the draw were: 03, 27, 42, 45, 46, plus Life Ball 06. Before she won, she had been playing sporadically for four to five months and would play when she had the 'notion to do it.' And despite winning, she still hasn't stopped buying lucky dips 'from time to time.' 5 Olivia had been on Universal Credit to subsidise her eye-watering £1,800-a-month childcare costs Credit: Tiktok/@mrsolivialove DOWNSIDE While buying items like her hubby's car has brought her 'so much joy', there are some downsides to the winnings. Olivia has had people message her to beg for money, with one saying: 'Can I have like £20,000 to pay my debts off?' I've always had the fear that if you did play your own numbers the one time you didn't play it, that would be the time your numbers came in Olivia Love As a result, the Lottery winner said: "I've got my dms very closed.' Since going public with her win, Olivia has hilariously joked about wiping away fake tears with £20 notes in response to cruel comments from trolls. However, she said it has changed her life for the better, saying: 'I feel like I can be more present now. Enjoy more moments. 'The stress I felt before stopped me enjoying the little things.' What are my chances of winning the lottery? EVERYONE wants to know how to beat the odds and win the lottery. But unfortunately, the lottery is a game of luck and there are no tips or tricks that can guarantee you'll take home a top prize. The odds show how likely you are to win any particular prize - the lower the number, the better the odds. For example, odds of 1 in 10 are better than odds of 1 in 100 or 1 in 1,000. There are several major lottery games in the UK including Lotto by the National Lottery, Camelot's EuroMillions and Thunderball. Chances of winning the Lotto Lotto by the National Lottery is a game where you pick six numbers from 1 to 59. You can play up to seven lines of numbers on each slip. The game costs £2 to play per slip. The odds of winning any prize on the Lotto are 1 in 9.3. But to win the jackpot on the Lotto, the odds are considerably slimmer. To bag the top prize, you need to have six matching balls. The odds of doing this and scooping the jackpot are currently 1 in 45,057,474. The next highest prize of £1,000,000 is for getting five main matching balls plus the bonus ball. The odds of taking home the million pound prize are 1 in 7,509,579 - far higher than the jackpot, but still unlikely. The odds of taking home £1,750 for getting five main numbers without the bonus ball are 1 in 2,180, while you have a 1 in 97 chance of bagging £140 for getting four main numbers. Your chances of taking home £30 for getting 3 main numbers are much better at 1 in 97. And you have a roughly 1 in 10 chance of getting a free lucky dip for 2 matching numbers. Chances of winning the EuroMillions The EuroMillions costs £2.50 to play and is open on Tuesdays and Fridays. To play, you must pick five numbers from 1-50 and two "Lucky Stars" from 1-12. Players with the most matching numbers win the top prizes. Your chance of bagging the EuroMillions jackpot is even slimmer than winning the top Lotto prize. This is because it generally has higher jackpots on offer, meaning it attracts more attention. Currently, the odds of matching five numbers and two lucky stars - the top win - stand at 1 in 139,838,160. The average jackpot prize is £57,923,499, according to EuroMillions. The odds of winning the second top prize for matching 5 balls and a lucky star, which is typically around £262,346, are 1 in 6,991,908. The chances of taking home the third prize for five matching balls, with an average payout of £26,277, are 1 in 3,107,515. For four matching balls with two lucky stars, it's 1 in 621,503, and for four balls with one lucky star, it's 1 in 31,076. These come with an average prize of £1,489 and £95, respectively. Chances of winning the Thunderball Thunderball is another game run by National Lottery where you pick five numbers and one "Thunderball". It costs just £1 to play and you can enter up to four times a week. The jackpot of £500,000 for matching five balls plus the Thunderball is 1 in 8,060,598. Your odds of bagging the next highest prize of £5,000 for matching five balls is currently 1 in 620,046, while the chances of winning £250 for four balls plus the Thunderball is 1 in 47,416. You have the best chance of winning £3 for matching the Thunderball, with odds of 1 in 29.

Midfielder, manager, meme: The many faces of Roy Keane
Midfielder, manager, meme: The many faces of Roy Keane

Irish Examiner

time11 hours ago

  • Irish Examiner

Midfielder, manager, meme: The many faces of Roy Keane

ONCE upon a time in Cork, a baby was born who would grow up to terrify not just opposition midfielders, but also his own teammates, his managers, and presumably the postman if he happened to take pause and congratulate himself on doing an honest day's work (It's his job!!). His name was Roy Keane. It's almost impossible to imagine he was once a baby, but a baby he presumably was. Once. That Roy Keane was the embodiment of a certain kind of '90s masculinity: The clenched jaw, the permanent scowl, the gait of a man who has just discovered his pint is off. He wore his rage like a birthmark. And woe betide anyone who crossed him. Patrick Vieira learned this the hard way in the Highbury tunnel, in a scene that resembled less a pre-match meet-and-greet and more the opening of a particularly gritty Scorsese movie. This Roy Keane was small in stature but had the presence of a colossus. In a glorious era for midfielders, he was — to my mind at least — the best. In his pomp, he was a joy to watch, but like nitroglycerine to handle. You worried for him the way you worried for a prodigal son. Roy Keane as a Sky Sports pundit. Picture: Naomi Baker/Getty A late-night phone call could mean many things: A man-of-the-match performance at the San Siro; a reverse-charges SoS from a police station in Salford; a request for 20 quid to be posted over to Manchester. Believing in Keane the footballer was easy. Trusting Keane, the young man, was much harder, mostly because we had no clue who he was. For years, Keane's aura was that of a man who might physically disintegrate if he so much as smiled. It simply wasn't done. Smiling was for the soft. If you wanted warmth, you could go sit by a radiator. Keane was here to win football matches — and possibly the moral high ground — by any means necessary. There is one clip from the evening he won the PFA Footballer of the Year award for the 1999/2000 season where, with literally no other options available to him, the shape of his mouth betrays him, and his face contorts into what would be ruled by any credible court of body language a human smile. That's my only recollection of him ever doing it outside of the act of a teammate scoring a goal. But time, that great equaliser, eventually gets even the fiercest of midfield generals. And so, here we are in 2025, looking at Roy Keane — still with the beard, still with the occasional glint of menace — but now one of the most beloved figures in sports media. A man who has, almost accidentally, become a sort of national treasure. And not just a national treasure at home here in Ireland, but, weirdly, in a transcendent nod to improved Anglo-Irish relations, the UK, too. How did this happen? What alchemy transformed Keane from the most combustible footballer of his generation to the man whose every withering remark on Sky Sports is immediately clipped, shared, and immortalised on TikTok by teenagers too young to remember him two-footing Alf-Inge Haaland into next month? To understand Keane, we must first understand ourselves. And since that's never going to happen, best sit back, relax, and happily join me in the surface-level deconstruction of the most fascinating Irish public figure since — you've guessed it — Michael Collins. Roy Keane, the Midfield Magician Roy Keane was never content to play football in the same way the rest of us played: As a hobby, a lark, or a means of justifying a curry afterwards. No, Keane treated every match as a moral referendum. Either you were up to the standard, or you were a disgrace to the shirt, the city, and possibly humanity itself. It was this intensity that powered Manchester United through the greatest years of their modern era. You think Keane was happy to win? No. Happiness was for people who didn't want to win the next game. Satisfaction was weakness. He was, in his own way, a sort of footballing monk — celibate not in the usual sense, but from joy itself. Roy Keane as Manchester United in 1999. Picture: INPHO/ALLSPORT There were signs that it was not ever thus. In the early years for Nottingham Forest, Ireland, and United, there were moments when the mask slipped, and the Mayfield kid was exposed. The over-the-top-of-the-shoulders celebration was a surrender to momentary joy, which lasted seconds. The rest was fury. Alex Ferguson, no stranger to darkness himself, eventually found Keane's relentless standards too much to endure. Their split was less amicable divorce and more Sid and Nancy. And Roy, naturally, saw nothing strange about this. He expected the same from everyone else that he demanded of himself: Total commitment and, ideally, no smiling. Both his exits — from Saipan, and later from United — were 'Where were you when' moments of tragic history. I recall leaving a college exam early to use a phone box in order to call a friend and confirm the news. I had no credit. That would've disgusted Keane. 'No credit? Give me a break.' Everyone remembers the night in Turin. For those of us who were really paying attention though, there were equally impressive nights in Bolton, Stoke, Newcastle, and Leeds. Roy Keane did not discriminate. He was an equal opportunity destroyer. Roy Keane, the Manager Having spent years glaring at people for a living, Keane took up managing them, first with Sunderland and then Ipswich. And while his record was respectable, the stories emerging were of a man bewildered by mere mortals who didn't share his evangelical zeal. One anecdote has it that when a Sunderland player dared to show up late to training, Keane simply turned his car around and drove home. Because if they couldn't be bothered, neither could he. This is known in management circles as 'sending a message,' but in Keane's case, it was likely much less performative in its motive, and just a very practical expression of disgust. Roy Keane as Republican of Ireland manager in 2017. Picture: Niall Carson/PA Wire Another tale recounts Roy sitting in the canteen, glowering into a cup of tea while young professionals crept past like mice in a haunted house. 'Good morning,' they'd squeak, and he'd nod imperceptibly, as if granting them a reprieve from execution. But even Roy must have sensed he was not built for the modern game's mood enhancers and sports psychologists. So, he drifted away from the dugout and into something altogether less obvious: punditry. Roy Keane, the Accidental Comedian The early signs were unpromising. Here was a man so famously laconic he once made Ryan Giggs look like Graham Norton. Surely, he'd be a disaster in front of the cameras. And yet somehow it worked. Because, in an age of bland punditry, Keane was refreshingly honest. He didn't do hyperbole. He didn't do platitudes. He'd watch a half-hearted back-pass, scowl, and pronounce it 'shocking'. Or he'd hear the suggestion that a player needed an arm around the shoulder and look as though he was about to call security. Soon enough, Sky Sports realised they'd struck gold. Keane didn't just provide analysis — he provided theatre. Stick him next to Micah Richards, the permanently giddy labrador of the studio, and you had the perfect double act: Micah cackling, Roy sighing with existential despair. It was like watching an old married couple — if one half of the couple believed the other should be dropped from the squad. One particularly telling moment came when Richards declared that he 'loved football'. Keane responded with an arched eyebrow and the words, 'You love football, yeah? I love winning.' It was the most Keane sentence ever uttered. And yet, paradoxically, the more unimpressed he appeared, the more we loved him for it. Roy Keane, The Redemption In any other sphere of life, this would be called a 'rebrand'. But Keane is too sincere, too committed to his principles to consciously rebrand. What's happened instead is a sort of collective reappraisal. We've all decided that he was right all along, even if we'd never survive 10 minutes in his company. Because the modern footballer — cocooned, pampered, massaged — stands in such contrast to Keane's old-school values that watching him skewer them has become such a cathartic respite from a reality spent surfing LinkedIn, seeing the worst of everybody. He is anti-performative. A Beckettian masterpiece. He doesn't scream 'Look at me/Don't look at me' like so many public-facing narcissistic men often do, instead he says, 'What the fuck are you looking at?' On prime-time TV. In doing so, the man once synonymous with football's darker impulses — rage, spite, retribution — has become the game's conscience. He is the last link to a time when men drank pints after training and tackled as if their mortgage depended on it. He has become, dare I say it, a role model. Just one you cannot turn your back to. Roy Keane, the Meme If you'd told a younger Roy Keane that one day he'd be immortalised in memes, he'd have looked at you with the same expression he reserved for a young Gary Neville. But memes are the currency of modern fame, and, accidentally or otherwise, Roy is minted. There he is, his face contorted in disgust, captioned: 'When someone says they 'gave it 110%.'' Or sitting with his arms folded, the unspoken louder than a vuvuzela: 'Just do your bloody job.' Teenagers who never saw him play nowadays know him only as The Angry Bearded Man. And in a way, that's a triumph. Because if there's one thing Roy would appreciate, it's consistency. Whether he's breaking up play or breaking the nose of a lippy pseudo-hard man in a Cheshire pub, he's never pretended to be anything he's not. Authenticity, that's his superpower. Roy Keane, The Softening You might be tempted to believe, watching Roy gently chuckle at Ian Wright's gags, that he's mellowed. But I suspect he's just found a new outlet. Once, his rage-fuelled tackles. Now, it fuels soundbites and viral clips. And occasionally — only occasionally — he lets the mask slip. You see him talk about Cork, about family, about his dogs. About the things he genuinely hates, like smiling, parties, fireworks, and leaf blowers. Murdo McLeod's 2002 portrait of Roy Keane is one of the artworks featured in the Crawford Art Gallery's 'Now You See It...' exhibition. Picture used with permission from the Crawford Art Gallery And for a fleeting moment, you glimpse a gentler Roy, the man behind the scowl. Then someone suggests a player 'had a good game despite losing 3-0', and the eyebrow shoots back up, the voice goes higher than a Jordan Pickford clearance, and you remember he is a man of standards. He is, and always will be, Roy Keane. Less a pundit than an elemental force, reminding us that standards matter, that excuses are for losers, and that nobody should ever, ever smile when they're 2-0 down. Roy Keane, the (reluctant) National Treasure There's a temptation to assume Roy secretly enjoys all this adulation. The podcasts. The live appearances. An upcoming movie. But it seems more likely that he endures it in the same way he endured team-building exercises: With stoic resignation. And that, really, is the secret of his charm. He hasn't changed as much as the world around him has. We've softened. So has he, but not much. And in our cosseted modernity, he's the last authentic holdout, grumbling from the sofa, refusing to tolerate mediocrity. It's what makes him special. It's why a generation who never watched him harangue the otherwise untouchable Eric Cantona now hang on his every word. And it's why — though he'd scoff at the idea — he has become something well beyond beloved. He is essential. And finally…Roy Keane, the Metaphor Roy Keane's evolution is proof of two things. That time does funny things to a man's reputation and that we love truth tellers in hindsight. From a safe distance. Preferably behind a screen, or on a stage, where our own insecurities are hidden, safe from prosecution. But if Roy has taught us anything (other than the fact that he's ultimately right about everything), it's that sometimes the truth hurts. And sometimes the truth comes with a Cork accent, a magnificent beard, and a look that says: 'I'm not angry. I'm just disappointed.' Which, if you know Roy Keane, is roughly the same thing. Read More Roy Keane: England players were having a chat like they were in Starbucks

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