Keane: Ideally I'd Have Kept Stead
Tuesday, 24th Aug 2010 13:38

Town manager Roy Keane says that in an ideal world he would have preferred to keep striker Jon Stead, who joined Bristol City in a £225,000 deal yesterday. The Blues boss will be looking to add more attacking options to his squad in the weeks to come.

Keane said: “In an ideal world I’d have liked to have kept Steady, to have different options, but Steady’s had a good offer, a three-year deal at Bristol City, and we can’t do that at the moment. You’ve got to try and be fair to players and move on.

“But we’ll miss him. I think Steady was fairly popular amongst the lads and he’s a good lad to have around the place, lots of experience. It puts more pressure on the younger players, but at the moment they seem to be handling it well, although we’re two or three weeks into the season and the big challenges are yet to come over the next few months.

Keane added: “We’ve had to shift players out to get lads in, whether that’s numbers or wages. And I’m comfortable with that. The important thing for me as a manager is to know where I stand and I’ve always been like that.

“If I have to sell 10 players next week, as long as I know where I stand, I’m OK with that. There have been more talks over the weekend, we’re all focused and we all know where we’re at and we’re fine with that.”

The Blues boss admits he was frustrated last week with Jason Scotland’s transfer dragging on, but says he wasn’t overly stressed by the situation: “I was frustrated, yes, but I have different levels of frustration and this was a low-key one.

“With the players we have at the moment doing ever so well, it’s OK. But even though we’ve got the one player in, we will need to have a lucky few months coming up in terms of injuries because we’ve struggled so far with injuries.”

Keane says he is aware that there are limits with regards to money and that significant cash has been paid out during his time in charge at Portman Road: “I understand the finances of the club. I know there’s been decent money spent over the last few years, people tend to forget that. We've brought Márton Fülöp in and Mark Kennedy, these lads are on decent wages. Darren O’Dea came from Celtic, they’re not on £400.

“The lads we've brought in are on decent money. A lot of the lads we let go mightn’t have been on the wages of the players we’ve brought in. Don’t get bogged down by whether we’ve freed up millions and millions in wages, we haven’t.”

The Town manager was delighted that Scotland’s deal was finally completed yesterday but says the Trinidadian will need help to score the goals to fire the Blues into the Premier League: “He won’t do it by himself, strikers need service and I think we need one or two more attacking players in the squad. The loan options we’ll be looking at will be attacking positions.”

Meanwhile, the Blues, Norwich and Crystal Palace have been linked with former Tottenham and Wolves striker Steffen Iversen. The 34-year-old’s contract with Norwegian side Rosenborg comes to an end in three months’ time.

Photo: Action Images

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Yallop added 13:46 - Aug 24 Great work so far this season Keano. Please keep it up ! COYB Keano Keano Keano
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Thetruth added 13:47 - Aug 24 Steffen Iversen................errrrrrrr nah Keano talking real as ever, you have to appreciate that, no talking things up, hiding the truth, just straight talking, the guy is quality.... A couple more faces will do the trick, hoping Scotland finds his Championship form early, Wigan must have dented his confidence, no matter what people say.
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ITFCkezza added 13:48 - Aug 24 don't really want a 34 year old striker tbh
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Martus added 13:53 - Aug 24 Up Town!!!
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suffolksam added 13:56 - Aug 24 a 34 year old come onnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn you are kiddingggggggg
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OnlyOneSirBobby added 13:57 - Aug 24 steffen iverson....no thanks
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exeterblu added 14:02 - Aug 24 Tottally agree TheTruth - refreshing to see a straight talking honest and up front manager... and if we fans appreciate his honest and candid approach then i'm sure the players do also! COYB !!
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chapmanp added 14:04 - Aug 24 Whilst I agree he offered something different up front, at least without Stead we will be better at defending corners - the bloke simply couldn't head a football! It was his man that scored for Burnley...
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robdaful added 14:28 - Aug 24 At least Keane is a staright talker. I like it when press ask him something and he get abit angry. Like the other day on the football league when the reporter said something about Walters and Keane wasn't having any of it.
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Frase1987 added 14:30 - Aug 24 hmm so we wanted him but we didn't want to extend his contract? odd.
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Portman51 added 14:53 - Aug 24

Agree chapmanp, for a tall man Steady is very weak in the air, but 100%er and would have been good to have around until injuries and suspensions are sorted. Those watching in the 1970's may remember the fuss when BR suddenly sold Rod Belfitt when he was playing some of his best football for us, but who was quickly forgotten when David Johnson (the first) and then Paul Mariner came on the scene. Lets hope for something similar with Scotland.

yorksblue added 15:09 - Aug 24 Rod Belfitt was the first person I saw score for Town in a win over Stoke, with Gordon Banks in goal for them. A real trip down memory lane. Thanks Portman51
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Ampthillblue added 15:28 - Aug 24

According to Wiki we were linked with him in summer 2008 - surely a rehash of this?
He was linked to a number of English Championship clubs in the summer of 2008; including Crystal Palace, Norwich City and Ipswich Town. Iversen continues to be one of Rosenborg's most important players, which is confirmed by the number of goals he has scored in the beginning of the 2010 season, 11 as of August 1.

Back_The_Boss added 15:45 - Aug 24 Can't have it all. Stead was always going due t his high wages.
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JayITFC added 15:53 - Aug 24 I can't imagine Stead's wages are/were anything like what we gave Martin/Priskin.
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TractorRoyNo1 added 16:00 - Aug 24 surely even the 'sadkeanouters' have to admit the man is as honest as the day is long, how refreshing it is to hear someone in the football world answer a question with a direct answer
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dubblue added 16:29 - Aug 24

To be fair to Keane he said 'in the ideal world' i.e. where money was not a big issue. In reality the manager let it be known that he was open to offers. I guess it was a combination of his (relatively) high wages and his lack of consistency.

I assume there is no substance to the Iversen story, 34 is a little old for a striker. I am all for experience but we have already signed two thirthysomethings in Kennedy and Scotland.

jas0999 added 16:44 - Aug 24 He only says the attacking players will be loans - he doesn't mention the midfielder /defender he is still after ... I guess reading between the lines, the Chopra deal is now def. dead?
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bedsitfc added 17:07 - Aug 24 the premier league teams have to name their 25 man squads soon, so players not in will go out on loan.
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BluEGonZo added 17:17 - Aug 24

if iverson comes in on a cheap wage (football wise) than i dont mind that he is 34. we have lost a lot of strikers and he has been bangin in the goals for rosenborg. If he can come in and be the same type of squad player steady had become than its a fair replacement. a lot of experience too(as we have no old head strikers who have been there and done it to help conor along)

itfc1981 added 17:39 - Aug 24 Iverson! I dont think we could afford the amount of clearasil!!!!
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Mark added 17:58 - Aug 24

I don't understand the point about Ipswich not being able to match Bristol's 3-year contract for Stead. He had a year left on his contract here, so there was nothing to compete with.

Keane seems to be suggesting that the players coming in are on much higher wages than those going out.

If finances are really so tight, do we really need four professional goalkeepers at the club? I am still worried that the £1M-off + big wages we spent on Fulop was money spent on an area of the side that was not a priority, good as he is.

Ipswich24 added 18:43 - Aug 24 four signings is all we need mccormack, whittingham from cardiff for 2 million nicky Butt and steve finnan on frees and we have complete squad why is this so complecated
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