The Long Game
Tuesday, 22nd Sep 2009 12:46

Columnist John Dickerson says Town and fans need to take the longer term view.

Everyone has had a pet one time in their life, haven’t they? Well, a childhood friend of mine once had a monster of a tortoise that lived free-range and carte blanch in the family back garden. Not being content with having the whole outside grass and shrubs at his disposal, he often decided to do a Steve McQueen and pull off daring escapes. OK, there were no motorbikes or wooden vaulting horses involved, he simply burrowed under the panel fences and (in some cases) made it four houses down.

Upon the third ‘prison break’, the family decided drastic action was needed to avoid losing him forever. They took a brush to his shell and painted their full home address for all to see on his back. Now, that might sound cruel to some people, or like myself you could find it very amusing, but upon personalising that tortoise, they made an oath that it was theirs for life - for all to see.

In April, Roy Keane rode into Portman Road with a swagger and a steely stare. Now, whilst not totally enamoured with the abrasive reputation he had built-up for himself, who couldn’t be impressed with his press conference? Amidst the camera shutters and bright flashes was this articulate, softly spoken Irishman. A man only seen by the most of us on Match of the Day, now the manager of ITFC. Surreal.

So, a two-year contract was drawn up. It suited both parties involved. For Roy, a time-scaled challenge too good to turn down. For the board, a high profile, natural winner in tow and the lure of emulating Sunderland’s quick return to grace in ultra-fast time. Marvellous, till the early season results started coming in.

A 2-1 opening day defeat on the telly. A painfully dire 0-0 draw at home, where we really should have lost. Then the 3-1 defeat to Palace, I won’t depress you with reeling off any more.

This wasn’t what we were expecting and it’s puzzling to see what on earth is going on behind the scenes to mark our worst start in more than 40 years. The natives are getting restless. The same mob that fervently hounded out the previous manager demand results now. Daft boasts of walking the league seem ridiculous and further off than ever at the time of writing this. The clever two-year contract that suited both manager and club five months previously, has had a detrimental effect on Roy Keane, the fans and the board (if scurrilous newspaper reports are to be believed).

Instead of buying and reinforcing the current squad with the odd one or two signings, Roy Keane decided to take a wrecking-ball to the team that Jim built. A risky plan, but due to the time-constraints of his contract, he felt he needed to bring eight players in and ship seven out to free up funds. The selling policy of a man rushing headlong, without sensibly assessing the squad thoroughly.

Now, compare that to the work Mick McCarthy did at Wolves, he didn’t just pick up Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, Richard Stearman, Michael Kightly or Chris Iwelumo at the same time, they were all brought in gradually to avoid mass disruption to the Wolves team being patiently built around them.

Ipswich fans can see that Roy went for the high-risk, hit the ground running tactic that seems to have spectacularly backfired - but was it really that surprising? Did everyone think Keano could wave his magic wand and suddenly muster up results he had no divine right to get in the first place? Placing all his eggs in one basket was a brave decision. The likes of Colin Healy, Damien Delaney and Lee Martin were never meant to be those marquee summer signings, perhaps that's why the Ipswich faithful felt slightly disappointed and underwhelmed when those players came in.

In those three he's clearly bought squad players, with the view to adding the missing gems in certain areas, either obtaining that quality on loan or waiting patiently for the likes of Grant Leadbitter and Carlos Edwards. These are signings of the calibre we so desperately craved, along with the seemingly inspired capture of kiddy Colback and Liam Rosenior. Positive signs, goals from a striker, injured players coming back, the rumours of Old Trafford loanees, are things finally turning the corner?

Goodness knows what Messrs Evans and Clegg must be thinking at this current moment in time. Is it too early to write off this season? Will Keane be faced with the same ‘time to gel’ problem next season if he spends another £8 million in the summer recruiting? Will the cheque writer even give him anywhere near that wealth to splurge? A businessman needs to be ruthless sometimes, but how can you compare running a football club to an everyday business? We saw the chairman's desire in Roy's appointment, but we know of his other side when things aren't exactly going to plan in the league.

In simple words, we cannot change the manager now. This will only lead us to League One. But I am very worried about the shortness of Roy’s contract. OK, a contract means nothing if a manager simply walks out due to mounting pressure, but maybe a small minority of our fans need re-educating with their short-sighted mentality.

I honestly believe this can be resolved (at least halfway) by showing them Mr Roy Keane is here for the long haul. Quit the bitching, sniping and booing, because he is going nowhere. Let’s share that long-term vision of the future. It won't always be blue skies, but it equally won't always be grey clouds either, sharing the ups with the downs. Natural transgression, compared to wholesale genetic modification.

The future? Now that's a tough one to predict. With the season still under 10 matches played only an idiot could think the entire Championship campaign is dead in the water. Would we be in the same position had Jim Magilton been granted a stay of execution? Possibly not. Would we have cared what brand of football was being played as long as we were 'winning ugly'? Maybe.

The thing about being right down the bottom, is there are very few places to go again apart from up. Roy Keane will make mistakes, we’ve already heard him admit to a few already, but as the bronze statues outside Portman Road remind us every time we walk past there, time is something that’s a very precious and valuable commodity to have.

Let’s get that brush, find some white paint and write ‘PROPERTY OF PORTMAN ROAD’ on Roy Keane’s back. We’re in no rush and neither should he be. He's proved to us in bricks and mortar he's staying in Suffolk, let’s give him the respect and time to prove his worth to the club. Five years Marcus, get that new contract written and give it to the man for heaven's sake, then we can start properly building for the future. Unified. All for the cause.

Photo: Action Images

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Notts_tractor added 20:21 - Sep 22 Terrific article - but like others I wonder if the two year contract was Roy's choice. I have never seen Town players celebrate goals so wildly in so low key a game as Saturday at Doncaster. RK has brought passion and commitment. he never claimed he'd get us up this year - let's see where we are in May 2011!
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BlueGriff added 20:24 - Sep 22 good article when bobby robson came he was probably third choice for the job and nobody was getting too excited the rest is history.time will tell if r.k. gets it right. keep changing managers doesn't work look at our mates up the a140c. c.o.y.b.
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jas0999 added 20:52 - Sep 22

Here here. I have said it before and received a lot of grief, but like it or not the squad assembled by JM was simply not good enough. Roy not only has to offload these underachieving highly paid characters, but also sign his own players and give them time to settle. He is doing a good job, but has more to do.

Give Roy a chance. IMO we will be challenging next season and although like everyone else am disappointed with this years start am realistic enough to realise this is work in progress.

TractorRoyNo1 added 21:42 - Sep 22

Good article, it is funny how these camps have emerged, those who wanted Burley out now want Keane to stay, and visa versa.

Keano obviously had 'history' but for me it was irrelevant as during most of that time we were not in the Premiership so didn't bother me, i hate united and arsenal so the fact that he and vauxhall viera were knocking lumps out of each other was just fun for those armchair saddos.

Given time he will deliver.

jesus added 21:50 - Sep 22 thanks good read
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bluelad7 added 22:01 - Sep 22 excellent article - now where's that poll where we can also the pro rk and well them moaning pessimists!
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Franzgumm added 22:46 - Sep 22 excellent article. and the comments give hope that our fans can see the bigger picture and are prepared to the gaffer the time he needs.
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Menton added 23:10 - Sep 22 Great article. At least some of our fans have a brain, I was beginning to wonder.
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PutYaBootsOnKeano added 23:24 - Sep 22

XRAYSPECS - Bang on.

John - well written article, pleasure to read. Broadly agree. What I would emphasise is something I felt strongly at the end of JM's reign, is that the squad he left behind was very poor. Every game i saw us last season, the players look two paces short of the teams we cam against. There was limited quality, but not enough snap. We needed a thorough overhaul of the squad, and that is now happening. Leadbitter looks class. Imagine when he's settled, and starts banging them in from 30 yards. We still have a long way to go. This squad building will take another year at least. Players will be more and more attracted, the better we start to play.

Another thing while i'm here. At the moment, Roy is defending himself after every game because he fears reactionary fans. Therefore, he moans about defense, attack, etc. Other teams are rubbing their hands together, they know we're low on confidence. If everyone leaves Roy to get on with this massive job, in what must be the most competitive league in the world, he'll be able to start taking snipes at other teams and not ours. That's when this man will make ITFC a team others fear. We'll be walking with our chests puffed, and teams will fear us. These are the small differences in sport that win games.

We need to make Keano feel like a King. He has all the ingredients, and we could be birthing yet another wonderful manager here. So let's get right behind the boys, especially KEANO and, for goodness sake, ENJOY BEING TOWN FANS, WHATEVER THE WEATHER!

UEFA81 added 23:41 - Sep 22

I've been slated on here for my 'negative' comments. I prefer to call them realistic.

However, I still do not feel that the Ipswich squad needed such a major overall; we did, after all, finish ninth last season - hardly the form of a crap squad is it?

My sincere hope is that things do work out and that Keane can bring glory days back to PR. That said, I just can't see it happening, no matter how much time elapses. I stand by my belief that Keane is not right for this club. ME is only interested in his business and the revenue that can be generated by success - I think he has no real interest in ITFC. It's the usual greed and short-sightedness of big business. It stinks.

The best thing that keane can do is prove me wrong - I hope he does but realisticly I know that's never going to happen.

I will be the first to admit I have been so wrong should a miracle happen and I will be as ecstatic about it as any other Town fan but even that would not change my opinion and feelings about Keane.

Yep, I'm behind the lads 100%, and no, I'm not one of the boo-boys (contrary to popular belief, nor a budgie either) - I always have taken my place in the North Stand with pride and passion and always will no matter what happens.

To me, the fact that Keane was offered a 3 year contract but only signed for 2 years speaks volumes (on which I will not elaborate).

So, like any other Town fan I will just sit back and wait and see what transpires - that's all that any of us can do, none of us can predict the future. All I know that is every game I naturally want us to win but realisticly I can't see us getting a point for quite a while.

Roy and the lads - please prove me wrong.

I've a rights to my opinion.

Peace.

matt_the_blue added 00:19 - Sep 23

UEFA81 - I do respect your right to your opinion but to counter, how can you say you don't think the squad needed an overhaul? Apart from the good run of the last 3 games of the season (I've yet to calm down from the euphoria of April's derby :D) our form after Christmas was woefully inconsistent, holding people like an in-form and top of the table Wolves to a draw away from home but being thumped by Southampton (by that point well and truly rooted to the foot of the table) at home! The fact that we finished 9th suggests to me we did need an overhaul because (stating the bleeding obvious here) 9th place doesn't even get us a crack at the play-offs, let alone promoted. Do we really want to be a yo-yo team like WBA and Birmingham and alternate between elation and despair every season? Or do we want RK to build a team that is capable of staying in the Prem consistently? I'd definitely op for the latter, get up there and be able to finish mid-table but not over-achieve so early like that blazing run in 00-01 (which I personally feel was behind our undoing in 01-02 but I won't go in to that now).

I personally think RK is the man for the job and can get us to that state, but like you I will be the first to put my hands up and admit I was wrong if it does go tits up. Let's bury all this infighting (it's all so Norfolk) and get behind the boys on Saturday and make some noise. COYB!

campowasgod added 00:26 - Sep 23 The purchase of his house has fallen through......
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devontractorboy added 00:53 - Sep 23

UEFA81 Thank you so much for being the voice of 'reason' I can't believe that so many people on here are 'loved up' on Keaneo. The facts are there for all to see and I speak as an exile who has supported the club since 1969 travelling many miles and spending loads. So please don't take the p**s because I live in Devon!
Our form is abysmal but who built our hopes up pre-season and has failed to deliver? I agree we have to go with Keaneo now but he has made himself look a grade one prat with the press & with it our much loved team.
So head down Keaneo and I hope & pray that things improve quickly, a performance befitting Sir Bobby on Saturday would be a great place to start!!!

SomershamBlue added 08:22 - Sep 23

'so many people on here are 'loved up' on Keaneo.' I doubt that. It's just that some of us realise that things don't always go to plan - and when they don't, the last thing that you need is people chucking bricks at you. You get your head down and get on with it.

And to those who say that RK built up expectations, well yes, he did. On the other hand, if he had arrived and mumbled on about how tough it would be and that we'd do well to finish mid-table, he'd have been slated for not having enough ambition, would he not?

Please give the manager, the team and the club your support.

Harwich_Blue added 08:44 - Sep 23 No time to write anything other - great article, you're not Derek Davies in disguise are you :-) , seriously we need more positive talk like this....
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