Most Roy Keane haters amongst the Town support disliked him for no real justification from the word go, for the glory of predicting the demise of a controversial appointment or simply because they did not like the man.

We all have our reasons for and against him but we are now at the point where there can be no real excuses, it is what is and the big argument is should he be sacked?

I've backed him all season win or lose like a 'real fan' and still think if he manages to keep us in the Championship and keep his job we can have a great season under him next year.

But for what ever reason it's starting to look like he can't turn it around the team is in a slump it's a psychological thing that appeared to have improved during an unbeaten run in which we were playing well, not leaking lots of goals and creating lots of chances, just not putting them away, After a couple of second half performances that looked no better than a group of escaped mental patients cracking under the pressure, it appears the players still fear themselves and don't have a winning mentality or the appropriate level of concentration or confidence to keep a lead or even play well for 90 minutes. Those vital ingredients are easily lost in a team when a huge spotlight is suddenly turned on them and so many new players and staff are coming in at once. Those same ingredients could have been regained in the summer with the whole squad Keane is building starting the season together at the same time and in some players no longer starstruck or scared of Keane.

This season would be put behind them and, with a good pre-season a fresh start with less pressure and more togetherness, the squad that he has been been building and Keane himself can really be tested without lingering fears and the pressure of climbing out of a slump.

This is what the pro-Keane fans see and rightly so. If he can keep us up, he deserves until Christmas to get us in or around the play-off's. We can all criticise or praise the players he has signed until the cows come home some have been great some have flopped.

All on paper were good signings, considering who and where we are and my personal opinion is that Lee Martin and Tama Priskin in particular still have a vast amount of potential to be great players for us. Priskin going out on loan was definitely a good idea allowing us to get Murphy and Healy when none of our current strikers could score. We needed something in and Murphy so far is showing his worth however loaning Priskin to a close relegation combatant of ours is a very questionable decision in anyone's book.

Letting Stead go is a tough one he is joint-top scorer with Walters but I feel it's only six goals and he hasn't looked like much all season and had plenty of chances, so that alone is not much argument to keep him. He would also be on first team wages so we can't have him sitting around on the bench earning that amount.

As far as the future goes, we need at least one big striker, probably two, in permanently for next season whether they are Murphy and Healy or someone new. Someone has to go for that to happen and we still have Lisbie to get rid of as well But I feel it is getting too close for comfort now and it could be to risky to keep hoping Keane can pull us out of the slump. In two games' time, if those games are lost, it will be devastating with Town now back in the bottom three, even more so to the minds of the players.

It will be too serious and we will need the fresh start I spoke of to turn the players' mindset around and hopefully save us.

A new manager often does that and there are still quite a few games left for him to find a team and get results. Players that haven't been playing suddenly realise they have a better chance of being picked. Some players think "Wow, I need to turn it on to keep in the side under this new bloke".

A new manager brings new fresh ideas that make it feel like a new start and some confidence and passion returns. That could save us, whereas Keane would be in too deep to recover that mental attitude without miracles and as such we would be relying on scraping some points and other teams around us losing them to survive

There is a turning point where it becomes too risky to let Keane continue and the risks of getting in a new manger become less of a problem and I think that is in two games' time with 14 games left to play and with Town then possibly as much as six points from safety.

Incidentally, Palace and ourselves both have a game in hand over Sheffield Wednesday which if won would put us above Wednesday and on the same points as Scunny, who also have played an extra game, but it is points on the board that count after all.

If we sacked Keane, I'd like to see Alan Curbishley,Tony Mowbray (if he's left Celtic), Sven, Neil Warnock and George Burley, although his return would be a risk, in the interview room in that order.

vestanpance added 12:13 - Feb 18 This should garner some fun comments.
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jpr_23 added 12:26 - Feb 18 I have to say that I don't have confidence in Roy's ability to turn it around. I can't see any positives coming out of a season where we expected a play-off challenge and find ourselves in a relegation position this far into the season. With the evidence of this season, I struggle to see us staying up as we simply don't win matches and I have little confidence in us performing hugely differently next season. I'm disappointed that our scouting is so limited and can't see quality players wanting to join us at the moment. The last time we won two matches in a row was when Roy was appointed, the only way I think we'll do it again is with a new manager and the 'new manager bounce'. It's no longer a case of 'In Keane We Trust', it's more 'With Keane, we're bust'.

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Surco72 added 12:40 - Feb 18 Keane has had long enough to turn it around , he has spent £850,000 on a left back.we are now in late February and 7 left backs later we are in the same position as the summer !! He has spent a further 7.6 million on attacking midfielders or strikers and we have scored the fewest amount of goals for years. He has isolated players ,publicly criticised players ,told them or their agents they can leave the club ,dropped winning sides for no apparent reason ,has players playing out of position ,stumbled across a centre back pairing due to injury . Has made bad tactical changes more often than not ,recently we seem to be outdone by opposition managers changes every week and Keane has no answer . On Tuesday the worrying thing for me was that the players did not seem to care in the second half after another poor substitution maybe he is losing the dressing room ? As for Stead his wages are probably not as much as Healy's who is on premiership wages and i know who i would rather have in the relegation battle for the remainder of the season ,someone who has scored in the last few years . If Keane does go we could put someone on a temporary basis until the end of the season Burley ? I personally dont think he will go and i dont think we will get relegated and may have a good season next year ,but as i have said on many occasions until Keane and a big if ,he lifts us up the league lets not continually praise the man until he actually achieves it

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dirtydingusmagee added 12:41 - Feb 18 jpr 23 im with you ,exactly how i see it . HE HAS TO GO NOW ,.not when we have about 4 games left and its just about mathematically possible ,that WOULD be pointless .
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Johnny_Boy added 12:51 - Feb 18 You fail to see the bindlingly obvious. It's all very well wishing we'd next hire a Curbishly or a Burley (again), but Keane was brought in for the short term prospect of getting us promoted in the time scale of 1 or 2yrs. The two managers you suggest simply don't get teams promoted 'quickly', they prefer the slow building-up process that could take as long as 3yrs (possibly longer)... which then begs the question "Will Marcus Evans be patient enough to wait that long?". I think we all know the answer to that. We all assumed our previous rookie manager would be replaced by someone with a greater grasp of tactics - with a fair few years managerial expericence under their belt.... however we were given Roy 'SSN' Keane. I think part of people's resentment to his appointment was down to that.

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PimsNumber1 added 13:05 - Feb 18 i think keane`s time is up. Tuesday was it. The players didnt put their back into it and thats tells you everything. Have they had had enough and given up. I hate player power but thats the way it is nowerdays. only a handful of managers can handle it , SAF and Capello. After those two im struggling. When you see what some other managers have done with no resources like irvine holloway o driscoll etc its heartbreaking that keane spent 8 mill on ? leadbitter , and jim blew probably 5 mill on not alot. If these players who on paper are at least mid table quality cant put in a decent shift against the newly promoted whipping boys of the CCC then there is something well wrong in the dressing room.

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naa added 13:34 - Feb 18 Not going to comment particularly, as this has all been said before. But I find the opening of your blog offensive. "I've backed him all season win or lose like a 'real fan' " Absolute tosh. You are saying you consider yourself better than others because you have backed him (and by that I assume you mean by posting on here, as there isn't any overt Keane-backing at games) all season. Well done to you. Some on here I agree never wanted him here. I personally don't give a toss who our manager is as long as we are performing and playing good football. The fact is that we haven't all season - barring a short run where the solidity picked up and we got a few wins. After 30 games we've played well in about 6 I'd say, 10 at the most. That just isn't good enough. And why teh confidence that it'll be better next year? What in the previous 30 games leads you to suspect it's all coming together? He's still chopping and changing regularly, dropping players for no reason, playing people out of position, getting loads of Sunderland players and loan players in. Where's the scouting network? That worries me a lot. After all, he hardly played Healy at Sunderland at all, so why bring him here? Then he sees he's clearly unfit so thinks it's safe to send our top scorer to a rival. What about those decisions makes you so sure it'll be so much better next year? Keane apologists have been saying all season "but when we go on a winning streak...". Crazy. What about the things you've seen makes you think that's even possible?

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Blueknight85 added 13:34 - Feb 18 Surco who is this left back you speak of? assuming you mean Delaney he has never been a "left back" only filled in during in injury's he started at cork as a CM Peter Taylor took him to Leicester and then again to hull where he played CB for 5 years "When I started out with Cork City youths, I was a central midfielder, I got a good few games for City's first team, but played in a few different positions. I went to England, to Leicester, and they played me in the middle and at the back as well. I suppose the longest run in one position was at Hull. I had four or five years in the team there as a centre half and I really enjoyed that. I played at left back and centre-half for QPR, started off at Ipswich as a left back but the manager has moved me into central defence" in any case he has done well at CB so an 850'000 well spent. good theory on the dressing room though it does sound familiar the next 2 or 3 games will tell

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Blueknight85 added 13:40 - Feb 18 Naa- no offence intended the " " either side of "real fan" were placed to make it read like a so called real fan if such a thing exsists
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naa added 13:50 - Feb 18 Delaney may well be a centre-back but Keane bought him as a left-back. That was made clear when we signed him and when he played there at the start of the season (David Wright was fit, just dropped). The fact that he's so obviously a centre-back and it took so long to play him there looks bad on Keane in my eyes. But agree that as a signing he seems to have worked out OK, as we did need a centre-back.

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dirtydingusmagee added 13:54 - Feb 18 well said naa ! I said at outset i didnt think Keane was the right man,however i would have been happy to have been proved wrong,as it stands ,he has done NOTHING to change my mind,I always have supported Town the club,and the team, i do challenge the management of the team if i feel the need,and comment on individual player's performances, i am a paying supporter in a free country, and will continue to do just that .I find it offensive that i am not regarded as a supporter because im not happy with Roy '' better than any average manager ''Keane.

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paristractor added 13:58 - Feb 18 I've backed him all season win or lose like a 'real fan' and still think if he manages to keep us in the Championship and keep his job we can have a great season under him next year. how many "real" fans turned against our very own "real" jim magilton....we are getting what we deserve
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jpr_23 added 14:26 - Feb 18 Paristractor. Can you explain why you think it could be better next season? How will it be a great season? I'm not seeing any evidence that there is a plan, other than recreate Sunderland when they were good... Are you seeing some tactical plan that I just can't spot?
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keanotheenforcer added 14:40 - Feb 18 I must admit I have been in the pro-Keane camp all season, have always been the optimist and thought that Keane would do well for the club, especially when we went on our unbeaten run. I was unfortuante enough to be their against Peterborough on Tuesday night and even more unfortuante to have had a season ticket all season, but I have had enough now, my optimism has all but vanished and Keane has to go. All the talk about it being to late in the season to change manager and it being a diaster is non-sense. 16 games are still to be played, thats 48 points still to play for. Ok you would have to consider a bedding in period for a new manager but look at Sheff Wednesday & Irvine and it had an immediate effect there, so is not always the case. We definitely need experience to get us through and to keep us up and we need someone who is fimiliar to this league and can start straight away, I can personally only think of one man who should have got the job after Magilton left, and that is Steve Coppell. Keane out!

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naa added 14:54 - Feb 18 Hmm interesting shout for Coppell, not one that's been touted often and quite a good one. He's worked on a budget, has shown that he's actually got a scout network outside of Sunderland and has had success in this division. Should have had him instead of Keane, as you say.
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Blueknight85 added 16:17 - Feb 18 Bruce started the season at RB him and Wright swapped each game until Rossenior was here for Middlesbrough Delaney was first dropped after only 3 games for T.smith who played 2 games there Delaney returned for 3 and then Balkenstein played VS Newcastle then peters was in for two games and David Wright made his first LB appearance of the season VS Swansea on the 17th f OCT. Where he stayed for 11 games in a row until he was injured for QPR "Jaime Peters' pace was used at left-back to counter the threat of Wayne Routledge, with an injury to David Wright", which we won 3-0 Wright was straight back in at left back for the cup game against Blackpool he was then out again against Leicester,the infamous Cov. win and Southampton cup game due to the same injury Balkenstein played one peters played the other 2 Wright was back in against WBA then Balkenstein came in for him against Preston which is the first game i can see Wright has been dropped for reasons other than injury he was back against Middlesbrough then it was the surprise Colback change at LB which he looked good in so played there again and got waltzed over. I would be surprised if Wright isn't back in on Saturday but its not like he's been swapped around every other game all season... its been only 3 matches one of which we won and Colback played well.... hardly sinister at all. Can you tell iv been bored today...? lol

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dirtydingusmagee added 18:47 - Feb 18 perhaps ive been to harsh on RK, I should join the ''positive gang'' half full glass instead of half empty, and all that........mmm ....so instead of saying he has taken us nearer than ever to the bottom of Championship i must think ,he has taken us nearer than ever to the top of League 1, I think im getting hang of it.
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dirtydingusmagee added 18:49 - Feb 18 sorry TOO harsh [before im taken up on spelling ]
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Facefacts added 07:53 - Feb 19 Sunderland may have said if you want Murphy on loan you'll have to take Healy as well.
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Facefacts added 07:55 - Feb 19 That's the only excuse I can think of for taking a player without doing any homework on him (ie. finding out whether he can be bothered to stay fit).
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WadzillaBhoy added 11:35 - Feb 19 The thing is Keano is making progress albeit slow, but there is progress. If our team was as settled as it is now from the start of the season we'd be in mid league. The only problem with the relegation zone is it has the ability to drain all confidence out of players, no matter how good they are and when the confidence goes all the luck goes the oppositions way. (Just look at the season where we were almost unbeaten at home but we only got 2 away wins! Its all about confidence) We should keep Keano, he'll keep us up this year and next season he'll make us proud to be Tractor Bhoys!

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Jonnosdreadlocks added 17:33 - Feb 23 Yes. Replace the dickhead with Paul Mariner.
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