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

Lightningboy added 12:06 - Mar 27 Burley was a legend..we were always punching above our weight,always bringing through fantastic young players,always played sublime football and were always challenging for promotion - never a dull moment..Curbishley's Charlton were very similar to us back then. imho,if a new man comes in there isn't any need for major changes to playing staff..bring back Bruce & Stead (maybe even Priskin) and try and replace the players we've got here on loan. We've got a bloody good squad which any "half decent manager should get into the top half of the table" at the very least - now who said that last summer? (egg on face Roy?)

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steed added 12:07 - Mar 27 for god sake why do people want Curbishley ask any west ham fan what they think of him he has nearlly broke west ham. As for people saying Keane has got rid off a lot of players who he should not have are any of these so called players playing in a higher league than us, No they are not. Ipswich town have been in a mess since Burley Took as down and pit the club in addmin. Royle failed with no money and so did magilton. Keane will get us in the prem next season there needs to be a big clear out with a few qualty signings and a smaller squad. Keanes signings on the whole have been good delaney Shane O'Connor Grant Leadbitter Brian Murphy have all been good signings. jury still out on martin but he is a young player. Would cut loses on priskin and edwards but all managers make bad signings. as for clear out would get rid of Owen Garvan if he was that good other clubs would have comwe in for him to slow and thinks he is better than what he is .players to release Richard Wright Pim Balkestein Alan Quinn bruce trotter and counago sorry doesnt score enough goals 1 good performance every 4 to five games and maybe cash in on walters who has had a very poor season . Sign Daryl Murphy and a pacey winger hopefully Civelli will come back strong and try and find a goalpoacher who will get us 15 plus goals .

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WashbrookBlue added 12:20 - Mar 27 It is astonishing that there are still fans like Steed who cling to this fantastical belief that keane a) knows what he is doing b) has made good signings and c) will get us promoted next year. On what level can any of that possibly be anything other than the blindest of blind faith. We all wanted this man to succeed but the incontrovertible evidence hits us every day that he is hopelessly ill equipped to take this club forward and repair the damage that he single handedly has wrought upon us. Hopelessly inept judgement with transfers (in and out), tactics and substitutions that would have made even Sven weep, irascible and contradictory press outbursts AND most damning of all creating the worst season in my lifetime (first game 1969) - so many still seem to conveniently forget that we are in serious and sustained danger of 3rd flight football for 50 years and that after giving the man resources that any other championship manager would die for. What other "half decent managers" have been able to achieve with nothing like what he has had available makes the embarrassment even worse, combined with the fact that this is also the most mediocre Championship I can remember. To get us relegated with all that in his favour, really would take management incompetence of a hitherto unseen level and yet, you know, he might just do it. Too much to hope for that yet another dull , grim showing this afternoon will be his last but he must surely be on the brink. If I was Evans the Mariner thing would have been the absolute last embarrassing straw. Get rid please God and let some other mugs be suckered into believing the myth.

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dirtydingusmagee added 12:35 - Mar 27 steed,thanks for dropping in to planet earth on your travels,
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brendanh added 12:38 - Mar 27 I think changing manager every season is a bad habit to get into. Our form since Keane's first win has been just outside the playoffs. He made a right clanger with Rhodes, and probably Clarke too, but our defence looks significantly improved this season, which is a strong basis upon which to build. We are Ipswich, we give managers a fair chance. It's how we were able to attract someone of Keane's calibre in the first place. To much short-termism at this club is the reason we've been in the championship nearly a decade.

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siralfstrackie added 12:41 - Mar 27 I have backed Keane all season, but I'm afraid the writing is on the wall for his tenure. It's been a poor season, I'll be the first to admit it, but until tuesday night I still felt Roy could turn it around to push us into a respectable top half position, but that game knocked any remaining optimism out of my already battered system. I'm guessing Evans (and anyone who was at PR) feels the same, also guessing that season ticket sales ain't as high as would be hoped at this point. Keane has three maybe four games left by my reckoning. As for who I would like to see replace him (and being realistic) If Sean O'Driscoll was given the funds to bring Billy Sharpe in this summer, I'd be more than happy to welcome him. Sensible money would have to be on Curbs, but to be honest I'd welcome anybody that would shut the moaners the f**k up! Hey, I can dream, can't I? COYB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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bedsitfc added 12:45 - Mar 27 if curbs comes here, R.I.P itfc. poor manager nearly lost hammers prem status due to him upsetting all the players nobody wanted to play for him, but he did get lucky with charlton after nearly 10 years. i think and hope its press talking rubbish dont think evens will waste money on him
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cphtractor added 12:53 - Mar 27 Hope not.
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bedsitfc added 13:00 - Mar 27 BLUES1 - WEST HAM DID PLAY GOOD ATTACKING FOOTBALL RIGHT UP TILL CURBS TOOK OVER if we change manager mowbury would be the ideal manager knows the league can get teams up but i still would rather roy getting the second year changing managers every year dont help.
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These_arent_the_days added 13:06 - Mar 27 Washbrook you hit the nail right on the head
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steed added 13:08 - Mar 27 so washbrookblue as your fist season was 1969 were you one of the fans calling for bobby robsons head john cobbold backed him then looked at were he took us. If he had listned to the fans calling for his head do you still think we would have had a great history i think not. Keane needs time if we are not in the top six next year at xmas in the championship then fair enough he has had time and then i will agree it is a time for a change. I do not want us to end up like leeds qpr norwich ect sasking the manager all the time, We have always given the manager time and i hope this stays the same. In keane we trust.

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OnlyOneSuperJim added 13:09 - Mar 27 Would be great news in my opinion - Keanes`s comments disgust me regarding Paul Mariner. More and more fans turning against him now, He was always the wrong man for the job for a community club like Ipswich. Come on Marcus and get rid of this monster. Keano Out !!
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reusersfreekicks added 13:22 - Mar 27 Not Alan 'waste all West Ham's money Curbishley' please!!!!!!
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Hatman added 13:27 - Mar 27 Can't understand critisism of Curbs...(the guy I wanted to replace Jim); look at his record - took similar sized club to Town from nowhere to be established in the Prem, wasn't sacked, look where they are now, 3rd tier. Appointed to West Ham, similar sized club to us when they were bottom of the Prem and doomed, kept them up against the odds, then established them in the middle of the Prem, again wasn't sacked, was undermined so went on principle, look where they are now, teetering on the brink! The guy can manage football clubs of our size, he can turn them around and establish them in the Prem - isn't that what we want??

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yorkshire added 13:28 - Mar 27 Lightningboy added 10:43 - Mar 27 As long as we stay up i'd reluctantly take a defeat today so long as it means waving bye bye to Roy asap. So we now have town fans hoping to see their own team lose !!! Brilliant
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yorkshire added 13:33 - Mar 27 So Curbishly can take a team out of the Championship and establish them as a Premiership team ..... didn't a certain Roy Keane manage that in his first managerial role - and certainly over a shorter timescale than Curbishly
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dirtydingusmagee added 13:42 - Mar 27 well what ever happens ,who ever comes in, Keano has spent the dosh.Whoever comes in now are not going to get a Blankety Blank cheque book & pen from M E ,and if Keane dosnt go to Celtic we will be paying him off too, so it will need someone to get some performances from the players we have .BUT Keane hasnt gone yet .
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Hatman added 13:44 - Mar 27 Yorkshire - Keane was allowed to spend a fortune in that short period of time with Sunderland to get them up, Curbs never did with Charlton. Curbs proved himself and established his club on modest means over time; Keane went off the rails quickly by comparison at Sunderland. OK Curbs took time to take Charlton up, but their history before him was 3rd tier football, broke, no ground, he had it all to do..., and as I say, left them comfortable in the Prem. Huge achievement since undone by less capable men.

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yorkshire added 13:45 - Mar 27 Hatman - where are sunderland now ?
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Hatman added 13:50 - Mar 27 ?? Prem, - they had to get rid of Keane to ensure that!
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yorkshire added 13:52 - Mar 27 If you say so
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MarkITFC added 13:55 - Mar 27 would love curbs in , he proven and his tacticley aware unlike keane and its not a rish bringing him in we know whats hes about. But altough some of you want out we still need to get thses 3 points today.
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naa added 13:56 - Mar 27 yorkshire: please stop usinjg Sunderland as proof of Keane's greatness. He spent an absolute fortune, only just stayed up the first year - despite spending about £30M - and then left when they were struggling big time. Curbishly had Charlton in the top half for several seasons on practically no money. There is no comparison. Also, if this season has shown anything to me it is that maybe Sunderland was a fluke. All RK has acheived this year is to massively destabilise the squad, waste money on players even he has given up on, and have us put in some of the most dire performances I can remember. And it seems that each time we're rubbish he says he's learnt a lot about the squad. Really? How many bad performances do we need to give him before he learns everything. He's certianly had a few to choose from. Yet when we win he doesn't seem to learn much, as he keeps changing the feckin' team.

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yorkshire added 14:07 - Mar 27 Naa - so Curbishly was given a chance to build a team that eventually got promoted to the Premiership and then stayed there. Interesting. I wonder if our manager would be allowed that without idiots like you hounding him out
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naa added 14:15 - Mar 27 Since when am I hounding him out? All I've ever done is constructively criticise his decisions as a manager. It's hardly my fault if he's done very little right. And I'll thank you not to personally abuse me. I haven't called you an idiot because I don't agree with your opinion so please don't do the same. Agree that Curbishley was given time - but Charlton had no money and no history of success and he was doing a good job there (mid-table championship was good for them) so he was acheiving what was required of him, hence no reason to get rid. RK is in a very, very different position. True that it makes it much harder for him, but he's also been a victim of his own ego. He should have been far more conservative this season, rather than spunking a load of cash on players in a desperate bid to get us promoted ASAP. OK, ME clearly made quick promotion a target but still, a slower approach would have been more sensible. All he acheived was to give himself too many options in the squad and give himself no idea what his best 11 was (and he still doesn't know). I do agree that giving managers time is usually the right move, but I'm just so worried about RK's ability to waste money in the transfer market that if we give him too much longer and he fails the new man will have a poor squad and no money left to spend. That, seriously, is my only worry. Otherwise I'd be happy to let RK have another season.

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