Long-serving Town coach Bryan Klug has been sacked. Klug, a one-time Blues youth player and academy director, was assistant manager under Jim Magilton until John Gorman’s appointment last Christmas when he moved into a head of football development role, before taking charge of the reserves this season.

Klug was a youth player with the Blues between 1977 and 1983 but failed to make a senior appearance, moving on to Wimbledon (loan), Chesterfield and Peterborough United and then into non-league football.

The 49-year-old returned to Portman Road in 1987, joining the coaching staff and in 1998 became the director of the newly formed academy in an era during which Kieron Dyer, Richard Wright, Titus Bramble and others emerged.

In 2005 Klug, who also had spells as caretaker-manager of the Blues, led the academy to Town’s third FA Youth Cup before becoming Jim Magilton’s assistant a year later, shortly after Newcastle United had approached him to run their academy.

Manager Roy Keane recently added former Notts County manager Ian McParland to his backroom team and with assistant manager Tony Loughlan, specialist skills coach Steve Foley, fitness coaches Antonio Gomez and Simon Thadani and goalkeeper coach James Hollman also on the payroll may have felt his staff needed trimming.

Photo: Action Images

PurgamentumIneo added 11:53 - Jan 13 very poor whoever made this decision. Brian is a good coach and well respected by many players that made the break from the youth team. Now the big clubs have their super acadamies, we will never compete any more. And comments regarding lowering the wage bill, do you really think sacking Brian Klug is going to reduce it...i don't think so. I know Brian personally, a nice guy and always willing to help, so I expect him to get a job in football again soon - maybe he will go to Norwich!

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onceginergernowgrey added 11:53 - Jan 13 Could it simply be that Klug's syste just didn't sit well with Keane? I have heard that Klug is all about set drills in training - going up and down weaving through cones etc which players find boring- where other coaches prefer actual ball work on the pitch.
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PurgamentumIneo added 11:56 - Jan 13 spelling Brian instead of Bryan is not as bad as people on here putting 'Keen or Kean'.
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Eiffel65 added 12:14 - Jan 13 Cheers for everything, Brian, and good luck in your next role. I do hope the reasons for the dismal are made public?
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WeWereZombies added 12:20 - Jan 13 Maybe he said 'Come on Roy, West Ham are in deep in debt and we could get Keiron back here in the transfer window', RK said No and he asked why not?
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Boz581 added 12:34 - Jan 13 I think this a real shame, the guy was a fantastic servant to the football club. Good luck in the future.
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Blue4life added 13:21 - Jan 13 According to www.greenun24.co.uk Klug has not been sacked he is just leaving. If he is just leaving then story is a load of rubbish lol.
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footyfan182 added 13:24 - Jan 13 What a shame the youngsters have so much respect for this man suprised they didn't want him to help run the academy!!!
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Nevadablue added 14:10 - Jan 13 Some very valid comments made here about too many coaches, but I think it would be fair to say that BK's record with young players is absolutely exceptional. At the annual shareholders meeting Simon Clegg stated that the intention was to create a world class academy. A bit odd, really, as we certainly had one a few years ago. Now Klug has gone - to me that doesn't look like a world class decision...

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Dowson added 16:00 - Jan 13 bust up i can only think
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62WasBest added 16:09 - Jan 13 Can't believe it was amicable else why is there nothing discernible on the club website?
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buryblue77 added 18:22 - Jan 13 Naa, that one was frustrating me too, but they're stilling spelling his name as Brian. Oh well! Nobody knows whats gone on, there's no full release to report on as far as I can see, so it could be on disciplinary grounds (disagreement with his superiors etc) or could be contract terminated by mutual consent if Roy wants to install his own team of coaches. Also you don't actually make a person redundant, you make the posistion redundant, which obviously means the person in that role is described as being made redundant, so could be the case if his role was deemed more surplus to requirements as he wasn't actually academy director anymore.

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Daleyitfc added 19:38 - Jan 13 Disgraceful. We now not only have the worst manager in the League but have sacked the only decent coach we had left.
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WREXHAM_BLUE added 20:09 - Jan 13 Shocked; totally shocked! It would be nice to know the reason(s). Good luck Brian and thanks for years of top class service. A highly regarded football man who will be sorely missed!
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h32 added 22:35 - Jan 13 The last connection with the 'traditional ITFC ethos' has now gone with the departure of Brian Klug I suppose - how can any caring supporter be happy with that ? - or indeed understand why. Brian is an incredibly experienced and successful coach - how the club can be better off without such people is beyond my thinking. Good Luck and Thanks Brian - ITFC's loss will certainly be another club's gain.

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h32 added 22:46 - Jan 13 .... has to be said that this is what happens when money takes over - unfortunately it doesn't always (by far) equal success .... as we know to date. Have we really moved on ??? - I'm far from sure....
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petersongoal added 14:38 - Jan 14 outrageous!!!!!!
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