Keane Frustrated at Failure to Land Signings
Monday, 28th Jun 2010 12:57

Manager Roy Keane has admitted that Town have failed to land his two of his main summer targets, despite the players being keen to join the club. The Blues boss says that he may have to rely on last year’s squad, which finished 15th in the Championship, to make a promotion challenge during 2010/11.

One of the players involved is almost certainly former Crystal Palace skipper Shaun Derry, who instead opted to join QPR, where bigger wages were probably on offer, while Cardiff striker Michael Chopra has also been amongst the players interesting the Blues.

Keane, who started pre-season training with his squad this morning, admits he is frustrated at so far having been unable to make signings: “I've spoken to two players that were keen to come here, but we couldn’t do the deals. My job is to identify the players and speak to them, which I have done, but we never managed to get the deals done.

“So, we’re disappointed, but I’m looking forward to working with the players we had last year and we just get on with it.

“All I can do is identify players I think will improve [the squad] and it’s up to the club to try and do the deals and we’ve not managed to do that. It’s frustrating and disappointing, but that’s the way it is.”

Keane says he feels no anger about the moves falling through being well aware of all the potential difficulties when signing players: “When any deal you’re involved in doesn’t work out, you’re going to be frustrated. Not angry, because you can never relax when you’re trying to negotiate with players or agents or clubs. You know that there are going to be pitfalls on the way.

“As I said, we were hopeful on one or two players who would have been very good for us. That they wanted to come to the club was a big plus for me, but the fact that these deals didn’t get done would lead to frustration, but certainly not anger because I’ve been in football long enough and know it takes a lot for these deals to get done.”

The former Ireland skipper says there may be a chance of reviving certain deals: “We hope so, but I have to look at my role in it, which is to identify the players, speak to them to try and persuade them to come to the club. I then step back and the club do the deals and we’ve not managed to do that.

“People will look at me when we don’t get results, and with the people I work with we’ve got to try and get these players in, but we have decent numbers in terms of the squad we have and we just get on with it.

“I think every manager when he comes back pre-season would like one or two new faces, but it’s not happened and, having said that, the players we brought in last year we hope will have a better start to the season than they did last year. We’ll have more of a settled squad now, so in a strange way it might help us a little bit.”

Photo: Action Images

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tractorgirls added 13:08 - Jun 28 promised so much, delivered nowt..
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goat_man added 13:09 - Jun 28 Keane you wally! Why is every other club in the country able to sign players and yet we're not? You have to be mad to think last years squad would be good enough to mount a promotion challenge this year!
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floridaboy added 13:10 - Jun 28 Keane's comments seem to be a rather large dig at Simon Clegg and Marcus Evans
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bluearmy77 added 13:14 - Jun 28 goat_man the answer to your question "Why is every other club in the country able to sign players and yet we're not?" is the fact that Keano is a c*ck and noone wants to play for him!
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SouperJim added 13:16 - Jun 28

Are Keane's hands being deliberately tied by Evans and Clegg? It may well be the way forward, if he can't deliver results from the players he has already signed at considerable cost then he will be shown the door. A brave move perhaps, but they know that Keane will ultimately be held responsible by the fans.

The guy seems to strive on adversity, so lets see if we get a reaction.

yorkshire added 13:16 - Jun 28 So we haven't paid silly wages to players eh ? Is that really a bad thing ? Would Town fans really want our club going through that same crap that Portsmouth and Hull are going through (baring in mind we have already been there!!)
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ITFCKeano added 13:17 - Jun 28

Some of you read too much into this story some of you dont read enough of it. Keaneo did his bit and stepped back, players wanted to come to the club but for reasons beyond his control they havent got the deal done. That could be for lots of reasons- wages, travelling or relocation, fees, paperwork, clubs not wanting to sell etc! If you read that to be Keanos fault or him having a dig at Clegg, thats your choice of words, not theirs.

Vic added 13:18 - Jun 28 This is not good - I sense frustration building with those who hold the purse strings.
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Breedonblue added 13:18 - Jun 28 Great, so we've let good players leave the squad on the assumption that we'd get new ones in. Now we think we can do ok on the weakened bunch that didn't work last season. I despair!!! Let's hope there is no knee jerk reaction panic buys. For the first time, I'm starting to lose the faith…
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Blandford added 13:21 - Jun 28

Keane might not be angry that we couldn't land any of the signings we targeted but the fans should be. The squad has proved for the last few years it is not good enough to mount a serious title challenge - the squad therefore needs improving. In the real world if you can't do your job you get sacked, and if I have read this article right it sounds as if those above RK (namely Simon Clegg) have failed to do one of the major parts of their job successfully. I thought we had an owner that was willing to invest in the club and guide it to the Premiership - where has that person gone?

WickedBlue added 13:22 - Jun 28 @ITFCKeano don't let facts get in the way of these morons having a go at RK.
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IpswichElvis added 13:24 - Jun 28 Keano is full of hot air !!!! Sounds like he could be ready to walk (again) I think Marcus wants him out and is forcing his hand to quit. If so, there is a god. Bye bye Keano you useless git !!!!
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trulyblue added 13:24 - Jun 28 The Facts - He has targeted two players that he feels will improve the squad. He has spoken to both players, and both were keen to come here. How can he now be blamed that the deals have not materialised and that we are left with the same squad that finished the season. This site is full of children and idiots who know very little about football !!!
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mickeyjb added 13:28 - Jun 28 so we now have a smaller squad than last year, with no current loans and a lot of players gone or on their way out. We seem to be pinning our hopes on Cavelli (I wouldn't). Not much to look foward to again, is there! I'm sure someone will be positive, please let me have some of what your on, after England yesterday, I certainly need it
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GeorgiDoundarov added 13:29 - Jun 28

This is not good! I don't blame anybody here because I don't know what the real deal is but I just can't believe we cannot attract a single player?! If Chopra and Derry are not keen then we should look for other. At least I am sure the young stars from League 1 will come here with pleasure if a deal is laid on the table. There is something else happening between ME and RK and I just can't figure it out what is it?! I hope they will deal with what the problem is quickly because the club is suffering! I pray we manage to get at least a striker because we realy need a good one to score goals for us!

SouperJim added 13:31 - Jun 28

I agree with that trulyblue, but if this story isn't just kidology, where are the second and third choice signings? Is Keane also saying we aren't going to sign a right back, despite letting two go and one centre half who can also play there? What happens when Peters picks up a knock?

I'm also very concerned by the line "People will look at me when we don't get results". Sounds like Keane is already resigned to failure and is getting his excuses in early.

mickeyjb added 13:31 - Jun 28 So the two players he targeted are not coming here, so plan B is what?
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IpswichElvis added 13:32 - Jun 28 Plan B, C and D have been delegated to our assistant manager.
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MarstonBlue added 13:37 - Jun 28

This isn't a clever way for Keane to communicate his dissatisfaction with how he feels transfers are being handled by the club.
Firstly, the club clearly want to reduce the squad before investing further.
Secondly, Keane's judgement in the transfer Market can't be described as flawless.
Finally, given that we were very disappointing last year and ME has so far stood by the manager Keane's comment smack of disloyalty and petulant.
Given Keane's history, It sounds like an exit strategy from Keane along the lines of the club not matching his ambitions.

IpswichElvis added 13:38 - Jun 28 I always felt Keane would be out of here by November. I am getting signs that once again, he may just be about ready to sit the dummy again and bugger off. Please god be true !!!!
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MaySixth added 13:40 - Jun 28 One question. "Why did Derry and Chopra not want to join Ipswich?" a) Wages b) Location c) Keane
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Monkey_Blue added 13:41 - Jun 28

I think keane is clearly making sure he isn't blamed. If the players are so keane to come why is derry at QPR? He obviously was more keen to sign for them for whatever reason.
Personally I find this very encouraging news. I think keane is needs to be made aware that you can't waste money they way he has and expect the club to lumber itself with more and more wages. Trust is a two way thing and the owner must have looked at not only the situation here with squad size and poor signings, but seen that the sunderland squad was also enourmous and lumbered with lots of players who hadn't worked out and on big wages. He wants a manager, someone who works with players and get them to perform, not just say the players aren't good enough i need to sign more. Clearly with 8m spent last season on a squad finishing just outside the playoffs before he arrived last season was about keane not getting the performances out of the squad, not that they were only good enough players to reach 15th.

If keane is forced to manage it will benefit him.

Trigsy added 13:47 - Jun 28

I don't understand this, Keane has done his part identified the players he wants, talked to them and got them interested, if the back room staff can't close the deal how can we pin that on Keane???

Before I rant this is not aimed at anyone in particular but merely an observation, for a long time now there has been far too many people on this site being negative.

I believe it is up to us the supporters to inject belief into the players so that they believe in there own abilities. If we do not believe in the team, players & the manager then how are they supposed to believe in themselves???

Ever wonder why players lose belief, look at some of the comments on here:

If you were Connor Wickham and looked at this site, could you take any positives from what's posted??? Would you want to play your heart out for the club??? Would you even want to play for our club???

Yes they are professionals earning mega bucks but at the end of the day, the players are human and if they read negative posts like Keane out are they really going to have a passion to fight for the club & do all that they can. Or will their passion disappear and think of football as a job only & be happy to sit & collect a wage.

We need to get behind the club and get behind the manager this season. I understand people want to express themselves but please do it constructively and most of all keep it positive, even if it's the smallest thing at all.

Anyway rant over and looking forward to the season ahead. COYB

FrowsyArmLarry added 13:49 - Jun 28 Wake up Mr Keane, time to start managing! Don't tell me there are only two possible signings in the World, or that the existing players were playing at their maximum ability last season.
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