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

neillrumsey added 14:25 - Mar 27 Disappointing to read all this negativity. The season has been poor but we are a much more difficult side to beat. Player for player albeit many are loan signings we have a much better squad than under JM. Too many living in the past. Why would a player want to come here? Ipswich are a small club with an excellent fan base and facilities but we cannot attract big players. Forget Rhodes his goals have dried up even in a Micky Mouse league. Bowditch hitting form Garry Roberts also but league 1 is very poor. Wickham is a better prospect. In Shane O'Connor I think we have potentially one of the best left backs in the league. We have some great talent but it would happen over night. Curbishley is not the answer neither is Mowbray. I think RK'S man management skills are lacking but changing will be disasterous.

0

WashbrookBlue added 14:32 - Mar 27 Yorkshire & Steed, for heavens sake , wake up! No one wants to chop and change managers for the sake of it and nobody is hounding anyone out (ridiculous comment in light of how amazingly solid and loyal to Kaene the crowd have been during matches). But the fact is we are STILL fighting the relegation battle we have been in all year and , as others have highlighted, even he has given up on players he squandered the perfect legacy on. He has systematically shredded the confidence of pretty much everyone in the team at various stages of the season (Wright R, Wright D, McAuley, Garvan, Counago especially) through his crass mismanagement and temper tantrums and the lack of tactical awareness and nous is truly painful. So on what basis should we "trust in" anymore - which is by the way a phrase that has tellingly disappeared of this site in the last 2 months. Time to face up to the fact that the club HAS to come first, second and third rather than sticking by a failed high risk experiment for the sake of avoiding "knee jerks".

0

kirbs added 14:35 - Mar 27 Yorkshire - your in the minority that want keane tostay here! keane is a crap manager and is destroying our club, if you can't see the damage he is causing to ipswich town then you really need to sort yourself out, were IPSWICH fans not KEANE fans, i think i know what fan you are.
0

WadzillaBhoy added 14:38 - Mar 27 I dont understand why people held a grudge against him from the start. BTW trying to force our current manager out will completely ruin our reputation not Keano. If we keep carrying on like this as fans no decent manager will want to join us. Some people need to get a grip he is our manager so lets support him. After all we are all supporters of ITFC, aren't we? Either some fans have joined the prawn sandwich brigade and only expect three points from every game, booing anything other than three points. Or some "fans" posting messages are canary scum in disguise. I think all the constant moaners should cut their losses with Town and just support Chelsea. Quite frankly I am getting bored of them, same old people, same old lines different day. All of this crying and whinging is making our club into a laughing stock not Keano's tactics. Start acting like "supporters" and support people once in a while. Its pathetic.

0

yorkshire added 14:38 - Mar 27 Kirbs - another fecking idiot - perhaps I am in the minority but I know which team I support and I back the players, the manager and everything connected with that club. Loyalty is required from a true fan, as it was when Ramsey started his career here and as it was when Robson started his career at Portman Road
0

blueblood66 added 14:47 - Mar 27 Whilst I wholeheartedly support Roy, Curbishley was my original man during Jim's tenure. Interesting speculation.
0

VemundBrekkeSkard added 14:48 - Mar 27 Yorkshire, I feel your comments about Keane being given a chance to build a team ready for promotion over a long time period like Curbishley did are a little misguided. The reason Curbishley managed to do so (after taking eight years) and why there were no "idiots" calling for his head is because he spent virtually NO MONEY in doing so. It's all well and good saying that Keane needs time to build his squad, but he was hired with the explicit intention that he would get us into the premiership by the time his two year contract was up, and that's how he's approached management at this club. This is NOT just a case of idiot fans being impatient, it's a simple case of finance. This was NOT intended as a long-term 'project', it was a full-blooded charge for promotion. And the money that we've spent (and continue to do so on wages) means that the club will be utter RUINED if we can't get promotion VERY SOON. We can't give him time to continue to build this squad. We don't HAVE time. The "kid in a candy shop" spending habits of Jim and Keane have ensured that. This club is absolutely haemorrhaging money (having gone waaaaaaay over Evans' allocated budget) and there is only two ways that is going to stop. 1) We get promoted next season. Or 2) We sell EVERY top earning player that we can't afford, scrap this doomed 'project' and build a financially viable long-term project from scratch with some sense of friggin' perspective. Under these circumstances I (and probably many more Town fans as well) would be more than happy to let the manager have a lot more time to build a squad over many seasons. But you can't afford to give patience under the current circumstances. Keane has brought that on himself, even more so than Jim did. That kind of spending only pays off when it yields IMMEDIATE results. We can't be expected to show patience if the people running the club don't show any. It just doesn't work that way.

0

MVBlue added 14:58 - Mar 27 We want Curbishley! When you consider Keane has become worst manager in Ipswich Towns history and the style of play (NOT IPSWICH) that we play now, it is INEVITABLE that Keane will now leave. Marcus is a very clever man letting it play out until the end of the season. If there was ever a spark in the team that changed things at the end of Magiltons tenure or indeed now in Keanes tenure, the manager would stay. Best thing to happen under Roy Keane: Conor Wickham.

0

blues1 added 15:10 - Mar 27 bedsitfc, so why is it all the people i know who support w ham want him back. he left them bcse of interference frm above, same as keegan did at newcastle. had nothing 2 do with his style of play or nething else. that why he was able 2 claim 4 unfair dismissal.
0

VemundBrekkeSkard added 15:38 - Mar 27 Look, at no point in my post did I call for his head. If he showed the perspective I was talking about and wanted to actually build a team slowly rather than just chucking money around then I would be perfectly happy with where we are this season. I would be perfectly patient with him as long as he stayed within budget and set REALISTIC targets for himself rather than shooting his mouth off about instant promotion. And as it is, there is little evidence that we are heading for promotion next season, which is what we need for this spending to pay off. Secondly, it is VERY easy to see we are over budget, but maybe that's because I paid attention in primary school maths classes and have a basic understanding of how to add and subtract numbers from each other. Just look at how much we've spent compared to how much Evans said we would be putting into the club. Look at the transfer fees and the wages of our top earners. Now look at our attendances and money in from transfer fees. It doesn't add up does it. Even if we don't spend any money at all in transfers over the summer, the high wages alone will continue to bleed this club dry. This is not speculation, it's simple economics, and it's all information that can be obtained with a simple google search. If the club was run on anything approaching a sound financial basis, where promotion wasn't an absolute necessity just to make ends meet, then I would be fine with giving a manager as many years as is necessary to build a long-term project for promotion over eight years like Curbishley or even longer than that, as long as there are signs of progress. It's Keane who has shown the most impatience in this situation, not the fans.

0

jamesy_itfc_keano added 15:39 - Mar 27 I agree with Yorkshire .. keane was given 2 years and everyone wants him out before the 1st one is even over. It is not only tha managers fault we are in this mess... its everyones. Sacking managers after every season wil get you no where ! Stability is the key here ! Yes its been a disappointing season so far.. but if we can finish 14/15th then we all got to move on and be ready for next season to push for promotion. All the successful clubs have stability !!

0

tractorgirl2 added 15:42 - Mar 27 i so wanted keane to work, his managment skills are questionable but in terms of are defenced side it is getting better and i belive are team is stonger, but some of his transfer dealing have been rubbish even i was excited about lee martins at the time. The problem with changing the manager now is we are not safe form relagtion yet so it would be stupid to do that now if there going to be a change it has to be close season i for one wouldn't mine curdishley he is a more expenice manager but if we do change we must stick with him this time as he rebuilds his squad no matter how we do next season, or we will never do anything

0

naa added 15:49 - Mar 27 yorkshire: thanks for that. Glad you've backed up your opinions as I tried to. tw*t
0

cobbold_fanatic added 15:57 - Mar 27 please let this story be true this disgusting rubbish weve played under magilton and keane has to end curbishley is exactly the sort of manager our club needs
0

naa added 16:02 - Mar 27 yorkshire: having read a bit further I find you utterly pathetic. Vemund put together a well argued comment, which you didn't agree with, fair enough, and you replied with pathetic abuse. The first sign of a tw*t. Why not put forward your argument, and why you believe it and go from there? For example, explain what about this season has shown to you what it is that RK is trying to acheive and what it is that makes you think next year will be better, and what makes you believe he is capable of buying the right players. Rather than just abuse everyone who doesn't agree with you. Either that or pi55 off. Either is fine with me. And please stop with this ar5e about how we're not fans if we think the manager might end up ruining our club and so maybe think a change might help. Surely it's the opposite isn't it? For example, I bet a lot of Norwich fans are very happy that RK is in charge.

0

yorkshire added 16:02 - Mar 27 naa - mwah
0

yorkshire added 16:06 - Mar 27 Is that the well argued comments about how we're waaaaaaaaaaaaay over buget which seems to be based on his basic understanding of maths and has not factual back up at all ? And please explain to me why RK is "ruining our club" - as far as I can see he has developed a couple of young players in O'Conner & Wickham, he has instilled disciplin into the team that was obviously not there under Magilton (see Supples comments) and has also imporved the traning, the medical facilities etc.

0

jamesy_itfc_keano added 16:13 - Mar 27 Couldnt agree more Yorkshire !
0

naa added 16:20 - Mar 27 OK, thanks for bothering with a proper reply. OK, this is where it's obvious it's just about opinion and not facts (for both of us, to be fair). You say he has improved discipline, training and medical facilities. How do you know that? Player dicipline on the pitch doesn't seem any different, how has training improved? Where are the signs that it has improved? Doesn't our abililty to concede so many late goals suggest that actually we tire at the end of games? As for budget, agreed that Vemund didn't back it up, but we are losing money every year. ME isn't writing that off, it's all debt against the club. RK and Magilton have spent about £15M in players and I'd say we are no better than when ME came on board -which must annoy him, if nothing else. Agreed re:Wickham and O'Conner. Just a shame he didn't try to bring Rhodes on too... Here's my take: his transfer dealings are suspect - we have 5 ex-Sunderland players (which suggests he does not have a scouting network that he trusts), he has loaned Priskin back out halfway through the season in which he bought him, Martin is clearly not good enough, or if he is, RK doesn't sem able to get the best out of him (goodbye £3M. Can we afford to keep making these kind of expensive mistakes?) Our performances for the most part have been poor. There's been a lot of hoofball, very little pass and move We can't score Our better players from the exsisting squad have either been marginalised or aren't playing well (Walters, R Wright, D Wright, Garvan, Pablo). OK, there are arguments for and against all of those players but nonetheless for the most part he hasn't replaced them in the squad with anything better. There. I don't think RK is ruining our club at all - if I said that I take it back - I just think that he's using too much of our transfer kitty to find his favoured 11 players. At the current rate he'd need to spend another £20M to get enough good players in. And he isn't going to be given that. That and the fact that we just don't look like improving. I still can't see what pattern of play he is trying to work towards.

0

jamesy_itfc_keano added 16:33 - Mar 27 Everything you have said there .. is true !! But i just feel stability is the key to success. Just my opinion
0

wiggymcbigalow added 17:09 - Mar 27 diss the fans who stuck by you through the worst season we can remember!? Who do you think you are sweetheart? You are a bully. You have no idea about tactics. You spent money very badly. I hope you are not sacked before the next home game. I want to yell at you. Management is not for you. Go away. Tw-at.
0

naa added 17:19 - Mar 27 jamesy: I can't argue with that at all, what with it being an opinion. Occasionally I think the same, that he should get at least next year. But then I just worry about what he's going to do to the squad in the summer and how much it'll cost, and how many more Sunderland rejects he's going to get (remember that it was RK who bought Healy for Sunderland and never actually played him. So he didn't rate him there either)

0

kentblue added 18:10 - Mar 27 Jamsey- you want stability ! Keane seems to be the most UNSTABLE manager around . One more year will make no difference to this type of manager. He has had almost a year and is still chopping and changing and causing instability ! Get rid of Keane asap !
0

Crock added 18:18 - Mar 27 Finally some good news.
0

buryblue77 added 19:00 - Mar 27 I just don't understand why it's not gone right this season, we've not really played that well all game in any match and as much as I really want Roy to succeed here maybe he's just not right for this job. After the job he did at Sunderland at the start and his first couple of games here at the end of last season, I really did feel he would get us up there in the mix this year. Just hasn't worked out at the moment, but I say give him time. There will always be media speculation at either high profile clubs or in our case when a high profile person (I don't say manager as he hasn't proved himself as a manager yet, but as a player there weren't many others higher than him in the game) when things aren't quite going as expected. Trouble is, I don't know who I'd replace him with if he were to go, not so sure I'd want Curbishley, though not sure why. Burley, no I just don't think it would work out. Mowbray, again, not convinced so I just can't think of anyone who I'd rather have here right now, I really do feel next season it will all come together

0

Blogs 296 bloggers

Ipswich Town Polls