Keane: No Decision on Stern
Friday, 29th Jan 2010 10:39

Boss Roy Keane says no decision has yet been made on whether Crystal Palace striker Stern John will extend his spell with the Blues. The Town manager also confirmed that German keeper Jonas Sela had spent last week on trial at Playford Road, as first reported by TWTD yesterday, and revealed that he had received enquiries regarding members of his first team squad.

Keane says that contrary to reports in south London yesterday, a decision will be made on the Trinidadian after Saturday’s match: “I’ve not really spoken to Stern since the game the other night. Obviously he’s due to have his last game with us tomorrow, he’ll certainly be training with us today, he’ll be in the squad and we’ll wait and see.

“But we’ve not officially made any decision and things can change. If one or two of our other strikers leave, then Stern would certainly be staying.”

Keane says the situation with Palace going into administration doesn’t alter the position: “They’ll still have people running the club, they’ll still look for fees, loan fees or wages to be covered. Nothing has changed on that side of it.

“There’s been no change on the Stern situation. We’ll probably sleep on it over the next 24 hours and the first person we’ll inform will be Stern. We’ll let you know tomorrow night what we’re going to do.”

Keane says that with the transfer window closing on Monday, he has made enquiries for players and he has received interest from clubs for some of his squad: “It’s very quiet but there may be some action over the next few days. We still have until Monday.

“There are plenty of enquiries going on for players we might be interested in bringing to the club and we’ve had a few over the last few days for some of our lads. So it could be a busy few days.

“We’ve got a chief executive who has his eye on our money and I’ll step back from it over the weekend. Obviously if we get an opportunity to speak to the one or two players we’re interested in we’ve got Sunday and Monday to do that.”

The Blues boss says there has been interest in some of his senior players, potential moves which he has not ruled out: “The one or two players that might go out have very much been involved in the first team. We’ll inform the players if those enquiries are followed up.

“I got a phone call at half-eight from a manager last night which took me by surprise. I was very surprised. You don’t know what might happen.”

Keane says that every player has his price: “If a Premiership club offers me £5 million for one of my players I might consider it. You don’t know.

“Things change and a lot can happen over the weekend. There might be no enquiries. That manager rang me last night and asked if we could do something. The ball’s in his court. If he wants to make an offer, he’ll make an offer.”

Keane says German keeper Jonas Sela, who we reported was on trial yesterday, did well but is just one of a number of glovesmen to have been given a try-out: “He did OK. I’ve spoken to James Hollman. We need to look at our goalkeeping situation. He did reasonably well but I usually leave it up to the goalkeeping coach what he wants to do with them.

“We have goalkeepers coming in all the time, there are plenty of goalkeepers out there and we have no problem with them coming in.

“We’re still short of keepers with Brian Murphy out injured. We’re constantly looking at goalkeepers.”

Keane says that the deal to sign free agent 19-year-old American trialist Devann Yao is still not complete but could be done by Monday. The club have been working through red tape relating to compensation due to some of the clubs — Metz, Livorno, Pisa and St Mirren — that he was with as a youngster.

The Blues boss was impressed with his performance in the 0-0 reserves draw with Brentford on Wednesday: “He played the other day and he did very, very well but he’s still not officially signed for us.

“He’s a talented boy, he’s got a good attitude, good energy levels. He had a bleep test last week and considering he’s been out injured [with a bad cut to the calf] it was very, very good. He’s good at dealing with the ball, he’s aggressive. He’s a good player.

“He plays wide but like any decent wideman he come inside and he’s comfortable with the ball. We felt the boy deserved an opportunity at least until the end of the season and that contract will have to be sorted.”

Town have no new injuries but Brian Murphy is still out for around another week due to the ankle injury he suffered in the warm-up at Leicester. Skipper Jon Walters also misses out with his hamstring injury.

Photo: Action Images

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tractorgirl2 added 13:32 - Jan 29 keano has just been on sky sports say priskin is going now where, hope this means it is pablo that is going if anyone
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bluepirate added 13:32 - Jan 29

ChrisSwailes, firstly whats with everyone naming after a player??? Anway, I dont just say things I am a thinker, although I do think RK is a thug and should have been banned from the game many years ago after what he did and the comments he made regarding a certain challenge.

Anyway, Priskin had one good year, all strikers have one good year. Edwards if treated the same as Garvan, Wright and Pablo should be training with the reserves now, and Delaney makes not just one or two but a lot of mistakes, I picked out one that was punished and could have picked out three or four in one recent game that wasnt. I look back and dont remeber him clearing anything off the line, Macca has cleared lot off there but not him... in fact one recent Macca clearence he was covering a mistake by Delaney.

svendust added 13:46 - Jan 29 Delaney ok at best? Have you been to a game recently???
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dannysigma added 14:13 - Jan 29 @PaulMariner - there should be an apostrophe after the letter s in fans.
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Swailsey added 14:47 - Jan 29

bluepirate - I can think of two occasions where Delaney has cleared off the line. One in the last minute - against Derby I think (it could have been Blackpool though) and another a game or two ago, although that was nearly off the line. Thanks for splitting hairs. I would imagine his consistently good reviews both on here and in various newspapers (although I'm all too aware that aren't reliable) are a reflection of how he has been performing. I haven't missed a game since he has been at centre back (except for the Coventry match) and bar a few wobbles, I have been very happy with him.
I'm sure you're right though. You do post on an internet message board after all.

Priskin is still very young. He still has the capacity to learn and grow, give him time.

BenITFCMAD added 15:00 - Jan 29 I have been working in Ipswich today i am sure that i see Garry Hooper heading towards Portman Road in his car.
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Surco72 added 15:33 - Jan 29 If theres any truth in the Gary Hooper rumour that would be good news ,good finisher
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Surco72 added 15:49 - Jan 29 just seen that Mcmanus has signed for Boro and Fox for Burnley probably means Naylor wont be allowed to leave Celtic if we were interested in him ?
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legoman added 15:49 - Jan 29 Ime really excited at the prospect of Yao. I like to see people discovered. Its more interesting than temp signings of tarts like Gio.
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dirtydingusmagee added 15:53 - Jan 29 Paul Mariner, you saw ferlas post before he sent it, ! how do you see the team doing next season ?
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sirbobbyrip added 16:00 - Jan 29 Yao is a nice guy and a keen player, he should do well.
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finidigeorge88 added 16:06 - Jan 29 Keane spent 80 million at sunderland and.. He isn't spending that here so whats your problem, who are we going to get in? come on here we go same old ipswich fans who say curbishley, or these premiership managers they think we are going to get im sorry some of you are a complete joke.
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finidigeorge88 added 16:10 - Jan 29 Keane Tweddle exactly not going to change bore off guys keane with money is dangerous well he hasnt got 80 million lad so he isn't going to spend it 2 bad buys bad man management apparently i think he will do well for the club and we needded to get out of the system of having an ipswich man always in charge.
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legoman added 16:15 - Jan 29 Parden?
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jbb added 16:41 - Jan 29

To bluepirate, I think the comment that was made was that even Alex Ferguson (recognised as possibly top british manager ever) has made mistakes in the transfer market. Look at a list of players he bought in his first 3 years in Utd, how many were a success? Very few. Like every other manager he still makes mistakes in the transfer market(Nani? Veron? Fabio? Smith? Anderson? etc).

For Keane or any manager at Sunderland/Ipswich, often the player you get is not at the top of your list, often they are at the bottom of it. But if you identify a problem position, it must be filled by someone who, though they may have weaknesses, have potential/prev record to suggest they are better than what you have. Also most transfer fees are usually based on appearances and stage payments, I dont think anyone, other than the board, knows how much the club have actually paid or received this season.

In defence of Keane, tho he spent a lot of money after Sunderland got promoted, it was nearly all spent on championship players (Chopra, Jones, Halford, Etuhu,Higginbotham, etc). ie all on low wages, even his biggest signing Gordon, was also on low wages. His biggest mistakes were prob following season when, against his normal instinct, he went for players of dubious character with low fees but on high wages (Diouf, Cisse etc), players who were brought in to add premiership quality, but who turned the dressingroom against him.

This season he has got value for money with most buys/loans (Lee Barratt, Delaney, Rosenior, Begovic, Leadbitter, Colback) and the big disappointments so far (Priskin, Martin) are young enough to turn things around, if supporters do just that, support them.

BenITFCMAD added 17:22 - Jan 29 I just see on Sky Sports that we have been linked with Chopra over the last 24 hours. Hopefully there is something in this.
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bluepeter added 17:54 - Jan 29 I would be surprised if Gio came, and Keano said " I was very surprised. I wonder?....................................I
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buryblue77 added 18:15 - Jan 29

Although not overly impressed with John, we need strikers. I think Roy is just keeping his options open, for instance Priskin who has failed to find form could well be going out on loan (a move which I hope benefits him) Counago isn't guaranteed to be with as in February and if we fail to bring in any other strikers then I'd rather have John here than be short of strikers.