Boss Roy Keane says he hasn’t given up on summer signings Tamás Priskin and Lee Martin despite the pair’s poor showing during their first season at Portman Road. Priskin, a £1.7 million acquisition from Watford is currently on loan at QPR, while Martin, signed for a fee understood to be approaching £2 million from Manchester United, has only fleetingly been involved in the second half of the season.

Keane said: “We paid decent money for Lee Martin and Tamás Priskin and the frustrating thing is that they’re the two boys that it hasn’t worked out for yet.

“Tamás is coming back and I spoke with Lee and he knows how I feel and that he probably should have done better. Lee knows that himself. Players are intelligent people and they’ll know that they need to do better.”

The Blues boss says he will speak with the Hungarian striker when he returns from his loan spell at Loftus Road: “I’ll be having a chat with Tamás this week and I’ll see where his mindset is because you want players who want to be here and want to do well.

“They’re good players, it’s not worked out for them yet but it doesn’t mean they aren’t as talented as when they walked through the door.

“But to help them along, we need one or two more experienced players in the right positions at the club to help these boys.”

Keane says most of his summer money will be spent on finding players to put the ball in the net, Town’s most significant failing this season: “I think we will have to throw money at it in terms of the attacking players, I think you always have to.

“But it’s not only about spending, there are clubs out there who have had good seasons — Blackpool, Leicester — they’ve not exactly spent a fortune, so it can be done.

“We’re short in terms of the attacking players and goalscoring threat and that’s where we’ll have to invest.

“In terms of the other positions where I think we need experience, I think there are players out there without spending fortunes.”

Despite the poor season, supporters for the most part still back the Town boss, although Keane says he is aware of one or two dissenting voices: “The fans have been good to me so far, most of them. There’s one or two that stand behind the dug-out, I could do with getting them moved, and they might get moved!

“But you can’t please everybody and I understand 100% the frustration of supporters. Do you not think we get frustrated? Do you not think that we go back as staff and players and analyse games over cups of tea and packs of Ginger Nuts? We discuss it all day.”

Meanwhile, the Irish Times also interviewed Keane at length when he was back home on Thursday, a piece in which he talks about his concerns regarding Irish players and alcohol.

Photo: Action Images

northdevonblue added 14:07 - May 1 Never realised we paid so much for Martin he has never looked worth that for any club that he has been. I hope that he does come good because we are crying out for some on the ball quality and creativity on the ball. Fingers crossed for him but havnt got much time for Priskin im afraid.
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im_marcacus added 14:08 - May 1 Cups of tea & Ginger nuts
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im_marcacus added 14:10 - May 1 I think Priskin could be a good pairing with Connor's hold-up play, they're both pretty clever with a good touch, looking forward to seeing him back at PR over the summer.
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mjw_1983 added 14:17 - May 1 it'll be just cups of tea next season without colback here
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arc added 14:27 - May 1 That's the first explicit confirmation I can remember of a big fee for Martin. How ridiculous. Who on Earth were we bidding against?? Martin was entirely surplus to requirements at Man Utd, so we should have been able to get him for a nominal fee or no fee at all. Money down the drain, even before he turned out to be rubbish.
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mulligan78 added 14:34 - May 1 "throw money at someone who can put the ball in the net" Interesting comment, I'd welcome chasing and paying for the right player, but I can help thinking ME's well publised available spending money has, in the past, pushed up the asking price and demands for possible targets. Is this sort of comment going to have the same effect?? I hope not!
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hadleighboyblue added 14:50 - May 1 martin was never worth the amount quoted , not aware anyone else was after him so we should not have had to pay anything like that . I'm still hoping Priskin can come good here , but the fans need to get off his back , strikers thrive on confidence , which he won't get if they boo him even before he has come on the pitch .....he's an ITFC player so get behind him - him and Connor could be good.

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PimsNumber1 added 15:34 - May 1 bristol city were after martin , as johnson had a moan at keane about it all being done and dusted between keano and SAF. total nonsense but it was said. Anyway I recon the fee was 1.5 mill but even so SAF saw us coming , especially as martin was surplus and was out of contract until SAF saw interst in him and offered him a deal ( martin) . Hence the fee. we should do that with pim and trotter. !

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Wickets added 15:39 - May 1 Sorry Roy did no one tell you what most on this board have been saying for 3 to 4 years!! YES WE NEED A STRIKER.
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jesus added 15:49 - May 1 I can only think signing Martin for such an extravagant fee was part of Keane's wheeling and dealing strategy for future bargaining leverage with Man Utd. I'm only half joking. How else do you explain it?
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Suffolk_n_Good added 16:46 - May 1 We paid £2MILLION for Lee Martin!!..... I was right it did say £2MILLION!!!, Without a word of a lie, I re-read the article to make sure I hadn't misread it!! Arc, your spot on he wasn't worth £2MILLION before he turned out to be rubbish! As for Priskin I can only hope Keane is singing his praises in some vain attempt to re-coup some of the huge fee we paid for him! IMO I would rather us put "BLUEY" the mascot up front than see Priskin play in a Town shirt again!!

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Mark added 18:10 - May 1 Keane said Priskin was going nowhere ahead of the January transfer window close, then a couple of days later he left for QPR. Keane said he would give Martin another chance a couple of weeks ago, but no sign of him yet (perhaps tomorrow). Utterly disasterous signings. We can only hope that this year's money is better spent.
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I_ONCE_WAS added 19:08 - May 1 Brendan Rodgers will sort out Tamas Priskin.
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jas0999 added 19:28 - May 1 Have to agree these were disappointing signings. Shame that some only focus on the negatives though - Roy has actually signed some good players.
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itfc1981 added 20:52 - May 1 "they (are) as talented as when they walked through the door." thats the problem!!
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kentblue added 20:54 - May 1 Give Priskin a chance Keane !
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Vexorg added 22:10 - May 1 The funny think is that Martin could have been free. United wanted rid and there were no other buyers - although we apparently convinced ourselves that Forest were interested. Nice first bit of business Cloggy
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brendanh added 23:09 - May 1 The real cost of signing Priskin and Martin was much greater than £3.7m. It was losing two of our own excellent youngs players in Jordan Rhodes and Billy Clarke. The latter could be playing Premiership football next season, and the former has hit 23 goals and could be plundering them against us next season. Surely these two were prime candidates for season loans. To sell them was utter stupidity, especially if you sign two clowns in replacement. Keane should have read his history books about how great Ipswich teams were built.

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bluechick added 23:36 - May 1 Losing billy clarke was no problem, rhodes maybe but the money wated on the oher two donkeys is unbelievable
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towner1 added 00:09 - May 2 unbelieveable amounts of money, especially for players that are not even playing!! can not see the logic behind it. Agree with Mark, cant believe 1 thing that Keane has to say, unless he gives martin a chance in the last game of the whole season but cant see them here next season, loan perhaps?? Dont no where too though, surely nowhere would want players that have not played...any suggestions?

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bennyblue added 00:23 - May 2 the trouble with roy is hes says all the things that need doing hes knows whats wrong with the team but isnt able to fix it either because he hasnt got a clue "most likely" or because the players he have bought in were tricky norwich spies and plants who are trying too destroy our club "not very likely" ........everyone knows we need a good striker or two roy its just that with the money you spent you havent got us one after more than a full season in office the only conclusion to be drawn from this is you dont know what youre doing spending a year saying we need a good striker and not getting one in can only be called mismanagement

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bennyblue added 06:34 - May 2 i paid decent money for a nice bottle of red there last year but once tried it i realized my mistake and got rid of it.........first rule of business roy you dont seem to know it though .....which has some of us highly concerned not many of us because the vast majority just fall for a celebrity everytime and wouldnt care if we ended up in tne conference as long as some prat with lots of money and a famous past was in charge to destroy our club i tend to ignore them its the best thing really they will eventualy go back to their fat tvs and reality tv from whence they were born

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brogansnose added 07:57 - May 2 Totally horrifed with the amount that we spent on Martin who had a rubbish track record at all his previous loan clubs. I do believe , however, that Priskin may well come good with the bal played to his feet and a bit of confidence. If you look at his goals on ' You Tube' they were impressive and It didnt help him that the whole team got off to such a rubbish start. Having said that , if it doesnt work out for the pair of them then we are certainly not going to re-coup anywhere near the sums that we threw out for them. More immediatley though , i am going to get drenched today at the Blunts game.

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bluepeter added 09:36 - May 2 I'm not moving from behind the dug out!
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rightwinger added 11:26 - May 2 If people come up to us where we live they will say ‘Stick at it, Roy', or something like that, in a nice way. No aggression. A quote from the Irish Times. No Roy all the aggression is from bad losers and anonymous cowards who post on forums or sit behind you who wouldn't dare say it to your face. I have a feeling the postings will be from the half full brigade next season!

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