 [Blog] In Support of Town and KeaneWritten by Karl_Fuller on Tuesday, 4th May 2010 13:48 So we have finally reached the end of a bitterly disappointing season and for 99.9% of us, we are glad it has come to an end and we can say goodbye to 2009/10 and desperately hope for something to click in 2010/11. You would have to go back a long way to find a season as poor/difficult/frustrating/sterile to test your support of the team to the limit, a limit that only real supporters will stretch to in the only business that the product provider can get away with enticing hard-earned monies from its buyer and offer such poor value in return in the knowledge that its customer will always come back for more. It is indeed a funny old game! On reflection, I draw two parallels with seasons of yesteryear. I have read and heard people say that we have just had the worst season since the John Duncan era. I would not disagree with this as performances and results at times have not been much better and the similarity in what few highlights can be found in both eras can be unearthed in exciting prospects as Dalian Atkinson and Chris Kiwomya back then akin to Connor Wickham and say Billy Clark, Tom Eastman or Shane O'Connor now. But perhaps the last mirrored season of 2009/10 was in 1990/91. On both occasions we had a new manager with each having had success at a United before coming to Town. Both then created history in overseeing the most number of draws in a season in their first full seasons in charge which led to two disappointing first terms finishing mid-table. In the following season and back then with a David Linighan in the side, Town went on to win the league and with a David Linighan look-a-like hopefully pushing on next season, here is where I would hope that history might just repeat itself one step further. John Lyall though of course was a great manager with bags of experience who on his day could be temperamental and that was not always the priority of the scavengers from the national media looking to feed off scraps of nothing more than what happens day in and day out in most football clubs I would imagine. Roy Keane of course does not have the experience, but like Lyall, will have had to continue to build his early managerial career somewhere and for now it is at our club. The major difference that Roy has to endure with today's media is that every breath, word and movement he makes is enveloped and microscoped and recreated to portray a man of negativity, arrogance and hatred that is attaining contempt from more and more followers of ITFC. I am not saying that this is wrong after all, we are all entitled to our opinions and I respect most of what is being said or written by the fellow Town fan. Keane no doubt makes it hard on himself, this we have learnt first hand throughout the season. Some will confess that they knew that trouble would find us from day one of his appointment. But in truth, reading between various postings on here, listening to fans on phone-ins and talking to friends in general, the negative comments a year ago were very few and far between and if I personally believed all that I read and saw, then I would have been brainwashed into believing that promotion would be automatic. I'm sorry to have to say that I believe some were not too far short of exactly this. It was never going to be that simple! I organised a testimonial last summer for a player of my local football club and ITFC sent a side to play in this match and on the day, I had a call from Keane's secretary telling me that he would be attending the game and could I make various arrangements for him. Subsequently, none of the arrangements in place were required and I soon concluded that here was a man that was very self-focused, did not want to integrate into the hospitality accorded to him and his staff and this set an opinion into my mind that will last forever of the character we have managing our football club at present. Whether my opinion is right or wrong, it's not relevant and does not matter. However, amidst the cries of 'bring back Burley' that were hard to find the day he was sacked following a miserable Tuesday night defeat at Grimsby or amidst the tittle tattle of how Joe Royle would have done an excellent job with the money that Keane has had when some did not want him in the first place, Keane is our current manager and like many others before him, he represents our club and whilst doing so, he will have my 100% support. I do understand why he will not have that of others, football is a game of opinions. But you only have to listen to home fans when Town are playing away when they bait Roy Keane. Does this not show a release of some kind of pre-conceived fear or respect? Like it or not, Keane is a figure in the game that is hated and just now is at Ipswich Town. Mourinho is hated in the game, as too are Rooney, Beckham and Drogba, the list goes on. All disliked characters by someone or other but all characters that any supporter would love to have involved at their club. I'm not saying Keane will come good at Ipswich but I know that long after he has left the club, they'll be more wishing that he was still with us than not once we have descended back into obscurity away from the media spotlight. Perhaps though some would prefer that 'Sleepy Suffolk' attitude that makes Portman Road the cauldron of noise - not! Keane is a difficult and frustrating character to get behind I'll admit, but in my 32 years of being a fan, Ipswich Town with their cup semi-final defeats, runners-up finishes, automatic promotion failures, play-off semi-final defeats, relegations and more, have been equally frustrating and difficult, but they are my club - my team, and my support has never waivered through those difficult times. Roll on 2010/11 and get behind Keane. I personally believe he will be in the job one more year at least and while he is so, we should accept it. Marcus Evans will not change his mind for better or worse on the say so of you or I. Therefore, to not be behind Keane would mean to want another season like we've just had would it not? Now find me a real Town fan who wants another one of those! Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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