Town manager Roy Keane says loan striker Rory Fallon’s performances against his teams for Plymouth were what persuaded him to bring the New Zealand international to Portman Road. Fallon, who is reportedly interesting another unnamed club, impressed the Blues boss with his displays against both Town and his Sunderland side.

Keane said: “Rory’s a good lad, a good player and a good pro. He’s doing a job for us. A bit like when we brought Stern John in, people raised their eyebrows but Stern brought something to the team that we didn’t have and Rory does that in terms of a physical presence, an aerial threat. As much as Connor will give us that, he’s still learning the game.

“Every time I’ve come up against Rory he’s been a handful against us, whether that’s here or at Sunderland. He gives us something a bit different.

“I think over the last year or two we’ve had some good, nice, tidy players but that does not get you out of the Championship. We still lack a physical presence.”

Fallon's spell at Portman Road runs until January 22nd and with Plymouth in financial strife is likely to be available for a bargain fee, which is already understood to have been agreed if he impresses during his loan. However, according to reports in the South-West, another unnamed club has also made an offer for the former Swansea, Barnsley and Swindon man, who has so far made two starts and two sub appearances for the Blues without scoring.

Keane feels that having a fellow All White at the club has benefited the 28-year-old: “I think it helped that he knew Tommy Smith, Tommy’s looked after him.

“He seems a decent enough kid, he’s here on loan, he wants to do well. He would probably like to move here, although I don’t know because we’ve not had that conversation yet because he’s not our player and we have to be respectful of him and Plymouth.

“The boy’s done well but he’d probably like to hit the back of the net himself and hopefully he’ll do that soon.”

While Keane believes that Jason Scotland will double his goals tally by the end of the season, he says more of his players need to be finding the net regularly: “Even if Jason gets us 15 goals this season we can’t be dependent on one striker. We need more goals from Priskin, Rory, Connor.

“Chuck’s got six, I think Carlos can contribute more, Shane O’Connor’s got a goal in him, I think Grant’s got a goal in him, although he’s scored one or two from penalties. From set pieces I think we miss Gareth, he looked as if he could score before he got injured, Tommy’s got one or two.”

The Blues manager, who has already confirmed that he'll be targeting frontmen in January, says it's the lack of goals which has been his side’s biggest problem: “We need more goals, it’s the goals which have been holding us back ever since I’ve walked into the club.

“You can talk about the bad goals we’ve conceded but you watch the Championship every week, teams are conceding goals that leave you scratching your head that you wouldn’t see on a Sunday morning. But then they’re capable of going up the other end and lashing one in. We’ve not done that.

“Goals will change the course of our season. If we don’t score goals we’ll continue battling down there with lots of other good teams and good clubs all fighting for their lives.”

Elsewhere, one of Town’s legendary strikers, Paul Mariner, has been linked with the vacant head coach's job at MLS side Toronto FC. Mariner has previously worked extensively in North America and was assistant coach at the New England Revolution before joining his former club Plymouth last year.

After a spell as manager at Home Park last season, the former England frontman is now Argyle’s head coach working under Peter Reid.

Photo: Action Images

bobble added 10:07 - Dec 28 whats he on about ? can we sack him so we don't have to listen to this garbage talk ?
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Karlosfandangal added 10:13 - Dec 28 Lets hope we get a proven goalscorer early in Jan or Wickham is given a good run and starts to forfill his potental
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Blue041273 added 10:17 - Dec 28 More strange comments from the Manager. I had to read this stuff twice to see if there was a hidden or tongue in cheek message, but I think he must be serious. Thanks Roy for pointing out that if we don't score goals we are going to struggle. Now I know why we pay your wages. Such insight simply doesn't occur to your average Joe Fan. We know nothing and couldn't possibly have worked this out without your assistance.

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Keaneish added 10:25 - Dec 28 Sorry. What was it Stern John added again!?
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mripswichtown added 10:29 - Dec 28 Maybe you should get behind Fallon instead of writing him off, its so easy for you to pick on a player because he had a bad time at plymouth, that doesnt mean he will be no good here. Hes only had 3 or 4 games and still you want him to scored 30 goals in that space of time, thats imposable! Get behind the lad and yes i was joking about the 30 goals in 4 games. I'm Fed up with these fickle fans that only want good times, Yes its nice to have good times but wake up! we need to get behind the lads through thick and thin not just good times!

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Karlosfandangal added 10:43 - Dec 28 mripswichtown As long as I can remember the so called fans pick on a player for one reason or another. Marshall was booed because he played for Norwich, Yet Serini was a god, Yet Marshall was far more for the team than Serini was. Not many midfielder get 45 goals for a club yet Miller got his far share of stick, as did Scowcroft and yet there was up roar when we sold him. Priskin was never given a chance last season, yet this year he got 6 MOTM on here in a row, he is playing better and putting in the effort but he was not been that great.

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Drew added 10:51 - Dec 28 I like Fallon, he's on of those players who might only get 5-9 goals a season, but he'll get a bucketload of assists. Glad to have someone like that in the side.
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Garv added 10:52 - Dec 28 Connor's a handful Roy, doesn't make him any good!
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Dolly2.0 added 11:22 - Dec 28 Point of order - Marshall got booed because he was rubbish
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Blue041273 added 11:29 - Dec 28 Mripswichtown My comments earlier were not a pop at Fallon. As long as he is selected to play he will have my support but you have to see the irony in RK wanting a player like Fallon and then telling us that we need someone to score goals or else we will struggle. You truly couldn't make it up.
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corshamblue added 11:34 - Dec 28 He's a handful, but why not play Connor now he's getting back to match fitness? Sounds like a 'Big Sell' for a player about to be purchased as a replacement or someone ??? . . . oh, can we see if we can sell some of the dross out on Loans? I'd maybe have Martin back for one last look ?? COYB.
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sereneblue added 12:05 - Dec 28 Time to start looking over your shoulder Bobble.
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old_and_blue added 12:14 - Dec 28 It's tempting to comment that giving our team a hard time in the last two seasons, is not necessarily a sign of a good player. Hope fallon does well, but don't think he will.
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Lightningboy added 12:18 - Dec 28 Stern John made such a massive impact that i'd completely forgotten he'd played for us....dear oh dear...where are we heading under this headless chicken?
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Karlosfandangal added 12:30 - Dec 28 Dolly Verbiage Agree he was rubbish in the end, However at the time we brought him he was tipped as to a possible England keeper along side Richard Wright. I was at his first home game at Portman Road and he was booed as soon as he touched the ball. Would it be possible that he was rubbish because or at the very least lacked confidence because the fans of the club he played for gave him no chance at all. The point being that Fallon was rubbished on here before he even kicked a ball for us and yet after playing about 250 minutes of football for he is still being rubbished. He played very well against Leicester and seemed to help bring Scotland in to the game more.

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Mark added 12:34 - Dec 28 Thinking about prevous target men, Shefki Kuqi scored 30 in 83 (1 in 2.8), Alan Lee scored 31 in 103 (1 in 3.3) and Jon Stead scored 18 in 63 (1 in 3.5) for us in the Championship. Grant Holt has scored 33 in 60 for Norwich. Why are we suddenly prepared to drop down to someone who scored 1in 7 for Plymouth when the fans down there didn't even like him and even our own manager compares him to an aging Stern John?! We must spend our money wisely, not waste it on more players who can't score goals. If Fallon was 23, yeah give him a go, but he will be 29 in March. I can't get enthusiastic about signing him, as surely he will be behind Wickham, Scotland and Priskin plus we are talking about bringing someone new in (or is that Fallon?).

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ITFC_james added 12:37 - Dec 28 Isn't rory fallon pretty much jon stead, except jon stead's first touch was better ( even though it was poor) was good in the air, worked his socks off and actually scored goals while setting up others. Clever move roy, once again you prove to be the man we need, actually i retract that, thanks for selling a player and buying a similar one with less quality.
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budgieplucker added 12:42 - Dec 28 No matches to report and comment on over this holiday season so blame the press for drumming up more of the same comments out of RK just to fill up column space. Like the BBC, plenty of repeats over the xmas period. Rory Fallon does give us something we haven't got at the club at the moment and that is a proper target man. He provides an outlet for the defence and stops the ball immediately being fired back into our half by the opposition. He also brings players into the game and looks to do that in an intelligent way. As much as his potential Connor Wickham has an enormous amount to learn from someone like Fallon althought they would probably not play in the same line up. Fallon will probably be a snip from a hard up Plymouth. Fans should reflect, it's highly unlikely that we are not going to sign a Craig Bellamy or some mercenary from the premiership nor should we. Look at Plymouth - fighting for their survival and could go out of business soon - supposedly have some rich backers who were sold a premiership dream as a club with great potential. No where to be seen now and Peter Reid is reported to be paying the heating bill out of his own pocket. A bit like when Joe Royle had to guarantee the Ipswich hotel bills on his credit card. Fans have to take their share of the blame as well by demanding success. If you are desperate to support a premiership side go support Chelsea, Arsenal or Manchester Utd. Yes it is great to watch Blackpool shocking a few people and thinking that could be us. Hull, Burnley and Watford all been there in recent seasons — but not for long. How long will Blackpool realistically survive. Tevez at Man City thinks he is worth £285,000 a week. Thats just obscene - killing our game and this all has a knock on effect and filters down to the championship. Its time that clubs and supporters realised you cant buy your way to the promised land, unless you can find some crooked russian oil tsar or shady sheik. The championship is a credible alternative if it doesn't become too tainted by premiership fall out. 75% of the clubs will all claim some premiership pedigree and the league is so close that you can sometimes be top six one week and 2 or three weeks later bottom six. I certainly find that more interesting than the predictible bore of the premiership and trying to live with the Manchester's, Arsenal and Chelsea's of this world and bankrupting yourself as a result. I for one and I may be in the minority prefer to see a system that gives opportunity and space for our young players to develop and abhor the supporters who are quick to jump on the backs of the likes of young Tommy Smith, Troy Brown or Tom Eastman when they make mistakes. The reality check is that we don't have much money now and even perhaps Clegg is just right at not being prepared to pay over the top wages to some of those players who were reported to be in his office earlier in the season. Keane may not have predicted this when he joined but I too think he is learning alot. Attendences may be falling but the 11,000 fans against WBA and 16,000 against Leicester were certainly fully behind the team. Hopefully the cold weather kept the moaners away, if so keep the winter coming. This team can play good football.

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itfc1981 added 12:43 - Dec 28 more signings, more team rotation I bet. make sure you get a good player this time.
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Karlosfandangal added 13:06 - Dec 28 ITFC James The feeling I got was that Keane did not want to sell Stead and if reports were correct Stead was on 18k a week. As Keane wanted to buy a goalscorer Stead had to go to free up wages. We brought in Scotland who will score more than Stead, However he is a different player to Scotland and I am guessing that Fallon is in the same mould as Stead but at a lot less money. I would guess that Scotland would be on the same sort of money, but if you take in to account of transfer fees Scotland will have cost us about half a million, also feel that in the same case now, if we bring in players in Jan some will have to go to pay for those coming in, possible a Wickham and again someone Keane would like to keep. Think its all about money Not sure if Fallon is the answer but will give him a chance as he played well against Leicester. Would have liked to keep Stead as he was playing very well for us before he was sold

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borge added 13:33 - Dec 28 Great post budgieplucker. And yes, this team can play good football, just not under this manager.
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katemoss added 13:47 - Dec 28 When this nightmare is over and roy Keane has packed his bags, Ipswich fans will be able to get behind the club. Until then let them get on with it. Everyone can see this is not working except ME.
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urbanblue added 14:28 - Dec 28 If Rory Fallon was a handful it just goes to show how crap your teams were Roy ! For those that remember Rory Fallon = Mich D'Avray What's wrong with finding someone that is a physical presence AND a tidy player Roy
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bluelady added 15:23 - Dec 28 ITFC James, Stead good in the air? I must have watched a differant player, also his first touch was shocking! yes he could score a goal and he put in 100% but dont agree with either of your points about him im afraid. If Fallon is what is needed to get Scotland 20 a season then thats not a bad thing!
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RRanger added 16:07 - Dec 28 Well said bluelady and as for budgieplucker's post it's the best I've seen on here for a long time.
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