Boss Roy Keane says former skipper Jon Walters will never play for the club again as long as he is manager. Walters, who is the subject of a new transfer bid, was stripped of the captaincy yesterday with Keane dropping him from today’s team and disciplining him for his reaction to being given the news.

Keane said: “Jon was due to play and he was in my team on Friday morning, but I spoke to Jon on Friday. I’d been thinking a lot about the captaincy side of things and I just felt that it isn’t right that a player who has a clear desire to leave the club should be captain.

“I thought it was a straightforward one but Jon’s reaction was unbelievably overboard, he’s been disciplined and as long as I’m manager of the football club he’ll never kick a ball for us.

“But we had another offer on Friday night, whether that was a coincidence or not, from a different club. The owner’s negotiating with this other club at the moment. I don’t think you’ll see Jon playing for this club again. We hope a deal can be done quickly, but we’ve heard that one before and until we get the fee we’re happy with it’ll drag on a little bit longer.”

Keane says regardless of yesterday's developments he expected Walters to be on his way this week in any case: “I wouldn’t say it was a ruck, [it was] a disagreement, an exchange of views is a posh way of putting it. I’ve had heated exchanges with many a person, the wife, players, team-mates, managers. I’ve crossed the line a few times myself and you have to take your punishment.

“But I think Jon was going to be leaving next week anyway, no secret there because if his agent is talking to every Tom, Dick and Harry, why should I hide behind anything? If your desire is to leave the club, then you shouldn’t be captain.”

Keane says the new offer isn’t from Stoke or West Brom and hints that it may be from a club from outside the Premier League, with QPR previously reported to have had a £2.5 million offer rebuffed: “There’s been another offer come in, more than Stoke, which I’m glad about because they’ve just been tip-toeing around the situation.

“I’ve said to the owner, if these other clubs, these big Premier League teams, don’t want to come back for him, we’ll sell him to the other team. That’s my opinion but the owner’s obviously negotiating with these other clubs.”

Meanwhile, Keane says he hopes to have three new additions in his squad when Town travel to Crystal Palace next week: “I’m quietly confident that we’ll have three players in.

“There’s one you know and that’s Jason Scotland. We’re trying hard with him and Wigan have made it clear we’ve had a bid accepted. We’re talking at the moment and let’s see what happens.

“We were never going to get it done for the weekend, but we hope Jason might be involved next week.“

The proposed swap involving Cardiff's Ross McCormack and Jon Stead appears unlikely to be one of those three moves with that deal moving slowly and other clubs interested in the Town striker. One of the new signings is the young, defensive loanee Keane was targeting at the end of the week, who Celtic manager Neil Lennon has revealed is Darren O'Dea.

The Blues boss was delighted with his side’s performance against Burnley: “Brilliant, good game, good tempo, good spirit, good energy. It lacked quality sometimes from our point of view. I mightn’t look it, but I’m absolutely delighted.

“Physically they looked stronger in terms of height. We had a game on Tuesday, we had an away game last weekend and an unbelievable amount of injuries. Grant picked up a bad one today, it looks a sore one, he may have chipped a bone in his ankle."

Midfielder Leadbitter, who was on crutches after the game, is set for a scan on Monday.

Burnley manager Brian Laws felt he was likely to be more pleased with the result than his former Nottingham Forest team-mate: “I think overall I’m probably the happier of the managers because we got a draw out of it. When you go down to 10 men it’s always tough and to concede in that last period was tough on the players because I thought at times we looked in real control.

“But Roy might say the same. I don’t think either goalkeeper had a lot to do. There was a lot of good interplay but I think the final pass was a bit lacking, which is something that we’ve got to work on and improve.

“The one thing that you have to work with is energy and commitment and certainly the players gave that commitment right until the last moments of the game and I was delighted to get the goal.”

Photo: Action Images

ramseyn added 19:06 - Aug 14 Damn right, Walters has turned out to be a right to**er.
0

Mark added 19:07 - Aug 14 I understand Keane being disappointed at Walters, but is airing all this to the media the right thing to do? It could reduce Walters' transfer value as the buying club may be concerned by Walters' attitude and now they know we have to sell. If Walters does not go, then is he going to sit on his contract for two years while we refuse to play him? I just think all this is better behind closed doors. As for hoping to have three additions by the next match, we have heard that before! On a positive note, congratulations to the team on a super effort today that showed a real improvement from last season from our young side.

0

RetroBlue added 19:10 - Aug 14 Walters showing his true colours I think. Rumours Ive heard prior to all of this are that he's never been particularly iked by his teamates anyway. No loss Walters - just SOD OFF , (like you've wanted to do for the last two years mate) we dont need you !
0

mickeyjb added 19:13 - Aug 14 Sad end to what I thought was a loyal and hard working town player. Shame he didn't just go.
0

ramseyn added 19:16 - Aug 14 After keane stuck by him and really bigged him up as a model pro. Did he really expect to be captain after saying he wanted to leave. Would love to know what the over the top reaction was. Thankless sod.
0

legoman added 19:16 - Aug 14 Mark. I like to know what is going on so Ime glad roy is a talker. But i also agree that it could send out negative signals to other managers. No win situation.
0

apm_77 added 19:39 - Aug 14 To be frank, I'm backing Keano all the way on this. Walters seems to have been wanting to leave for about 2 yrs now, if he doesn't want to be here, fine, but we'd be mad to let him go for much less than £2.5-3m. other clubs have paid more for much less. That said, Walters was nothing more than average last year, in my opinion, and if he wants out, get shot of him and replace him with someone who does want to be here. For someone who, at his best in his time here, carried the team, this attitude and behavior is poor form and if a move doesn't materialise, he'll be a notable addition to the U-18s training sessions.

0

Hermann_eats_puffin added 19:40 - Aug 14 I'm not sure that it's such a good thing to air your dirty laundry in public but then if Walters had just been taken out of the team today & been stripped of the captaincy without an explanation from Keane or the club then we all would have been left with a lot of questions. With Walters it's such a shame that a good servant to the club who has always appeared to give 100% commitment on the pitch has seen fit to behave in the way he appears to have done this week. If for whatever reason he wants a move, such as wanting a go in the Premiership or wanting to move nearer to home, then fair enough but until another club had put in an acceptable offer he should have carried on as normal. All of the talk about him saying he had a virus prior to the Exeter game seemed very suspicious and given that he's asked for a move I think that it's a perfectly rational decision to take the captaincy away from him as this privileged position is for somebody who is 100% committed and staying at the club. To throw all of your toys out of the pram at this decision is both childish and unprofessional and Keane was right not to include him today. We only want to see players who are 100% committed to the Town cause on the pitch but it's just such a shame that Walters has let himself down in this way.

0

itfctim1974 added 19:44 - Aug 14 right on keano, if he has a hissy fit and can't see the reason for taking the captaincy from him the best get rid of A S A P.
0

tomos91 added 19:49 - Aug 14 I wonder how the rest of the players have reacted... they arent just going to shrug it off, i hope players that keane want to come in dont see this as a negative cause that will make it even harder to get better players. Oh well lets get in scotland and stay up top.
0

bahri added 19:53 - Aug 14 Good
0

Mark added 19:54 - Aug 14 Roy's talking is great entertainment for the fans; I like it too especially as we hear so little from Evans or Clegg. I totally agree with leaving Walters out today too, but Keane could just have said it is due to a possible transfer. Evans is negotiating with QPR say right now on a transfer fee, but QPR now know they don't have to bid too high as Ipswich now must sell Walters. Evans can no longer argue he is a valuable asset to our team and worth a lot of money. We had just better hope there is more than one club bidding, else he could go cheaply. Officially the fee will be undisclosed of course.

0

BerlinBlue added 20:04 - Aug 14 i completely agree with this decision... why walters has waited till after the season starts (after one league game!) to ask for a transfer is beyond me... he could and should have done it after the end of last season... shabby treatment from a player who ITFC took a chance on at lower-league chester city... thanks jon for what you've done, good luck in the future but you've gone about this totally wrong...

0

Frase1987 added 20:11 - Aug 14 and what has walters done wrong? asked to join a PL club... how shameful.
0

Marshalls_Mullet added 20:11 - Aug 14 Apparently when at Bolton and Blackburn his character was questionable, bit of a scrote, seems like his true colours are coming out.
0

BerlinBlue added 20:17 - Aug 14 Frase1987: course it's not shameful to have asked to join a PL club... it's just the timing... i think we can all understand his desire to play at the top...
0

tp1234 added 20:18 - Aug 14 Three signings: O'Dea, Scotland and... Michael Owen
0

Daleyitfc added 20:19 - Aug 14 Remarkably that's twice in the last week that I've agreed with Keane (the previous time being his dealings with the lazy Spaniard). If it happens a 3rd time I will go and see a doctor. Majorly disappointed in Walters' attitude over this. Despite the fact that he is, by some margin, our best player, it is now good riddance from me.
0

jas0999 added 20:21 - Aug 14 Walters is at fault here. Clearly for whatever reason (rumoured to be his wife wanting to move back up north) Walters has said he doesn't want to play for us and has asked for a move. Fair enough. But it is also fair, bearing in mind that Roy has to consider the longer term, for him to drop Walters as captain - afterall Walters doesn't want to play for us. For Walters to behave the way he has is unacceptable. Roy is 100% correct to drop him and hopefully another club will sign him up quick. Shame, because you can't fault Walters work rate, but for me I have never seen him as any more than a slightly above average Championship player. £3M is a very good deal.

0

simonsays added 20:26 - Aug 14 What a backstabber he is. After all the praise Keane has given him and making him captain. Get lost Walters. Good riddance. Well done Keano.
0

bedsitfc added 20:28 - Aug 14 sell him, keep stead and bring in ross mccormack.
0

rosseden added 20:32 - Aug 14 just listened Keanos post match interview. Im not sure if its just me, but he sounds like hes very happy with the way things are starting to look now. Maybe its taken a year for him to really settle in and what not?? Not often youd hear someone like him say 'as long as im manager of this football club, and hopefully that'll be a very long time, he'll never kick a ball for us again' sounds like he really could be in it for the long haul given the right results......

0

FinnishBlue added 20:39 - Aug 14 For me it looks like manager is soon going to be bigger than the club. Really hope Keane knows what he's doing...
0

northdevonblue added 20:40 - Aug 14 Perhaps with Walters off the wage bill we shouldnt be to hasty in getting rid of Stead, what else can the guy do to get into Keanes good books, he has shown what a true pro he is and i think earnt more respect from people that perhaps he didnt have in the summer. Keane himself his heaping praise on him while still trying to get rid.
0

Fatcatevans added 20:41 - Aug 14 Frase1987 - What has Walters done wrong? For the second time he's tried to hold the club to ransome, then when Keano strips him of the captaincy, reacts by tipping his toys out the pram. Oh and the virus which just happened to stop him being cuptied. Roy had many admirers and knockers on here but in this case he is 100% correct. The club is all important. Walters is a ship in the night. Lets get rid of him and move on

0

Blogs 295 bloggers

Ipswich Town Polls