Boss Roy Keane says he plans to start work this evening on improving his Town side ahead of next season. The Town manager says he was disappointed to end the season with Sunday’s 3-0 defeat to Sheffield United.

Keane said: "My work starts this evening. I'll be on the phone tonight and I'm not a great one for speaking on the phone. My wife will tell you that.

"But hopefully the biggest bill the club will get from me this summer will be my phone bill. My work starts now. Most definitely. There's no switching off.

"I don't even like talking about summer holidays. We don't deserve a holiday. Of course you need to switch off physically and mentally, but this idea of people off gallivanting for eight or nine weeks isn't going to happen.

"No one likes losing but imagine if we'd won today. I might have thought maybe 'we're not that bad'.

"You always have doubts in the back of your mind - shoes, cars, holidays, your marriage - but this has confirmed it in my mind, especially those last 20 minutes. I'll be bringing in characters.

"Forget stats, ages, the country they're from or what size boot they wear. It's all about characters."

Keane, who has already confirmed that his players will be back for pre-season on June 28th, says a home loss was not the way he wanted to end the season: "It's unbelievably disappointing to finish the season like that.

"We wanted to go out on a high and our home form has been pretty decent but what could have gone wrong, did go wrong.

"The first goal was a really bad goal to give away and after going down to 10 men, we never looked like getting back in the game.

"It was very disappointing for Tom obviously, getting the red card. I had no complaints over the first booking but he got the ball for the second and sometimes you are looking for the referee in those situations to help you out but he didn't. He's a good lad though and he will bounce back.

"I looked around at the end and we looked a small team compared to Sheffield. We need big, physical men and it makes me appreciate the challenge we have here and the job I have and that job starts today."

Blades boss Kevin Blackwell feels his side’s failure to compete at the top of the division was partly down to their unsuccessful play-off campaign a year ago and it putting them behind as he sought to add to his squad: "We always feel we're a club that should be going for promotion but at the end of last season we found ourselves with 15 players out of contract.

"It left us with a big hole to fill and we'd already missed six weeks of the transfer window. We've been trying to catch up ever since.

"We couldn't get the type of player we were looking for and we had to rely on loans That leads to instability and a lack of consistency but to finish eighth is still a terrific achievement for the players.

"It'll be good to get a solid squad together and start again from scratch. We've had a colossal number of injuries and 24 debuts.

"That's completely different to having a squad of players you know and when situations are controlling you, rather than you controlling them, it makes it very hard."

Photo: Action Images

Zico added 11:31 - May 3 I watched the game yesterday, I really hope we are playing better football next season; we looked clueless, broken and poorly led, yet, surely after 50 plus games with Keane in charge, we should be better, should'nt we? If we are not sitting in the top six by Christmas, the man has to go, its too painful watching such rubbish, I expect more for my £26.
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Legend added 11:32 - May 3 Half you so called Ipswich fans on here are a joke!! get of the managers back every time things dont go quite right!! You mugs honestly think that Curbs will get us promoted in obe season?? He took nearly six seasons to get Charlton up and then almost crippled West ham by spending vast ammounts on rubbish players!!! Yes this season has been a rubbish one. Yes Keane has failed in a few areas. Yes we have drawn too many games. Yes we sold Rhodes. Yes Martin and Priskin has a very poor season. Yes as normal Ipswich fans booing every time a result does not go their way. SO WHAT!!!!!!! GET BEHIND THE TEAM, MANAGER, OWNER, FELLOW FANS, PLAYERS. HALF OF YOU IDIOTS ARE THE THE SORT OF FANS THAT GIVE OUR CLUB A BAD NAME!! I WOULD STILL SUPPORT IPSWICH IF THEY WERE IN LEAGUE 2!!! WHY?? BECAUSE IM AN IPSWICH FAN THROUGH AND THROUGH THAT'S WHY!!!!! You should hear some of yourselves........I.T.F.C does not need fans like you!! You make me sick! A whole season hearing you muppets come on here bitching and moaning every time we loose or draw yet you are nowhere to be seen when we win.....PATHETIC!!

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Legend added 11:40 - May 3 Sorry bout the typo's
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kirbs added 12:03 - May 3 ^^ LMAO! Anuther clueless optimistic keanite. People saying keane needs time for the squad to gel etc he didnt need the time at sunderland he managed to get them up first season!
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brockleyblueboy added 12:30 - May 3 OK Kirbs, what would you and who would you bring in. Lets hear it. Because frankly I have a seaking feeling you know nothing. I bet you're one of these people that plays games like Pro Evo on the easy setting because you don't like the struggle of a win. Have you thought about your reaction if he does actually get us promoted and we have a decent season? Nothing wrong supporting him and he fails because I can hold my head high and say I followed the club, its a lot different to to be a hater of someone that is then successful.

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DrJeckyll added 13:01 - May 3 Blindly optimistic? Living in cloud cuckoo land? I don't think so, i do believe in giving people a fair go though, the manager and the new players. Booing your own team is not going to have a positive effect, fact. There are countless examples of both players and managers taking time to find their feet at a new club. It took Alex Ferguson 4 years to start bringing success at United and that is a massive club. We were constantly being assured by some on here that relegation was a dead certainty, and none of them have had the grace to accept that they were wrong and maybe they are not as knowledgable about football as they think they are. Some on here also take any excuse to put the boot in, like jilted ex lovers who cannot see any good in their former partners. There have also been blatant lies told on here throughout the season, keane is like this or like that, inaccurate supposition presented as facts. Those people are without doubt undermining the club as a whole, the very same accusation they are constantly slinging at Keane, ironic isn't it? How many times have clubs that are 'too good to go down' actually been relegated? And why? Because once you get dragged into a relegation dogfight it changes everything, the pressure on everyone ratchets up, players manager and supporters. We managed it this season though, and that tells me that our manager must have something about him. It may not have been pretty but we dragged ourselves to safety. Next season we start with a clean slate, just as every other team will and given that second half of the season our results have been on a par with teams who finished in the play offs, then if we add a bit of quality, most notably a prolific goalscorer, i am quietly confident we will be in the mix come the end of next season.

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brockleyblueboy added 13:25 - May 3 Well put DrJekyll. Nuff said really
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SurreyITFC added 14:53 - May 3 Well sais "LEGEND" & "DR JECKYLL" COYB - KEANO KEANO KEANO
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Lightningboy added 19:25 - May 3 The one sad thing that not many of us realise is that dear old Roy is using us as his "i'm going to prove to myself i'm a good manager" project and he doesn't care how much money he squanders,how many people he pisses off along the way or what the hell happens to ITFC when he departs portman road once and for all. He's in this for one person and one person only..himself.

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kirbs added 19:41 - May 3 well said lightningboy, keane getting us out of relegation dosent tell me anything, ipswich have never had to worry about relegation in the past so it tells me that hes not a good manager. Critisize magilton all you want hes a better manager then keane and top half/outside play offs with little money, FACT!
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TedTurnip added 21:06 - May 3 COYB!!! Two seasons RK has been given and two seasons he should have! One year to go before we can really criticise and I bet we don't have to!!!!!
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bennyblue added 03:20 - May 4 we havent really started criticising him yet just you wait
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jayessess added 11:16 - May 4 thing is during the season, it's all "don't criticise, get behind the team to help them avoid relegation". The off-season is the sensible time to criticise, because it's the sensible time to get rid of a coach who isn't working. Keane ain't working. I don't see any rational reason why things should suddenly click into place after a year.
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bennyblue added 07:01 - May 5 you my friend are absolutely spot on
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