The former striker - more well known for his time in America than in his native Newcastle - has never been one to mince his words, and his autobiography makes Roy Keane's latest bitter account look like a Mr Men book. When publicising the book, Cannell gave an interview to Black And White Daft in which he explained that he had a fairly volatile relationship with Bill McGarry, who was in charge for a disastrous run at Newcastle. He had been brought in as a disciplinarian, as Player Power had been an issue, and that clearly clashed with Cannell, who got in trouble for telling everyone what he thought of the boss:
"F*cking Bill McGarry, the tw*t. Id been to America on loan in 1976 and did pretty well and came back and thats when Gordon Lee had taken over, so I played regularly for a couple of seasons. And then Bill McGarry came in, and I f*cking hated him. I was doing a talk-in and they asked what I thought of Bill McGarry. And I said 'Put it this way, if I was on the 50th floor of a sky scraper threatening to jump and he came to talk me down, Id f*cking dive!' I said that I hated him and someone went and told him. He pulled me and said 'We don't get on do we?'"
