nobrain: sorry, but just as any player can come and go and the club lives on, it's the same with a manager. Sure they're important to the club - that's the whole point!

But by saying I want what's best for the club does not mean I want what's best for RK. Surely. RK would probably want to stay in a job for as long as he wants to, be paid loads and be given shedloads of transfer money to dabble away with.

So no, they are not the same. I support Ipswich and if I think they are in bad hands in RK then I will say so. I certainly won't support RK on a website just because he's our manager.

It is a shame the way this issue has split us all into arguing and abusing so much. That's the nature of football though I suppose, it's a passionate thing.

At the end of the day some think RK is doing a good job and should be given longer, some think he's doing a bad job and should go and others aren't sure and are happy just to watch until ME acts.

None of these opinions are wrong. They are, after all, opinions. It would just be nice if rather than abuse each other we could just explain our opinion for others to discuss.

But again, that isn't the football fan's way is it?

baggins78 if all intelligence fails just resort to good old fashioned abuse.
Well done!!!
Dingus me old mate I'm with you, let's let people have their say on here without being told they are not a 'proper fan' whatever the hell that is. I'm a day one anti Keaner...not anti Town....& I will not stand by and watch ITFC left in the same bloody mess Keane left Sunderland in!!!

bennyblue..
As much as i really want to bite at ALL of your comments I dont, I cant really be bothered in truth, however.....
You asked why cant we just sack "him" so we can all be friends again.
I dont remember seeing your name on here as a contributor in Jims tenure.
But i do remember this board being split over him as well.
Whoever is in charge, there are gonna be supporters who dont like them, even if we win every game.
When we won promotion via the play-offs under Burley, during the season i was near to a band of supporters whose sole intent all game was to jeer Burleys every action!
We will never all see eye to eye, and perhaps thats a good thing, however personal insults and a pure hate campaign NEVER do any good.
Keane will go sooner rather than later, whether that is in 1 month 1 year 1 decade, who knows.
ITFC will be here long after he goes, but in the meantime do your job and support, and i dont mean agree with everything he does, but support him and the club, there are thousands of other clubs supporters whose job it is to have a pop at us...

naa - it's interesting though, isn't it. What is a football club?

You're quite right - managers, owners, directors, players, fans - they all come and go. So what is 'the club'?

Getting a bit deep now.... ..probably time for someone to hurl some abuse somewhere!

i agree with Hype ,some do have illusions of grandeur, we are not a Prem team and probably never will be[in that i mean if we did get promoted to Prem it is likely to be a fleeting experience of top league soccer]These days unfortunately it is money that grades the leagues, the haves and have nots, we will never get enough people through gates to sustain a Prem position, I would be chuffed if we got promoted, but would not think it realistic to remain there.I would be happy to see us in top 6 challenging ,watching a good side,play good football at this level.Any flirtation with Prem would be a bonus . This year has been crap,and it worries me that next season Budgies will be back, and unless things change dramaticaly it could be embarrassing .Im BLUE will always be BLUE , and realistic .

Would be the highlight of this season if he was to be gotten rid of.... Clear out all the sh*t that he has brought with him and get back to being the football club that we actually are....

Cant disagree with any of that Dingus, but i would like to add that i dont own a crystal ball, so i cant say whether next season will be a stonker or equally as poor, but i do hope it to be a good one, and i do also believe that Keane will be the man who turns it around for us.
I cannot see how i can be slated for hoping things are good for us next season, and backing the clubs management whilst they are in situ.

roy keane and ipswich got together like beef gravy on a chicken curry

It is just paper talk, but I agree that Clegg could have put an end to it by confirming that Keane will still be manager next season and will be backed with new transfer funds over the summer. He instead seemed to confirm that Keane will still be here on Saturday!

As for "waiting until the summer", once we are safe what more can we learn about Keane? Should we not use the remaining games to give a new manager a chance to assess the squad ready for the all-important summer transfer window? Also, there are several good managers available now who may not be in the summer.

Regarding Keane having "sorted the defence out", I agree it is looking better but isn't this because the whole team's priority is to defend now at the expense of attacking play and goals? (we scored just 5 goals in 7 games in March)

Finally, I agree about stability being the key to success. That is what worries me about keeping Keane on, as he changes the team nearly every match and it seems is planning a clear out in the summer, no doubt with many ins and outs and not so much stability.

Why does changing a manager mean a year of rebuilding?

Just because Keane couldn't see what he had going for him until it was forced upon him (D. Wright, Mcauley, Stead, Pablo, Garvan ...) doesn't mean to say a decent manager couldn't get a lot more out of the same players in a very short period of time.

As an example - Scum under Gunn vs Scum under Lambert ...

tommy, how did you know my absolute favourite meal?

i do have to chuckle at times, it gets like the Jerry Springer and Jeremy Kyle shows combined on here. Anything less now will seem dull .!

you probably havent seen my name because the censorship is terrible on this site but the last few months they seem too allow a bit of free speech dont know how long it will last.. maybe someone new took over cause i seem to be allowed to state my view lately if thats the case then we can all be grateful cause censureship is one of the big evils of the world along with agro corkmen with inflated egos.. the last game i was at i believe we beat notts forest 1-0 at home in the uefa cup you can work out the year

Is it me or just for a laugh dont you want to press "report abuse" on bennys post above?

its probably just u

i still, think Benny is really Callum , come on Benny take that ballaclava off and reveal yourself .

Things have changed over the last few years at ITFC, it's not the same place and from what i have heard the acadeny hasn't been doing so well in the last couple of years either. Some very good players have gone in the last 3 years just because their not in favour - never mind if they are good bet a few of them will come back to bite our butt though !! Maybe it's not RK maybe blame should go higher than him, Bring back the good old days !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

injured: actually I was tempted for fun!

I also liked curry and gravy. Yum.

and your'e quite right about wanting what's best for the club. We all do. We just have different opinions about what that is.

Do agree with above post though about how RK is clearly going to be doing a lot of changing in the summer. To that end, people are worried about a new guy having to start over. But RK is essentially going to do that anyway. Having totally failed to get the best out of what he had, and a few of the ones he got in.

First of all I am a Sunderland fan but I have had a soft spot for Ipswich since 1980 when I saw them play at Roker Park and they were a much better team than Villa who ended up winning the league that year. Anyway, I recall the day when Keane walked out on Sunderland. How could he do this??? Come back Keano !!!!! Then my eyes opened. Keane had left Sunderland in a shambles. He spent $80m and for every good signing - he made 2 bad ones as well. Yes, he took us back to the Premiership and raised our profile and for that, he will always have my appreciation. Now to hindsight. I think a lot of Sunderland fans overlooked his blatant shortcomings as manager because they were in love with the thought of having a big name in charge of our club. Ask any Sunderland fan me now if they would swap Steve Bruce for Roy Keane? If you find one they want locking up in a nut house. My point is that all of the Ipswich pro-Keane supporters seem to be as blind as we were and do not recognize the damage this man is doing to their club. All they seem to relish is that thay have a big name as manager just like we did. Well, I have some news for you. If Keane stays, I fear that things will get no better for Ipswich. Things will not come good. Who is he going to buy this summer to inprove the squad? All of his deadwood have been given the boot at Sunderland. Hopefully Evans will give him the boot once Championship football has been confirmed for next season. Yeah, hindsight is always good but time will tell on whether I am right.

naa...Thank God for that i thought i was the only twisted fella on this site!

Also find myself agreeing with your last paragraph, I have stated many times before I am not a Keane fanatic, I will support whoever is in charge, i dont have to agree with their decisions, and in fact dont, but i will support the person who is in charge, lets face it whoever that is knows more about running a football club than any of us who contribute on this site.
If and when a new manger takes over i will support him (her!)(thats for Dingus who thinks i am a mysoginist) but i would like to think if i had signed a 2 year contract in my current job, i would be given that time to do the job i was assigned to do.

"Benny, your grammar sickens me." Does it matter? Yes there is a few errors but let it go, just let it go.

Well said naa (again) and Marshallsmullet. I was gonna add some points, but won't - it's obviously a complete waste of time when some blind fanatics like Legend are so bigoted that they can't even be a'd to read the sound reasoning Keane-out-now people have put forward re not wanting ITFC to descend into the sort of downward spiral that So'ton etc are in; and simply wanting footie that's bearable to watch from a team who show any glimpse at all of actually being able to compete at the right end of the division (no, we DON'T expect Prem'ship footie, just a team that's actually capable of challenging for the playoffs).

As for Svendust's 'floundering' - the only floundering that's being done is by RK's side floundering all season to avoid relegation to 3rd tier English footie.

If RK had shown us just ONE glimmer of light re the potential to improve things next season, just one, I'd be right behind him. But he hasn't, therefore I'm not, though I've stuck behind him for the most part until now. But home to Plymouth shows us how far he's really got us and the direction we're headed in. I'm pro ITFC, not pro Keane - Club's bigger than him etc, even if the press forget that.

It is difficult to take some comments on here seriously but I try to sort fact from opinion. dirtydingus made comments about not getting the gates to survive in the Premier yet, if we attracted gates near 30k each week, we would be well above several teams who are 'established' eg Bolton, Blackburn, Fulham etc. Mark makes several very valid comments but I don't agree that we are better defensively because of concentrating on that aspect. The reasons we are not scoring many is because we are missing our chances, as stats bear out, not that we have become defensive.

oh - and just seen your post MACKEMYANK - interesting, thanks - obviously reinforces my feelings. Always had soft spot for you Mackems too, great atmos at your place.

50years: about that shooting stat. I'm actually with the argument about being more defensive.

I think the shots on goal stats only tells part of the story. I think a lot of those are speculative efforts made because there was a lack of support.

True, we have missed some good chances this year, but under Burley we missed loads, Johnson alone missed 3 or 4 good chances a game, yet still scored 25 goals a season. We just created more, and good chances too, not long range efforts.