Surco72.....Reading that article just shows how far Garvan's fallen. Remember this was wrtitten in 2006, but he's failed to kick on from there, possibly even going backwards. Oh, and I wouldn't take what Pleat says as gospel based on the fact that he's also tipped Billy Clarke, Darryl Knights and Shane Supple to 'particularly bright futures'.......

Will be another big mistake if he's let go (Rhodes,Clarke,Haynes,Harding...).

Just another reason why Keane's not up to the job of getting the best out of his players - his answer is to keep on buying & buying.

Norris is still weeks away from full fitness & the fact that he's quite injury prone doesn't help.

I'm baffled as to what's going on at ITFC at the moment and to why Keane's getting so much support for what he's done to us?...Can someone please explain how and when he's going to turn this around?

lightningboy, i think i had a go at answering your question last night, but perhaps you went to bed and missed it.

He was given a 2 year contract, and if he cant do anything in that time, you, me and everybody can say " Keane, jesus he was crap".Until then we have to abide by what the owner believes, and if he has faith in Keane,then so must we.
As for Garvan, wow, what a prospect, the new Stevie Gerrard, IMO....Oh hang on that was 3/4 years ago....
I agree with most posters on here, i think he has a better footballing brain than Trotter,Martin and Healy, and maybe Quinn, but not too sure on that one.
But, and its a big but,a good football brain is no good without a BIG heart, and i pains me to knock any Ipswich player, but having watched Owen many times over the years he doesnt seem to have an appetite for the game that a top player should.
It is not just this year, i have felt this, but quite a few,and having seen his attitude in the ressies, he doesnt seem to want to fight for his place, again, i think showing a lack of heart.IMO.
I would love to be able to keep him here, but a player who doesnt give his all in the engine room is a luxury....and at the moment luxuries is certainly something we cannot afford

injuredanimal: completely disagree with this statement: "He was given a 2 year contract, and if he cant do anything in that time, you, me and everybody can say " Keane, jesus he was crap".Until then we have to abide by what the owner believes, and if he has faith in Keane,then so must we"

Why? OK, we can't get rid of him and have no say in that kind of thing, but why on earth should I have faith in him? Tolerate him, yes, support the team he puts out, yes, but have faith? No chance.

You're essentially saying that Marcus Evans' decisions are right, full stop. I agree we can't change them, but we certainly don't have to agree with them.

I also agree with lightningboy, in that Keane just seems to keep buying players until he gets someone that works straight away. That is not good management, by any stretch of the imagination.

As for Garvan, agree he never quite fullfilled his promise (though his pace was always going to hold him back a bit) but I still think he is vastly superior to Trotter and better than Quinn.

Garvan should be nurtured and should be playing, he's a far more gifted footballer than Trotter.

There is an "however" to this comment, his plain and obvious 'homesickness' and the bad viral episode he had a couple of years ago.

I would say Garvan is an arm round the shoulder player who needs comforting and encouraging at times, the kind of thing Sir Bobby would have done without thinking about it, that's what makes great managers, acting in the right way at the right time. Footballers are no different to any other workforce (except they're paid stupid wages for a job I'd have done for nothing!!) they come in different shapes, sizes and personality.

Where ITFC have failed is to employ a manager who thinks everyone should be like him, he has mishandled so many players in his short time here, I say let Garvan go out on loan to get his MoJo back under a caring manager like Dave Jones......the only trouble is he won't want to come back & I don't blame him!

I know Keane was employed to do a job over 2 years, but I would have expected to have seen some progress by now, not the disaster that has been our season so far. It's a total mystery to me & others on here why so many 'blindly support Keane'......the evidence is there for all to see.......so far it's been crap.... end of!

One big mistake etting JJordan Rhodes go without giving the lad a run. Don't make it two Mr Keane. Please!

devontractorboy: "I know Keane was employed to do a job over 2 years, but I would have expected to have seen some progress by now, not the disaster that has been our season so far. It's a total mystery to me & others on here why so many 'blindly support Keane'......the evidence is there for all to see.......so far it's been crap.... end of!"

Yep totally agree. His 'fans' seem to hide behind this 'rebuilding' bollox.

Firstly, he didn't need to rebuild - he just needed to tweak and secondly plenty of other managers have managed to rebuild without getting the team bottom of hte table and playing utter dross football (please don't mention Watford folks, it's the only good performance for months).

devontractorboy - hear, hear. Unfortunately Sir Bobbys only come along very rarely but is also maybe why we hope for so much

el nino how is having his best scoring year for us last season a step backwards ?

injuredanimal if he was at the standard and consistency of Gerrard he would have left us by now as we are quite clearly not Liverpool ,we are bottom of the championship .

He could be and should be doing a job for us as against Plymouth,Derby and Reading we looked massively short of ideas and creativity and resorted to pumping the ball from the back to Walters as we have most of the season .

A big heart and working hard will only take you so far in football its more about talent ,lucky Le Tissier didnt have Keane as a manager he would never have played

cardiff only want garvan as a left footed midfielder to temporarily replace stephen mcphail who is out for three months..... he will do a temp job then be left wondering why he went to wales to play with all the sheep....

should be in the first team squad- altho needs to buck his ideas up as he will get nowhere without a kick up the a*se

some campaired garvan to huddlestone haha
big difference huddlestone can tackle and he is consistent performer
cash in on garvan now before we have to give him away.

I think Keano has made mistakes & he has finished Owen's career at Ipswich - along with a few others. You can't go back on those mistakes so let it go. We are not getting stuffed anymore & might as well just stick with it & see where it goes. Turn a few draws into wins & all that. I've hated what he's done but have to accept the reality he is here & at least we are losing less & conceding less than at the start of this awful season.

I'm no great fan of RK, but those who want him out must ask themselves who would replace him? If you believe that he is the wrong choice (and even for the most optimistic of fans, it's hard to argue against that at the moment), then don't you also have to ask why did ME believe that he was the right choice?

ME must have known what kind of person RK is and what type of manager he would be.

If RK does go, will ME get it right next time?...

Did you hear the 5Live radio stuff with the journos last night at arond 9.30pm. They said when Keane was appointed, Clegg looked 'totally starstruck & clueless'. They reckoned all the journos thought is was a big error right from the unveiling. For Clegg, see Clive Woodward. It just doesn't work.

We'll get rid of him and he'll end up playing really well wherever he goes, just like many other players we let go. Doesn't mean that they are right for us. However, i would like Keane to give him a go at least. Give the lad a chance. I think he can definitely do things for us and he hasn't been given a fair crack like the others. I mean, how many average games did Trotter get?

Garvan was even compared to gerrard at times.

Injured I rekon we all know more about football than ME he got Keane as he was the biggest name available, as naa said we will support the team but I to have no faith in the manager. You may all have known that already!

Apart from bedsitfc all seem to be seeing it the same way for a change ! Garvan is said to have no heart in playing, well i dont suppose he has if he is'' locked in a cupboard'' and forgotten about. As has been said Sir Bobby got the best out of players by treating them as humans and took their individual needs on board, All the players are likely to get from RK is the cold stare, and a verbal assault, and then f;cked off somewhere else.I say good luck to O G ,if he go's.Keane was never the right man for the job at our clubin my opinion ,and has not done anything at all to make me feel differently.I am amazed he is still here.My thoughts are going further ahead, to us being relegated,then what ? will Keane still be the man to get us back to Championship ? thought the plan was Prem in two seasons .!

Hasn't the plan been 'Prem in two seasons' ever since we dropped out of it?

Isn't it also the plan of (almost) every other club in the Championship?

who knows for a fact what has been said between keane and garvan??? could press be making things up?? easy to do with someone like keane about.
garvan is prob better than trotter at passing but trotter is in as a defensive midfielder and garvan just can't or won't track back and tackle. so compare him to leadbitter who is in as our playmaker and ask yourself who do you want in that position

Nobrain , i was just stating what R K had said on coming to the club! also his comment that ''any half decent manager can get a team to finish mid table '' is looking like it will come back and haunt him .

Thing is Leadbitter is not a playmaker is he? Good player yes (should be for that money) but he's not a pass-threading, run-spotting midfielder of the type that Garvan is - on a good day.

i am a forever optomist and say we can still finish in the top six only 13 points i think off 6 at moment but at ipswich we often do things the hard way hence why all town fans lose their hair. can i sue the club for hair lose???

Garvan hasn't done as well as we hoped, but he is a creative midfielder who on his day can make the team tick and set up chances. At the moment our midfield looks devoid of much idea, despite three £1m+ signings. Yes, Leadbitter looks pretty good - as he should for £3m - but can we really say the same of Keane's other midfield signings? I would be sad to see Garvan leave, especially if he goes for a cheap price. As others have written, I would prefer to see a manager who could bring the best out of our players.

beditfc i dont know if you have noticed but Keanes defensive midfielder system has not been working ,and we create very little and have only scored more than one goal twice this season , yet continue to concede goals . What would be the harm in trying Garvan next to Leadbitter and having two players who might create us a goal, as for his defensive qualities he played half the game against Leicester (clean sheet)this season and many games for us before which we have won and not conceded

bedsitfc you are an optomist we are 15 points off playoffs and would need a turnaround of 16 goals . So 6 wins without anyone in the playoffs getting any points after we have played the bottom sides and only managed one win all season ,sounds easy !!