When Chris McGale personally pitched his new memoir, The Million Dollar Irishman, to Christopher Little, JK Rowling’s literary agent, Little cut him short by saying, “Oh, no, not another Irish sob story.”
He must not have heard the whole tale because, in fact, McGale, in his own retelling, is more Michael Douglas in Wall Street than Frank McCourt in Angela’s Ashes, and the melancholic mood music that Little feared is soon drowned out by a deafening cacophony of champagne glasses clinking and cha-ching sounds.
The former Merrill Lynch head honcho frequently says things like “I dominated people with an attitude” or “I was the star player on the team” or “I was betting more in a week than the price of a house in Omagh.” The book is replete with his wagers and winnings, the big business deals he cut and his millions in earnings. His catchphrase was, “I’m Chris McGale, who the f**k are you?”