Former Blues boss Roy Keane has admitted that Town wasn't the right club for him. The former Ireland skipper, sacked by the Blues after 20 turbulent months in January, doesn’t regret taking the manager's job at Portman Road but says it was a mistake not to have met chief executive Simon Clegg before he signed on the dotted line.

Speaking to Cork-based radio station Life FM on Saturday, Keane said that he doesn’t regret becoming Town manager in April 2009: “Hindsight’s a wonderful thing. If you don’t make mistakes, you never learn. I had my three-month break after Sunderland and Ipswich felt right.

“My only mistake really about taking the Ipswich job was that I agreed to take it before I met the chief executive. I won’t be doing that again.”

During his time in the Portman Road hotseat, the 39-year-old was frequently critical of the club’s failure to complete deals to sign the players he targeted last summer, most notably then-Crystal Palace skipper Shaun Derry, who was at Playford Road and had agreed to join on a free transfer before eventually signing for QPR and helping them to the Championship title.

Asked whether promises were broken during his time with Town, Keane refused to be drawn any further: “That’s something you can’t go into, I’d be here all night with you.

“Ipswich is a good club but sometimes the DNA doesn’t work out, it just doesn’t suit. I’ve seen it with other clubs, I’ve seen managers go ‘listen, it doesn’t seem right’.

“Even Roy Hodgson, a top, top coach, and I’m certainly not comparing myself to Roy, I look at him at Liverpool and the dynamics just didn’t seem right.

“Looking back now, Ipswich maybe wasn’t the right club for me. As I say, I made the mistake of agreeing to take the job before I met the chief executive. That’s a vital role… you’re working with somebody so closely and I won’t be doing that again.”

Keane, who dismissed claims that he is set to become the boss of Australian side the Melbourne Victory, says he has no immediate plans to get back into management: “Not today. I’ve been out for a couple of months and I’m enjoying my bit of time off. Part of my problem is that when I’m involved, I’m involved, there are no half measures.

“I think I have to step back, recharge the batteries, take stock and see what’s around the corner. Who knows? If I’m out of the game for another six months or six years, so be it. It would have to be the right club.

“As I say in hindsight, Ipswich, and I’m not being critical of the club, it just didn’t seem to sit right with either of us. And hopefully I won’t make that mistake again.”

Photo: Action Images

confoosed_dot_com added 23:19 - May 8 Sack Clegg! The DNA certainly did not work....
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tractorboynick added 23:24 - May 8 And Ipswich Town was too big a club for Roy Keane
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Marshalls_Mullet added 23:27 - May 8 I can understand not signing Derry..... we already had Norris and Leadbitter in CM probably on £10,000 per week each. There isnt an endless supply of money.
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bedsitfc added 23:29 - May 8 Not every thing can be cleggs fault i think he has a remit from the owner and he sticks to it, if keane wasn't going for premier players all the time clegg may have got more deals done. Clegg may be new to football contracts but he will be learning himself all the time and thats why the owner has asked pj to help in that department. Imo
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tractorblue99 added 23:29 - May 8 a ridiculously small club that may need a manager in a couple of months time...norwich...yeah
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blueoff added 23:29 - May 8 Trouble was Roy you were meant to go out and find good players from lower divisions and make them good like Lambert has done for Nodge, not spend millions on duds like you did.
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bedsitfc added 23:32 - May 8 P.s i think clegg will become a very good c.e. Given time. He hasn't got to where he is today by being stupid.
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Garv added 23:34 - May 8 Basically, you took the job as a stepping stone in your career after you had an argument with Niall Quinn so you could eventually take over fergy's job at united. You didn't do it because you wanted Ipswich promoted, if we had done it you'd have gone to a "bigger club". Stop blaming Clegg, you were atrocious at your job as a football manager, its not about who you sign or how much for, its if you can get the best out if them. We had a team nearly there when you took over and you decimated it with rubbish. I hope this is the last picture of Roy Keane I see on this website, unless its about someone giving him a taste of his own medicine.

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Marshalls_Mullet added 23:38 - May 8 Keano needs to put some graft in if he wants to succeed..... spend his downtime getting to know the Football League, so that he has a knowledge of players that dont cost a fortune in fees and wages. That will help no end if he does get another job. Like Cloughie had a No2 who was a good scout.
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Marshalls_Mullet added 23:42 - May 8 Any Keane interview/story just makes me count my blessings that we now have Jewell. I get the feeling that he knows how to identify weaknesses in players' games and how to improve them. He also seems to put the time in scouting and making sure he can identify realistic targets and back ups. Most importantly he is a COMMUNICATOR!! I imagine he has plenty of contacts and doesnt mind picking up the phone to other managers etc.

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radiogaga added 23:47 - May 8 Some rather fair statements in there to be honest. People shouldn't forget, like Jim, he worked extremely hard for the club when he was here, and we shouldn't fault people too much who come to this club and make a lot of effort to improve it. Ultimately, most of his signings just showed that he had no plan B when he realised the club couldn't afford his top targets (I.e. B Murphy, John, D Healy) and the £4m chucked on Leadbitter and Edwards has been questionable at very best. I'm not a fan of Clegg at all, but Keane with buying players just struck me as a spoilt kid in a candy shop as Sunderland manager, who never adapted to working on a normal budget. Fingers crossed PJ can sort the mess this summer!

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TractorRoyNo1 added 23:48 - May 8 umm, are you sure Sunderland aren't a wee bit bigger? tractorboynick added 23:24 - May 8 And Ipswich Town was too big a club for Roy Keane
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RetroBlue added 23:57 - May 8 Thats the first correct thing Roy Keane has ever said..."he didnt fit" with ITFC. So, Mr Keane, if you knew this to be the case kindly explain to us all now, how come you didnt go when Marcus Evans asked you to go at the START of this season, when it was suggested you were "ruining this Club"?
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Marshalls_Mullet added 00:00 - May 9 Retro - Whats the source for ME asking RK to go at the start of this season? Not doubting, just curious.
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RetroBlue added 00:05 - May 9 a previous Board member
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bedsitfc added 00:08 - May 9 Jewell_do, lol a bit strong but. ........... Fair enough.
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Hungry_Badger added 00:12 - May 9 If it was the wrong club for him why didn't he walk? As soon as he met Clegg why didn't he walk? If his time here was so bad because he wasn't getting his own way with signings and what not, why didn't he walk? Good luck to the bloke in the future but theirs no point in coming out afterwards saying it wasn't the right chose but why didn't he do something about it earlier and just leave?

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martleshamitfc added 00:16 - May 9 When Keane was appointed I was surprised but hopeful and honestly thought he would be good for ITFC, however it obviously did not work out and I think in this interview he is actually admitting defeat in his own way! however we now have an experienced manager who I believe will take us in the right direction, so time to move on forget about RK and look forward to next season, thanks for trying Roy but you failed, maybe next time you will get it right?

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footyblue added 00:23 - May 9 I think Clegg has a lot to answer for as well as there are lots of players that we alledgedly havent signed and can see the same happening again this summer as it did last summer and January too
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BLUEBEAT added 00:29 - May 9 meh
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Redmond added 00:55 - May 9 Oh shut up Keane
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cats_whiskers added 01:33 - May 9 Hopefully the club has finally learnt They must not appoint novice Irishmen as managers But it was destined to failure, as Evans, Clegg and to an extent Keane were all naive in their involvement with running a football club at the top level Clegg doesn't fit here, that is obvious and it would be no surprise if he left if promotion isn't achieved after next season ends.

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bobble added 01:58 - May 9 still whinging and hinting its someone elses fault as usual
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WeWereZombies added 05:09 - May 9 Whilst Keane does seem to be whining in this interview I think we should take note of the criticism of Clegg, who does seem to our Clive Woodward and look how long it has taken Southampton to recover from that mess.
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DiamondGezzer added 06:48 - May 9 Mr. Keane, there were quiet a few of us who said ' it didn't feel right ' when you took over. How many of us said that you weren't in the Ipswich mould of a manager. You were brought in on a wave of publicity and we became ' Roy Keane's Ipswich Town '. All the best in what you do in the future Mr. Keane, as long as it doesn't include anything to do with ITFC.
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