Boss Roy Keane says he appreciates that club owner and chairman Marcus Evans has been patient with him up to now, but feels that his side need to put in a run before the end of the season if he is to continue to receive that backing. The Town manager says he deals with chief executive Simon Clegg on a regular basis, while meetings with Evans are rarer occurrences.

Keane said: “The owner’s been fairly patient with me so far, but we need to get results to get to the summer to take real stock of where we are and where we’re short.

“We don’t speak on a week to week basis, which suits me, I’m not a great one for talking. It suits the owner, obviously I know he goes to the games and we have a chief executive here.

“You’d hope there’s understanding there, but you see what happens with other managers, top, top managers and good people losing their jobs, depending on players if they fancy it on a certain night. It’s amazing that you have to work in that environment, but that’s why they say you have to be mad to be a manager, and you do.”

Keane says that contrary to a report yesterday, no meetings have so been arranged with Evans to discuss any summer plans: “No, not yet, but we know how it works at the club. I speak to the chief executive and I’ve been delighted with the support.”

The Blues boss was also dismissive of reports that Alan Curbishley has been a regular watcher of Town in recent days: “My job is not depending on what the media have to say, who’s watching the match or which managers have been linked with my job.

“That’s all the media are prepared to write about. Even though they are supposed to be writing match reports, they’re more keen on writing about who’s watching the match.”

The Town manager is less than impressed with the way some of his players' approach matches when the Blues are on their travels: “It’s the away games that are the problem. Some of our players don’t like travelling, they miss the home comforts of their dressing room.

“You look at our away record compared with our home record. The results will tell you that we’re a home team. It’s a comfort zone when you’re at home. Strange, but we’ll get it sorted out, don’t worry.”

The former Ireland captain feels the problems go back even before his time in charge at the club and understands why ex-Town boss Jim Magilton had a less than harmonious relationship with some members of his squad: “I’d like to chat with the previous manager who was here. There’s players here that I believe the previous manager fell out with and I can understand why 100%.”

Keane kept his team in the dressing room for 90 minutes after the Watford game and says on occasion things need to be brought out into the open: “Sometimes you have to get it off your chest. We’re all big boys. I’ve had a manager punch me before and he [Brian Clough] was dead right, absolutely dead right. The best thing he ever did to me.

“I can understand Brian Laws fighting with [Ivano Bonetti when he was Grimsby manager] and breaking his jaw, I can understand why Brian Clough hit me. Players drive you crazy.”

The Town boss says the more established members of his squad should be playing a greater role at the club: “I look at some of the senior players who have been here for a number of years because they are the ones who know the ins and outs of the club. I look at Pablo Couñago, Gareth McAuley, Jon Walters. These type of players have to lead the way because they know the fabric of the club.

“They should have an understanding of why the team has not pushed for the play-offs over the last few years. It’s clear we have talented players but talent alone won’t get you in the top six.”

Meanwhile, George Burley says he’d quite fancy the Bristol City job, which became vacant when Gary Johnson left by mutual consent yesterday: "They're a great club who are looking to get to the Premier League, but obviously there are a lot of people looking for jobs in football at the moment.

"However, anybody with ambition and experience would have to say they're a club which would interest them."

Photo: Action Images

ITFC1985 added 11:14 - Mar 19 Berts_chin - Garvan and running in the same sentence do not really go together.....
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Wickets added 11:34 - Mar 19 Quite honestly not sure if Keano is the best manager for Town or not, he has my support for the time being,but he is right about Tues most of our senior player looked well off the pace! as for Garven, who has played well lately, he was letting himself down on the pitch he looked total out of sorts.It's annoying 'cos he has the abitity to be a top player for us.
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thebooks added 11:40 - Mar 19 As ever Keane is talking a lot of sense; our senior players *should* be taking more of a lead. At the moment it seems they're just going with the (depressing) flow. I can understand why Keane told 5 players that they weren't wanted at the club at the start of the season (Garvan etc. just aren't that good, unfortunately), but it's obviously affected performance. There's no side at all to Keane, which is one reason we fans like him, but it can obviously cause problems. Still, performance is ultimately the manager's responsibility. I think it'd be wrong to sack Keane unless we were relegated - any manager deserves some time to get things right - but if I were him I'd be worried. The club's print communication channel (also known as 'The Evening Star') was openly very critical yesterday (excepting Phil's column).

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Tractorog added 11:50 - Mar 19 There are plenty of times I'd like to punch a few of our squad... will this make the team turn up against Barnsley? I like Keano, he is refreshingly honest - but you sometimes think that if you gave him a spade he'd dig his own grave. But no matter - he is the boss, they are the team and we are the spectators. We should each stop trying to do the others job. Until such time as the person who calls the shots decides to make a change everything else is just idle speculation.

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roytheboy added 11:51 - Mar 19 I'm pleased there are postings on here today supporting the effort that our Manager is making, I have been deeply disappointed by the lacklustre efforts of certain players this season and last, what on earth has happened to Walters skills and efforts this season and is he the right player to be Captain ? Garvan can be excellent but I think he may have an attitude problem when he comes out and plays poorly, I'm sure the Manager knows however, we all love Pablo, but sometimes he seems so ineffective and unable to change his style when required, then there are some loan players who I believe are not making the complete effort for our club, happy to get there wages and stay clear or injury, I can understand that of course, I have always liked Roy Keane and personally sincerely hope that he is with us for at least another season, I believe him to be a very genuine man, full of passion of course, let's be fair now and acknowledge that with his career and leadership skills gained at one of the worlds top football clubs surely entitles him to be recognised as a football professional, I for one have every faith in him if he is given time, if there are players at ITFC who are not prepared to give there all (we know that this was the case during Jim and Joe's reign) then they should be the one's to leave, not Roy Keane, and the sooner the better, I realise that many of you have totally different opinions, however that's how I genuinely see it.

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campowasgod added 12:06 - Mar 19 Seem to remember after a spell on the sidelines , Garvan came on and made a couple of agressive tackles . I thought then that Keanes influence may be evident but this seems to have stopped again . Garvan needs to run with his arms by his side like any normal player instead of waving them in the air as he runs like a great big pansy !! He must be more agressive if he is to play CM.

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thechangingman added 12:18 - Mar 19 Yawn, yawn... Is this what being a Town fan has come to? Bickering over whether to sack a particular bloke or not... how tiring and soul-destroying.... Hopefully (whoevers at the helm) next year we can start focusing on the football and chatting about our aspirations and hopes for the season... I just feel really very tired and more than a little bit disillusioned with our grand ol' club and the 'issues' (sic) around it at the moment...

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alfromcol added 12:25 - Mar 19 It does not make keane a bad manager if he can't get some of the players to respond. Many players now have long contracts, more money than most of us would know what to do with and no amount of urging or threats will make some of them respond. Lack of effort and they still get paid shed loads of money. Where is their incentive, it requires someone like keane to continue to shake them up and make them uncomfortable. Don't be surprised if Walters isn't Captain on Saturday. Might even be on the bench. Plenty of effort, but no real results (34 appearances 6 league goals - not much to shout about. A change in his area of the pitch might help.

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alfromcol added 12:48 - Mar 19 It does not make keane a bad manager if he can't get some of the players to respond. Many players now have long contracts, more money than most of us would know what to do with and no amount of urging or threats will make some of them respond. Lack of effort and they still get paid shed loads of money. Where is their incentive, it requires someone like keane to continue to shake them up and make them uncomfortable. Perhaps some of you negative posters would like to spell out just how you would motivate some of overpaid work-shy players we have in the team? Don't be surprised if Walters isn't Captain on Saturday. Might even be on the bench. Plenty of effort, but no real results (34 appearances 6 league goals - not much to shout about. A change in his area of the pitch might help.

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RRanger added 12:54 - Mar 19 Well said Roytheboy - I agree with everything you said, particularly regarding Walters,Garvan and Counago. So far as our loan players are concerned the only one in my book that has been an unqualified success is Colback who just gets better and better and will I'm sure make it at the highest level. If RK is still our manager at the end of the season, and I hope he is, I think we should offer Sunderland £2mill.for him ...you never know. Rosenior?Blows hot and cold.Has professed a desire to stay beyond the season but I'm not sure -good going forward, can link up well with Walters but I feel his defending is sometimes a bit slapdash - has been bailed out on more than one occasion by Mcauley. Murphy? Five goals in quite a short time but definitely not good enough for the Premiership -his right foot is only for standing on and good defenders will always work him out. Healy?Obviously very rusty. RK says he's the best natural finisher in the club but he doesn't seem to put himself in the best positions to get the chances to prove that.He has put in 2 or 3 of the best crosses (from the right) I've seen this season. Of RK's purchases: Leadbitter - most fans would say he has been a success and I agree with that but should be scoring a few more goals especially as he seems to be the main free kick taker. Delaney - at CB he has been outstanding and his partnership with Mcauley one of the best in the championship. Murphy - looks a great keeper -would think he has every chance of taking over from Given eventually. Martin - he was the purchase I was most excited by.You would have to think that when RK was a senior player at ManU Lee was one of the most promising youngsters on their books.Perhaps he doesn't have much self confidence or maybe just hasn't "kicked on" but whatever he has been the major disappointment so far. Priskin - a poor man's Berbatov. undoubtably skilful but is never going to appeal to those fans that equate charging around the field with 100% commitment with 100@ value to the side. I can't think of any other player in our side that would have provided the back heel to Colback from which he scored earlier on this season.I hope he doesn't do too well at QPR because I'd like to seem him back at Portman Road. If he's good enough to play regularly for Hungary he has to be good enough for us. I was very disappointed at the Jordan Rhodes sale.Maybe he will make it at the highest level,maybe he won't but it would have been nice to have seen him have an extended chance in the championship at Ipswich. All in all I do think RK's purchase/loan balancesheet is positive - after all nobody can get it right all the time.

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blueherts added 12:55 - Mar 19 It doesnt make keane a bad Manager if he cant get players to respond ??? That is exactly what a manager should be doing - him and his staff getting the best out of players We are seeing the result of his 'style of management' 9 wins Scrapping for relegation - Millions spent on players not involved Good management !
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Guthrum added 13:23 - Mar 19 It isn't quite the same as management in a normal business. Players are not only employees, they are also assets, in their own right, worth money. You can't sack a footballer outright, because you then lose the club's investment. You have to try to sell them, which is limited to certain time-windows and if no-one's buying ... So a player (with a reputation for being reasonably talented) can underperform, knowing he's still going to have a job, still get paid loads of money. And if he is shipped out, it's not onto the dole, it's straight into a new job! These are also young men, mostly in their late teens and twenties. They've been highly rated since 'discovery' as children. They've never had a proper job, never lived in the real world as most of us know it. I'm not saying they don't work hard in training and keeping fit. But psychologically they're not like staff in a business who have had to apply for their job and then work to keep it. The ambitious will want to push on and succeed, but what about those with talent and no ambition? What about those who realise they've gone as far as they can go? There's no incetive to work hard, unless you've got a fierce manager pushing you on. I imagine an awful lot of football Managers work like this, they just don't come out and say it as RK has done.

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Help added 13:37 - Mar 19 Reading some of the comments on RK and his playing commitment compared to the players under him. Reminds me of the stories of Glenn Hoddle when England manager, and his frustration when Messers Gasgoine and Beckham could not grasp the things we wanted them to do. As I have said before. Use the qualities the players have to the best you can. Partnerships work. big man, little man up front. Kuqi/Bent. Holding midfielder, box to box man in the middle. It is simple, so lets not try to over complicate things. RK is and has al season doen just that. Over complicate. Change for change sake. Yes players are to blame. But if you were lambasted by your boss, how would you react. How long did it take RK and staff to put Delaney in middle of defence. With respect I think the great Keven Beatie worked that one out about a month or two before RK. RK has not been consistant, and neither has his team. Lets not forget some of those early season disaster results for the 1st 14 games were RK fault. square pegs round holes, changes. Thsi is a man who was happy with his inherited players at the start of the season, who again wants to make wholesale changes. A man who only did it once with sunderland, (bit like Curbs then) who was going to do it in 2 at worst, now wants the 5 year plan Burley had. Inconsistant is the buzz word, and applies to everything about this club and staff at this time.

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J45 added 14:19 - Mar 19 Well done evans for being paitent i think keane could be the man there looks to be some improvement in the last month or so. It is good to be paitent.
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WadzillaBhoy added 14:39 - Mar 19 To be fair to Keano we have only lost 11 games this season, the only teams with less losses than us are all in the top 5. Also in Jimbo's first year we lost 20 games, we have 9 games left so if we lose them all then they have equal first season defeats. Under Keano we are a hard team to beat some fans need to wake up, everybody knows this season is moot but next season with the signing of new strikers we will be right in the mix for promotion.

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blueherts added 16:01 - Mar 19 You have to think who would want to come and play for Keane ? that is another factor- if we plan to offload players then - as we have seen this year - it is not easy finding players and ME is not going to hand him a blank cheque book , especially after a couple fo the signings he has made
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blueherts added 16:09 - Mar 19 You have to think who would want to come and play for Keane ? that is another factor- if we plan to offload players then - as we have seen this year - it is not easy finding players and ME is not going to hand him a blank cheque book , especially after a couple fo the signings he has made
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blueherts added 16:11 - Mar 19 You have to think who would want to come and play for Keane ? that is another factor- if we plan to offload players then - as we have seen this year - it is not easy finding players and ME is not going to hand him a blank cheque book , especially after a couple fo the signings he has made
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blueherts added 16:13 - Mar 19 wow i think i made me point - one would have been enough!! anyway bored now so lets think about how we gonna win tommos no more keane airtime
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blueherts added 16:13 - Mar 19 wow i think i made me point - one would have been enough!! anyway bored now so lets think about how we gonna win tommos no more keane airtime
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WickedBlue added 17:04 - Mar 19 Owen has the talent I have always thought that, but lets face facts he is not always showing that talent for different reasons. Lets take the Watford game, no I was not there but from talking to my friends who were the pitch was terrible and cutting up badly, not a pitch for paying on the ground. That is Owens game and the fact he couldn't play it like that our midfield was overrun. They played us off the park in the first, RK to his credit knew he had to change things and it was Owen who was sacrificed. Things improved a little for us but getting to grips with the pitch and with Watford till the second half. Bottom line I like Owen always have but sometimes I do get so frustrated with him, as I know he has the talent he just doesn't show it all the time. Those of you complaining about RK are clueless and no matter what manager comes in if they can't produce instant success you are going to complain and no Manager can produce instant success. Bottom line is no matter who is bought in you lot are going to complain. You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs, and RK is in the middle of building here it takes time. I am more than a little hopeful for next season and look forward to it. I think ME is correct in sticking with RK but in the end it is his decision not yours how long RK has. Just please if RK does go not Curbishly, one of the following yes...Burley, Mariner, Holloway or Warnock. But if it is Curbishley he will get my support as I support anyone that is Ipswich.....

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jas0999 added 18:29 - Mar 19 Don't get me wrong - I have always liked Garvan - but anyone actually at the match on Tuesday can not deny that he HAD to be taken off. No point whinging or moaning - he was poor. Also ask yourself this - even Jim dropped him. Why was that? Are both Jim AND Roy wrong? I doubt it. It seems to me that Garvan may be his own worst enemy. Who exactly is RK referring too when he mentions I'd like to chat with the previous manager who was here. There's players here that I believe the previous manager fell out with and I can understand why 100%.”: Walters: Doubtful McAuley: Maybe but unlikely Counago: Great pals with Jim so unlikely Wright and Wright: Neither played which leaves ... OWEN GARVAN So all of the complete idiots who are waiting to find fault - look into things a bit more before slating him for taking Garvan off.

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blueherts added 21:36 - Mar 19 Wright played under JM Bruce had his ups and downs with JM Quinn The idiot here still would like to know who Keane can attract to the club - apart from his old Sunderland reserves From a footballing view if you think we are moving sideways let alone forward I think you are deluded
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leadbitter6 added 23:16 - Mar 19 berts_chin your a mug, gavan is a championship player at best, and always will be. norris and leadbitter are our best CM pairing by far. i couldnt give a toss if gavan left, hes only a good player when teams give him time on the ball. Keane got it right in the summer, 'he's not far off being a decent player'. hes another player who was happy taking his wage, spending half of it in ladbrooks and seeing the club go nowhere.

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roytheboy added 00:17 - Mar 20 I am looking forward to tomorrow's game and believe, (win or lose) hopefully win ! that there will be a much greater effort shown by the team, in particular certain players who have clearly under performed recently, if I am correct, then it will be largely and mainly due to the 90 minutes in the dressing room following the Watford game and should be credited to the Manager, who clearly is trying to get the team playing with the same passion that enabled him to become such a great player and Captain for such a massive club, for such a long time, Roy Keane should be given maximum support from true ITFC supporters, we all want the same thing ultimately but cruel comments on this site will help nobody, he will continue to get my total support and respect, for his committment, his honesty and his passion for our club, please let's not try to force him out, he has not had enough time to produce the goods yet, I can still hear in my head, the unpleasant calls for the sackings of Jim; Joe and George, remember too how Mr Cobbold kept his faith in Sir Bobby, thank God that he did ! enough said ?

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