Chief executive Simon Clegg says he and manager Roy Keane will meet soon to discuss Town’s pre-season plans for 2010/11. Last summer's pre-season, which Clegg admits was "disjointed", has been criticised in some quarters as one of the factors behind the club's poor start to the season.

The chief executive told TWTD: “Roy and I are due over the next couple of months to start planning pre-season for 2010/11.

“We need to recognise that as we both arrived in April at the back end of the season and went straight into the close season that we couldn’t actually do any real, proper strategic planning last summer.

“I’m talking in terms of where we wanted games to sit, when we wanted the army training to take place, whether we wanted some warm weather training overseas and how we put together a package which covered the whole of the build-up and provided the optimum build-up to the first game of the season.

“We didn’t get that opportunity last around, we were both desperately running to try and keep up, but now we are in a position to do that we will see a much more integrated programme over the close season in 2010. I wouldn’t say it was a bit of a rush this year, but it was a bit disjointed.”

Clegg says he expects the Blues to continue their recent improved form between now and May: “I am excited about the second half of the season.

“I am confident that you will see the club making significant progress up the Championship table between now and the end of the season.”

Photo: Action Images

bleedblue added 10:03 - Jan 6 I love the Fact that Clegg is always Positive and Optimistic. What a man.
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byebyesheepshanks added 10:04 - Jan 6 Does that mean no more overseas aid trips to Ireland picking up journeymen & mates for 100's of grand?!
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shropshiretractor added 10:13 - Jan 6 Haha, he's not a footballing man is he?!
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devontractorboy added 10:27 - Jan 6 Knows all the right 'buzzwords' and talks the talk, however I believe it was the changes in playing staff and RK not having a clue who his best 11 were. I think we've moved on from that now but still have a way to go. I hope his prediction of us climbing the table is correct as I wouldn't want to be where we are now in April. Oh & Happy new year to everyone on here and at the club!

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BluePG added 10:36 - Jan 6 A good figurehead for the Club, and always talks a lot of sense. Why folk slate him, I do not know. We had it with Sheepshanks too, who I also thought was overly criticised. Is it the Public School-cum-Forces types that fans resent? Admittedly, Clegg is not a football man. But his career is steeped in the sporting world, which is a lot better than many of his peers who are from completely different lines of work. This Keane, Clegg, Evans triumvirate will be heralded in time!!

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PablosRightBoot added 10:56 - Jan 6 You only have to think that October onwards things have been pretty decent, long may that continue!
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TedTurnip added 11:00 - Jan 6 Every time he does an interview he seems to let another small piece of information out that implies the whole of last summer was a bit of a balls up for the club. My favourite sound bite was when he told us he was on hoiday in Cornwall and still trying to sort out transfers on his car phone perched on top of a cliff just to get reception. I agree with Shropshiretractor, he isn't a football man. I think he will get there but he is not there yet!

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PavlovsCat added 11:09 - Jan 6 I certainly think Cleggy and co are on the right lines, though quite what this early pre-season will achieve is anyone's guess. Getting a football team into a winning mentality is nothing like preparing an Olympic athlete. Indeed, in 1992 Denmark scraped most of their team off the world's beaches at the last minute because they qualified for Euro 92 on the back of Yugoslavia's civil war. And they went on to win it! No preparation there.

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Vexorg added 11:12 - Jan 6 Cloggy is getting better. I haven't heard him refer to Ipswich "winning a goal" for ages .. but it begs the question, what was he doing from April until August? Running to keep up with what exactly?
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6fish added 11:29 - Jan 6 Well I'm glad to see they've recognised the problem at least. I've been on the last three pre seasons and all of them showed me the team was not ready for the start of the season. After the shambles which was the second half at Cork it was apparent to any Ipswich fan present that promotion was not going to happen this season. Lets hope they get a decent plan in place next year.

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moyardmadman added 11:37 - Jan 6 a good plan would be to get rid of keane and clegg
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COPOSTCODE added 11:42 - Jan 6 moyardmadmnan = BOO OOOOOOOOOOOOO
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Surco72 added 11:46 - Jan 6 Do you think Roys lack of support from a non footballing background man during the summer led to our rash buying of Martin ,Priskin and Delaney at left back and why in Jan we will probably try and sign a left back ,left midfielder and forward ? Although i have been pleased with Delaney at centre back
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byebyesheepshanks added 11:50 - Jan 6 Running to stand still, fighting fires, putting wheels in motion, reaching for goals. What a muppet. Gordon Brittass is running our club!!
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tractorboybig added 12:00 - Jan 6 byebyesheepshanks Gordon Brittass would do a better job, dont be unfair to Gordon.
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splitnotes_return added 12:44 - Jan 6 Have I missed something or were there several articles on here when Mr Keane joined us that said that pre season will be better. That we wont be rushing things as in the past that can lead to injuries, that we will be at the peak of our game by the opening day etc... Dont get me wrong I think Mr Keane is now starting to get this season's act together but to start saying that it was disjointed is the reason for our bad start... I think playing players out of position, having faith in players to start with who blatently were short of the mark (in terms of quality more than effort, Liam Trotter springs to mind and is now heading to Milwall) writing players off who clearly are of championship level if not beyond (Stead and Garvan, who 'were never going to play for the club again' after the West Brom match, ok he did not name names but everyone on here knew who he was on about) and relying totally on long diagonal balls for the first few games as a very predictable and only method of penetrating opposition defences (The Crystal palace home defeat being a supreme example). Now we have tightened up at the back, signed some true quality (Leadbitter is a class act) and have started to convert some of the many chances we are now creating are the reasons for better results of late. All things that could have been better in September! Up the Town and Happy New Year Splitnote

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im_marcacus added 12:56 - Jan 6 I don't know what people expect from a chief exec, at least he's forthcoming and treats the fans with some respect. I wouldn't swap him for any of the other idiots mismanaging the rest of the football league. CLEGGY CLEGGY CLEGGY!
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MBG added 13:00 - Jan 6 You gotta hand it to Cleggy there are few better in the business when it comes to soundbites. A real smoothy is this guy. The jury is still out on him. What we need more then just tinkering with the pre-season routine is cutting down on the bloated player list. We have one of the highest wages bills in the Championship and there's too much quantity rather than quality. Get rid of the dead wood and use some of the savings to sign better class of player - a specialist left back and a decent striker for starters.

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nobrain added 13:52 - Jan 6 I don't believe that ME is an idiot - he wouldn't have recruited SC without knowing that it would take him time to get up to speed on the football world. As others have said, there are some real clowns running other clubs... ...into the ground.
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bleedblue added 14:33 - Jan 6 fcuk off "moyardmadmnan"
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old_and_blue added 14:39 - Jan 6 I agree with the comments that his lack of football knowledge has been a problem but I also agree that he seems a decent chap who is learning his new trade. I also agree that he seems a lot better than some of the clowns and chancers running other football clubs... I would rather have him than the idiots who run Newcastle... Sacking Bobby Robson who got Newc to third place one year and 5th the next and got sacked!! Then employing Dennis Wise!! God preserve ITFC from such a fate.. The team performance is coming togther.. our defence is now better than it has been for years..

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Dalty added 15:52 - Jan 6 I agree with a lot of the positive comments about Clegg. In a way, I think appointing a person from a non-football but sporting background like his may be a plus. There's few things worse than chief executives who think they know the game and see fit to meddle with the football side of things. He's always been clear his role is to help Keane whilst not interfering with the playing side of things. To me he understands the role of a chief executive a good deal better than some in our league, happy to have him here.

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nthstd added 16:17 - Jan 6 Having been to 3 out of the last pre season trips, or good bits of them anyway. I would say they have gone down hill dreadfully. Sweden was the last one in which there was any real challenge, though saying that they won sod all in Ireland this year with the excuse that the Irish teams were in the middle of their season and therefore fitter and more honed. I think they should go pay the likes of Montpellier, Nime, a couple of National league sides and finish it with a game against Marseille in the first week of August. That would get a decent opposition, Nime and Montpellier are in the second tier of French football, cover the warm weather training, it will be 30 plus degrees, and allow me to see all the games! ( That's the selfish bit!) But seriously the preseason in NI last year was effective in that we won all three, but the first Keane one was rubbish from a supporters point of view and clearly from the team bonding/honing point of view. Roy was really popular mind!

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