ON THE back of four wins in five games under Paul Jewell, it would be very easy to lay into Roy Keane and criticise what many would consider to be his failure with Ipswich Town.

Yet, it could be argued that the Blues would not be playing anything like they are right now without the influence of Keane.

During Jim Magilton's reign in charge of Ipswich, you would often leave Portman Road with a feeling of disappointment, in that the players just simply did not look to have put much effort into a game they had lost. The 3-0 defeat to Southampton springs to mind.

Furthermore, Town looked lightweight and not physical enough to match the likes of Wolves and Stoke – both of whom are now playing in the Premier League.

All that changed when Keane arrived.

You could clearly see the stark change in the mentality of the team. Some might even say they looked fitter and more up for the battle. It is true that much of the passing, attractive, 'Ipswich-way' football went straight out of the window – but nobody could ever blame the team for a lack of effort.

Under Keane, David Norris began to flourish. His hard-working, combative midfield play made him the prime candidate for the captaincy of a Roy Keane side.

Then came Grant Leadbitter, Carlos Edwards and Mark Kennedy – players that were not afraid to put in a shift. Indeed, let's not forget Luke Hyam who was brought through and handed a début by Keane.

However, Ipswich Town and Roy Keane were destined to fail. Not because of any fault on the part of either, but simply because they just were not compatible.

Compatibility does not look to be an issue with Jewell. He seems to have slotted in seamlessly, and begun to get Ipswich playing the way the club's fans have missed, and indeed craved, for the last two years.

Since Jewell's arrival at the club, Town have amassed 13 points in six games – the defeat to Millwall seems a distant memory – and many fans look to be forgetting about it all together.

The team has scored 15 goals in the league, conceding only two, and perhaps it is no coincidence that Connor Wickham has five of them.

Keane certainly left a legacy, and there are many positives to come out of his time with the club if you look for them. It is the beginning of a new era now, though, and once this 'honeymoon period' is out of the way for Jewell, fans will soon get a clearer idea of whether he is the man to guide their side to promotion.

William Taylor

canveyblue added 19:02 - Feb 17 Good piece and very true. Keane signed some good players for the club but unfortunately wasn't right for us. Paul Jewell has come in and done an excellent job so far and given some decent players a bit of confidence which seems to have worked. It's amazing what a smile in the workplace can bring.
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MoscowBluesSon added 19:10 - Feb 17 All true. Keane had a go and bought some good players but he just couldn't manage them so he set it up nicely for Jewell. Hope Keane succeeds somewhere.
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Illinoisblue added 19:11 - Feb 17 a rather garbled piece that doesn't seem to make much of a point beyond 'players react differently to different managers'. "Keane certainly left a legacy, and there are many positives to come out of his time with the club if you look for them." Why should I look for them? You're the author, you tell me what these positives are
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Parisblue72 added 19:23 - Feb 17 Agree with Illinoisblue. "blah, blah, blah, Kean left a legacy... if you look from the right angle... and you've taken enough drugs." If that's your view, tell us your argument!
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ITFC_Forever added 19:25 - Feb 17 The evidence is plain for all to see - RK assembled a half-decent squad, but had no idea how to bring the best out of them and get them to perform to and beyond the sum of the parts.
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petermorris added 19:26 - Feb 17 Any idiot can splash a few quid on good players. If that idiot can't manage them the good players become just players - or become disillusioned not very good players. Keane is not compatible with football management full stop (.), neither is Magic for that matter.
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Garv added 19:28 - Feb 17 I hope the guy never gets another job in football, and I think he'll do well. The man is a disgrace and left this club in a mess! Never helped himself and should have gone a year ago! Imagine if PJ had come in a year shi, half a season to build then properly prepare for this season.
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brittaniaman added 19:49 - Feb 17 I am afraid Keanos man management let him down badly, one was never allowed to speak to him unless he spoke to you first, and that included builders who worked on his house,true he was a good captain and player but manager no.
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tractorboy2434 added 20:01 - Feb 17 What is considered by some as a failure with Ipswich, I'm not sure that it can be described any other way, he was a disaster with a capital d, spent alot of money, never knew his best team, took the team to bottom four or five, not just a failure, an absolute disaster and cannot be described as otherwise. Hope he does'nt do the same to anyone else, what a pointless article.

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stinkiusminkius added 20:16 - Feb 17 You appear to be clutching at straws to find some positives from the Keane era. Why? The man was a disaster for the club and is best forgotten.
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Sospiri added 20:56 - Feb 17 It IS hard to think of anything Keane was truly good at, apart from Paddington hard stares
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WadzillaBhoy added 20:58 - Feb 17 How did Keano leave us in a mess? We've only lost one league game since he's left! He did bring in good championship players, made a solid partnership at the back with Big Mac and Delboy, got rid off the deadwood brought in decent backup, built a robust team with height. His main faults were his man management and his constant tinkering with the team. But you can't fault his youth policy and signings made. Glad we have Jewell now though if you compare the two it shows just how vital experience and man management skills are as a manager.

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ThatMuhrenCross added 21:10 - Feb 17 I honestly cannot believe that there are people out there who can honestly say they thought Keane's reign was a disaster. I stick by what I said - he did a lot of good for this club, and am very surprised that some people cannot see that. One thing I didn't mention in the article was that Keane did get rid of a lot of the bad eggs - the trouble makers, if you like. He brought in 'characters', and we are now starting to see the benefits of that.

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Blue_Fred added 22:03 - Feb 17 i was thinking something similar Tuesday night - PJ has to date brought in 2 players and only 1 of those is featuring regularly. By any stretch this means that the players are Keane's because he either kept them or brought them in during his near 2 year tenure (and I believe he not only brought in some good players but also got rid of some free loading wasters) However the players that PJ inherited have been moulded into a team with a real spirit - something RK could never do. Roy is detemined to be a manager in the mould of Fergie ruling by fear of failure however to succeed he needs to understand the pivotal role played by Fergie's Assistant managers over the years Roy's biggest failing was never employing an experienced Asst Mgr, and if he could have found the 'good cop' to compliment his 'bad cop' attitude the maybe he (they) would still be working in Ipswich That said I'm glad he's gone - our Identitiy reclaimed we are no longer 'Roy Keane's Ipswich (GOD I HATED HEARING THAT CONSTANTLY FROM THE MEDIA) who set out to draw 0-0 unless we can nick one, we have a manager in Paul Jewell who seemingly understands and more importantly fits the Ipswich way. We are Ipswich, we play football, defensively we are solid yes, but we're going to attack you and score against you - what can you do to stop us.

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Illinoisblue added 00:43 - Feb 18 aimed at ThatMuhrencross.... you again repeat this: " he (Keane) did a lot of good for this club, and am very surprised that some people cannot see that." I was neither a rabid Keane inner or outer, I'm just genuinely curious to know these good things that Keane did for ITFC. Transfer dealings? - poor Building team spirit - poor Consistency - non-existent and where it matters most, points on the board - absolutely terrible You really need to expand on your thoughts rather than throwing your hands up in the air in surprise that nobody else can see what you see in Keane.

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baldyrich added 01:47 - Feb 18 There was never an issue with 'compatibility' but more of an issue with Keane's ability as a manager of men individually and of a team collectively. The recent results, rather than showing what a great legacy he left us, highlight how he consistently failed to get the best out of his team.
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Marcus added 02:40 - Feb 18 This is still Keane's team but Jewell's selections. Both need to take some credit. Keane for building the team, bringing in some discipline and a good work ethic and Jewell for the team selection, being able to get the most out of the players and being able to bring a smile on to the face of the players and supporters. Over time it will be more Jewell's team but it's fair to respect what Keane achieved - and yes I believe he was totally wrong for the club but do feel that as far as the players we have we're in a stronger position than before he joined. I also believe he lost the fans the moment he sold Jordan Rhodes. I know it's a tired subject but for a lot of people if seemed that he was not looking the right way forward (although some people believe Rhodes left due to his father leaving and the move was engineered by his agent)

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muhrensleftfoot added 06:56 - Feb 18 The reports about Rhodes at the time, were that he was at Huddersfield desperately trying to phone RK to see if he had a future at Ipswich, but RK refused to speak to him, so he signed for them. Typical of Keane's lack of management skills, or indeed any type of interpersonal skill. RK is an arrogant so & so. To me, his legacy is the least entertaining football I have ever seen in 40 years of supporting ITFC, and bad management, with Rhodes a classic example of letting a natural young goalscorer go without even trying to keep him. What a breath of fresh air PJ is.

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BlueBadger added 07:16 - Feb 18 Let's not forget here, that Keane won his first two games with Magilton's players. It took Keane another 14 to win a match with 'his' team..
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Kropotkin123 added 09:05 - Feb 18 "The evidence is plain for all to see - RK assembled a half-decent squad, but had no idea how to bring the best out of them and get them to perform to and beyond the sum of the parts." - ITFC_Forever Fact.
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MVBlue added 09:28 - Feb 18 I only see one positive, his handling of Connor Wickham.
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naa added 10:30 - Feb 18 Hmm, I have to admit I fail to understand why this blog was written. Why defend Keane now? Who cares? So what if he bought some good players (for a lot of money)? I certainly refute the fact that the players always looked up for it for Keane. They most certainly did not! They also played the most boring defensive football it's ever been my misfortune to witness. He removed all creativity from the squad, left us without any recognised right-back, got us playing long-ball, defensive football with four central defenders and four central midfielders and tweaked the team so much from one game to the next that no-one knew if they were in or out. So, other than buying a couple of good players (out of the 22 bought or loaned, that isn't a great record) what exactly is his legacy here? Other than making me completely disillusioned with football for most of his time here.

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ThatMuhrenCross added 10:37 - Feb 18 @Illinoisblue: "His transfer dealings - poor" They weren't poor at all. In fact the majority of them were very good. In terms of personell, the squad is far stronger now than when Magilton left. If you are ready to reply to this by saying that Leadbitter, Fulop, Delaney, Kennedy, Edwards, Martin, Scotland, O'Connor, and Priskin are bad signings, well, I don't think I'll bother arguing with you anymore. No one can say they are bad players.

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naa added 10:42 - Feb 18 ThatMuhrenCross: wouldn't really argue that those are bad players, but let me put it this way: Fulop - £1M Leadbitter: £3.5M Delaney: £800k Edwards: £1M Martin: £1.6M (and very few here thought he was a good signing under Keane) Scotland: £1M Priskin: £1.6M So, while none of them are bad signings I would argue that they bloody well better not be for that kind of money!

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Vic added 10:48 - Feb 18 The blogger is correct in highlighting the change in attitudes and ethos RK brought to the club. We had been lightweight with too many journeymen. Remember Shane Supples comments about some players not being fussed about getting promotion? RK changed that and that is his legacy; he broke the attitude that settled for mediocrity; he insisted everyone strived to be the best and give their best. For that we should thank him. He just couldn't manage the team he assembled!

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