Roy Keane’s tenure as Town manager is close to coming to an end, according to widespread reports this morning. Alan Curbishley, spotted at Town’s recent games against Cardiff and at Watford, is said to be the man being lined up as his replacement.

According to one report, Keane’s relationship with owner Marcus Evans has broken down and they only communicate through chief executive Simon Clegg, a claim which may stem from the Town manager himself saying that he rarely talks to Evans last week: “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.”

The Town boss is also said to have fallen out with his squad, about whom he has been highly critical in recent weeks with a major turnaround in playing staff likely in the summer if Keane remains at Portman Road.

Regardless of the truth of today’s claim regarding Evans, the owner is unlikely to be happy with the current situation having given Keane significant funds to make a promotion push and with Town still far nearer the relegation places than the top six and currently showing few signs of pushing on.

Last season, Evans waited until Jim Magilton’s side had no chance of the play-offs before dismissing the Northern Irishman, giving Keane the final couple of games to access the existing squad. It wouldn’t be a surprise if the Town owner and chairman chose to make a similar move this time around once the Blues’ Championship status was assured. One paper today claims he could make the decision even before that is the case.

Curbishley and his Charlton and West Ham assistant Mervyn Day were spotted watching the home win against Cardiff and the away defeat to Watford. Day was reportedly on scouting duty for Fulham, but the pair are now available for work after Curbishley won his case for constructive dismissal by West Ham and were strongly linked with Town this time last year.

Meanwhile, Keane's name continues to be linked with the Celtic manager's job vacated by Tony Mowbray on Thursday.

Elsewhere, reports in Ireland are linking the Blues with 21-year-old striker Ciarán Kilduff, who currently plays in the League of Ireland with UCD. The 6ft 3in tall former Shamrock Rovers trainee is rated as one of the top youngsters playing in Ireland at present.

Photo: Action Images

Godmanchester_blue added 07:30 - Mar 27 I have a feeling this one is going to run and run and.......... I'm guessing this is just media speculation but let's hope it's resolved one way or the other asap. Evans: let him go or make a statement of unequivocal support..............
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HampshireBlue added 07:33 - Mar 27 Curbishley?? Please no.
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gerard1947 added 07:36 - Mar 27 ME is a business man, he will be weighing up the sale of season tickets and future success against the impact of compensation to Keane. Personally I am pretty certain Roy will make it as a a good manager, possibly not here though.
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tractorintheloft added 07:37 - Mar 27 Once again a town manager has polarised the supporters. This season has produced the worst entertainment since the Duncan era, very narrow, worried about losing and not creating clear goal scoring opportunities. Keane is happy to moan about the poor finishing but the truth is that we are so narrow and never get in behind the opposition and the chances we create are not good enough. His playing style is more suited to the SPL. Jog on please.

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LowstBlue added 07:43 - Mar 27 HampshireBlue......on what basis do you not want Curbishley???? Proven manager at a club of similar size. Has contacts at clubs other than Sunderland (or Ireland) and appears to be more level-headed so is more likely to engage his brain before opening his mouth!
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stainless added 07:50 - Mar 27 LowstBlue, Curbishley was manager of Charlton for 8 years before they got promoted, would you be happy for him to take a similar time to get ITFC up? Whilst at West Ham he wasted money on 'has been' players and achieved nothing. Personally i'd rather have Mowbray
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bennyblue added 07:52 - Mar 27 \"im not a great one for talking\" could a fooled me the problem is you spend too much time talking shi.e on that right wing extremists sky tv,..., i wish it was true dunno who this curbishley is but he cant be any worse.and as for evans he doesnt seem too have a clue i thought the bloke was a wealthy business man he wont stay that way if he employs people like roy.pim verbeek or guus lets get someone in for 1 year organise the club and stop the slide that roy has sent us into. i always said the only good thing about cork was murphys stout an that young lassie i spent 2 hours with on the bus to skibbereen

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AYACCA added 07:53 - Mar 27 Maybe it would be best for everyone if Keane was offered the Celtic job & someone else comes in to stabilise things and maybe we can get our nice ITFC image back. Curbishly is a good manager, Burley & Mowbray know the club and would have us playing good football. Sean O'Driscoll is in that mould too. Paul Lambert aint half bad either....
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tractorintheloft added 08:02 - Mar 27 AYACCA - Agree it would be nice to be no longer referred to as "Roy Keane's Ipswich" by the media.
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HampshireBlue added 08:19 - Mar 27 Lowstblue - My reason has already been answered by Stainless. I cannot see why so many people rate Curbishley, and the football his teams play is hardly exciting to watch. I would rather give Keane more time before rather than continually debate a vacancy that does not exist at the present time.
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tractorgirls added 08:19 - Mar 27 i'd be happy with that.
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bennyblue added 08:21 - Mar 27 thats agreed then now who wants to start ringing around ?
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TractorMan added 08:21 - Mar 27 Well Curbishley always clearly wanted to manage Ipswich as he bought all our players! :)
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pabloc added 08:37 - Mar 27 i agree with gerard1947 i think keane will make a good manager but not here,i am not a "keane outer" but hes way is not the ipswich way.He is trying to be like clough but the game is changing all the time which makes keanes style old school.He would be more at home at celtic where i think that those type of pllayers can handle what he dishes out.
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Dolly2.0 added 08:41 - Mar 27 If Keane is to lose his job we need to get an experienced manager in having tried and failed with inexperienced ones. Curbishley fits the bill and to be honest i don't really get all this 'don't like his style of play' stuff. i don't remember Charlton or West Ham playing horrible football. Certainly, the football we play at the moment is hardly setting the world alight. I think people want too much. An experienced head, good with the media, flowing football, success...sorry guys but I don't think we can afford Mourinho.

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Mungo added 08:52 - Mar 27 I think this is becoming increasingly inevitable. RK just hasn't worked out and isn't likely to, and I think it is time for everyone to move on. RK is apparently in contention for the Celtic job, and I think most people would be happy with that. A big club like Celtic will be able to attract more RK style, high profile players, which I think has been one of RK's main frustrations/failings this year - he hasn't been able to lure the players he knows/wants here, so has had to settle for players he doesn't really want/know much about but thought they could do a job. Somebody the other day said something about "horses for courses," and I have to agree. Curbishley was in line for the England job a few years ago, and is probably a good mix of relativeley high profile and medium sized club experience...

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Nazemariner added 08:52 - Mar 27 Aint gonna happen!
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Blueway6324 added 09:01 - Mar 27 Curbishley no thank you, Mowbray has not done well with a team in the SPL that in fotballling term on par with Championship. Burley was found out in our second season in the Preimership, if these were good managers they would all clubs knocking on their door, when they sack someone but they don't. The reports in the paper today are the same ones that have been going around all season, even a 3 year old kid could do what most of these football reporters do, and is to go on the internet, go to google and put the words in Keane, players, upset, money, and they come up with all the reports that have been done. So people get a grip, support the team and the manager, that is all we have to do as supporters

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mj23 added 09:12 - Mar 27 After recent weeks i genuinely don't see any light at the end of the tunnel. Poor performances by players who should be motivated to do a lot better and no belief in RK to turn things around. Time to do something - i want my Ipswich back!!
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im_marcacus added 09:21 - Mar 27 I wasn't considering Keano leaving as an option, but a manager swap with Celtic would be a delightful solution. Tony gets his teams playing the attacking football we crave. Good old boy to boot.
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mj23 added 09:25 - Mar 27 And hopefully they'll take Keano first so we get the compensation!
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byebyesheepshanks added 09:26 - Mar 27 Keano is history, 100%. Curbs will get the job. I'd like to see Burley back for a proper, traditional, sustained push for the prem. Curbs with money (Dyer, Davenport) was as bad as Burley (Finidi, Ulrich). Without money, they are good managers. At least Burley loves this club.
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mripswichtown added 09:26 - Mar 27 what a load of tosh! Curbishley was at the game for another reason and he we wont do it for us. Keano!
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bennyblue added 09:36 - Mar 27 im sorry but roy sold it off and replaced it with a load of 2nd rate sunderland and republic players who probably wouldnt make it in the scottish number 1 or 2 for that matter
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maimeetang added 09:39 - Mar 27 Coppel in! Or Burley! Or Mogga! Or Mariner;)
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