Boss Roy Keane says contract talks have begun with skipper David Norris and key defender Gareth McAuley but hints that a large number of Town’s 21 out of contract players might not be kept on beyond the end of their current terms. The Blues manager says the club needs to undergo “big changes”.

Keane, whose own deal is up in June, said: “I think there have been negotiations with David Norris and Gareth McAuley, but I leave that up to Simon Clegg.

“There are other players and a lot of the younger boys but I think there need to be massive changes at the football club and hopefully I’ll get a chance to do that. Big changes. There has to be a massive rethink of the football club and how it’s run.”

TWTD revealed that talks had begun with 31-year-old McAuley on Wednesday, while Norris, 29, has confirmed that he intends to sign his new deal. We understand both players have been offered two-year extensions to their spells at Portman Road.

At last week’s AGM, chief executive Clegg said decisions had been made on who the Blues management want to remain with the club: “We know whose contracts are coming to an end and Roy, myself and the owner are agreed on who we want to keep, and those conversations are in train.”

Midfielder Carlos Edwards has revealed, in an interview with Radio Suffolk, that he is yet to be offered new terms: "I haven't heard a word. I'd love to stay on as long as possible. But with the situation maybe contract talk is on hold and until further notice my job is to concentrate on trying to get us back up the table."

Edwards, who played under Keane at Sunderland, says the Blues boss is showing no signs of the current pressure: "He's the same old Roy Keane that I knew from then until now. I've not seen any signs of him cracking.

"We were having him banter within training because he was cloaked up from head to toe. So obviously we told him he was a bit soft. It's a bit of banter between manager and player and when it comes to proper training we are professionals."

The 21 out of contract at the end of the season are Brian Murphy, Gareth McAuley, Damien Delaney, Carlos Edwards, David Norris, Arran Lee-Barrett, Ian McLoughlin, Alan Quinn, Luke Hyam, Troy Brown, Tom Eastman, Colin Healy, Billy Clark, Reggie Lambe, Ronan Murray, Jack Ainsley, David Cawley, Jamie Griffiths and Conor Hourihane, plus Pablo Couñago and Kevin Lisbie, who are out on loan for the season at Crystal Palace and Millwall respectively.

In addition, first-year pro Seb Dunbar is contracted until January, when Darren O'Dea, Jake Livermore, Jack Colback, Gianni Zuiverloon and Rory Fallon's loans come to an end, while Andros Townsend's spell from Spurs is up at the end of the season.

Photo: Action Images

SouperJim added 17:47 - Dec 17 Quite frankly these kind of stories scare the bejesus out of me. Clegg is sorting out everybody, goody gumdrops! I have next to zero faith that Clegg and Keane know their collective backside from their elbow. The idea of Roy Keane being kept on and another round of disasterous changes to the playing staff is utterly terrifying. I predict it's going to take us years to recover from the damage currently being done to our football club.

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JetaimePeters added 18:01 - Dec 17 Roy, you have the motivational skills of a dead mole, you can't do the business with the players we have - and you bought most of them! Who are you gonna replace them with anyway? There's about 2% of footballers in the modern game with the flawless obedient attitude that you are after and most of them play at a higher level! You've got to motivate this clearly talented squad or you've got to retire before you become a national joke and we are stuck in the third division with top-end championship players! I'm starting to think of Roy in the same vein as Glenn Roeder - both talktalktalktblahblahblah you're players obviously think you're an asshole!

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Garv added 18:07 - Dec 17 Latest headline: 'Keane has bust up with eyebrows'.
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blueherts added 18:08 - Dec 17 Well said Jetaime Maybe Keane was on a MOTIVATION COURSE in Manchester - I didnt know he had any 'mates' they were probably seeing eye dogs he was talking to - Thinking about it maybe they should be in the next Management team
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Mungo added 18:31 - Dec 17 I find this ludicrous! Were they needed before RK replaced almost the entire squad and coaching staff with his 'characters' at massive expense???
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PimsNumber1 added 18:56 - Dec 17 The guy is totally clueless. learnt FA from SAF , o neill and clough . I just cannot fathom out why he cant even get the basics right , like a balanced settled team with a 442 type line up with real full backs and maybe full wingers. What does he get paid for actually>? as for his coaching staff , why cant they teach our players to take a corner or a free kick or crosss anywhere remotely near the byeline ?

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fourth added 19:01 - Dec 17 Predestined to lose it seems
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RetroBlue added 19:21 - Dec 17 So the summer will hearld yet more upheavel and the final clear out then! Nothing like uopheavel for securing promotion.....or should that be releagtion. Its all well and good getting rid of the dead wood. But all RK appears to have done is brought it yet more dead wood . What is happening to OUR CLUB????
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Mark added 20:01 - Dec 17 It's as though Keane is spinning out of control with these comments!! I totally disagree with him, as this club needs stability in my opinion. When Keane came I thought we needed a left-back, a left-sided midfielder and a striker. If he spent his £10M-odd wisely we could have something like the team below and it would cost much less than we have spent recently: GK R.Wright LB QUALITY NEW SIGNING E.G JOE MATTOCK CB Smith CB McAuley RB D.Wright LM QUALITY NEW SIGNING E.G. DARREN AMBROSE CM Norris CM Garvan RM Walters A Stead A QUALITY NEW SIGNING E.G. CHARLIE AUSTIN Bench: NEW GOALKEEPER, Bruce, Peters, Hyam, Haynes, Rhodes, Wickham If anyone agrees that the team above would beat the team Keane has built, perhaps I win the argument for continuity over a "massive rethink". :-)

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jas0999 added 20:18 - Dec 17 I hope McAuley signs. I guess after spending a ridiculous £2.5M on Norris we can't afford to let him leave for free. Other than that, I agree we need big changes. And that may start with the manager I suspect.
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tallguy6767 added 20:24 - Dec 17 R.I.P. IPSWICH TOWN.
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bobble added 02:22 - Dec 18 the change of manager is top priority
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icandriveatractor added 08:03 - Dec 18 Under a new Manager some off the players might roll up there sleeves and fight for the pride of Ipswich Town and show they are worth more to the club then they are worth at the moment.
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naa added 10:30 - Dec 18 Wicked: even if I don't count Delaney I make it 7: Edwards, Murphy, Lee-Barratt, Hourihane, Brown, Healy, Lambe. Which are the three you are referring to? And anyway, what's your point? Are you seriously suggesting you'd be happy for Keane to make more big changes here? He's signed 22 players in 18 months! What is his definition of big change if not that?
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Keaneish added 11:03 - Dec 18 F88K off Keane. You've spent the last 18 months making big changes...the whole f**king squad in fact. Someone pass me a gun so i can put this fool out of his misery.
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Vic added 13:01 - Dec 18 Roy, you were saying that a year ago. You have now been at the club for 20 months and have a team of players you have either bought or made a decision to keep. You or your advosers really should have realised long ago if major changes were necessary This is YOUR team, you built it. You've had a chance to make the changes but you haven't, for whatever reason made them. Yiou cannot keep ripping up and starting again. We are not Man U with pots of maney; the players we can afford are not prem standard; you have to get used to dealing with lesser players and become more realistic in what they can do. Also you need to realise that if you want them to achieve their absolute maximum that criticising them is unlikely to do achieve what you hope. I applauded your appointment; it was bold and full of intent. I really, really wanted you to succeed here at Ipswich and have consistently defended you until a few weeks ago. However, my confidence in you ability has now gone and statements like this one about big changes being necessary simply confirm that you haven't done what you should have done and are probably unlikely to here at ITFC. It may well be that you'll succeed elsewhere, maybe in a prem club, but I don't thuink your cut out to manage a mediocre team like ours. Time for you to bow out graciously. And as you go, thanks for all you've tried to do, it's a shame it hasn't worked.

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BrandonsBlues added 08:48 - Dec 19 So 2-3 players 18 months ago has been 22 players in, and something similar out. Now the club needs big changes. What concerns me is in view of the comments of Edwards, and Townsend going back to spurs. Who will be going in January, and IF RK does stay what will we have left at the end of the season. 13 to go out of that lot.
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