looks like there a good crop of players coming thru ....

Bye bye to the likes of Ainsley, Lambe, Brown, etc. Just not good enough I'm afraid.

Good Job Quality Players There!

nice to see the youngster getting a chance hope they do well!!

Well done Roy. Good decision. Obviously the 'you are ruined this club' brigade will not be commenting on this. Shame. Just goes to prove that Roy IS giving the youngsters a look.

Hopefully a few of these will go on to have good careers at Portman Road

Glad to hear his comments about the young guns.

looks like he is staying if he is sorting out contracts, not that i mind that fact.

Great, good news for the club that we have youngsters still coming through, lets hope we get them playing!
He is also looking to trim the squad for next season, with 7 already coming in, we will obviously be looking to ship a lot out aswell!

Despite the lows of this season the green shoots of recovery have been there in recent weeks to see. To a certain extent we have had to take a few steps backwards to move forward. Elements of no pain no gain. I am hugely optimistic about the future of this club under Roy Keane. At last I think a "holistic" management approach is being applied to the club which challenges all the players to push the boundaries of their abilities and then gives them real opportunities. The seven man bench has admittedly helped, and can be used wisely to nuture youngsters into the fold. Substitutes are normally given a fair crack at the whip rather than being brought on with minutes to go. More round pegs in round holes. Ironically under Magic & Kluggy I think the academy stagnated. There was a certain lethargy at times that spread throughout the squad. Journey men like "Campo" were brought in to clog the squad up at the expense of the development of other players. Experienced players were played out of position rather than bringing in a younger player to fill the spot of their natural position. Throughout the club players were not challenged enough.

Just taking the evidence of the Shrewsbury cup match there was a clear signal to the youngsters and a guantlet thrown down to them. Unfortunately some youngsters have to leave to make room for more coming in that's life, but a thirst to have a football education under Roy Keane with evidence of real opportunities will only strengthen the number of quality youngsters queueing up with an ambition to join Ipswich Town.

This is very good news and Keane deserves a share of the credit.

However, the most important thing is not that we pay them for another year to stick around, the most important thing is that some of them actually end up playing matches for Town's first team.

Who would rather have seen Jordan Rhodes having a run in the team rather than David Healy, fo example? Sadly, seeing Jordan Rhodes start a game for Town is something that I have never seen, and I consider that particular decision of Roy's to be completely indefensible.

I agree with the comments regarding green shoots, and the encouragement of the Shrewsbury match. I just don't want Keane to take his lawnmower to those green shoots before we've had a chance to benefit.

Jordan Rhodes was brought to the club by his father, and when his father left in acrimonious circumstances under JM, his son was never going to have any loyalty to the club.
Running an academy is an expensive business, and part of the funding will come from sale of players who have come through it, who are not considered good enough for the first 11.It is the same for all clubs, including the Man Utd's.

While he would certainly have got his share of games this season, I am not sure that Rhodes would be a first 11 player should the club go where the current regime want to take it, the top end of Championship or Premier league. At lower levels he has always been able to score goals, but has he got enough to lose top defenders? The other parts of his game, setting up opportunities for others, bringing players into the game, etc are average.
If his sale or that of any other young player, can help fund a player coming in who is rated a first 11 player, and especially if the club feel that the player leaving has no great loyalty to the club,then they are fully justified in my opinion.

Why is everyone still going on about Rhodes? He left almost a year ago, and I'm not convinced he would cut it at this level anyway right now. He doesn't score against any of the bigger clubs in league 1, so would struggle in the championship.

Oh, and also good luck to all these youngsters! I hope they have bright futures with us and I look forward to seeing them play for town over the next couple of years!

Seb Dunbar is the only one of those that I would rate as possibly good enough to make it at this level.

Tom
I believe Jordan Rhodes has scored against Newcasle at St James and against West Brom this season.
The reason his name is regularly mentioned on this site is that he is scoring regularly and holding his place in a free scoring team.
Contrast that with our top scorer who had a rubbish scoring record in the lower league!