New Blues academy director Bryan Klug says there should be more academy products in or around the first team than there are at present. The 51-year-old, whose return to Playford Road was confirmed yesterday, says there was a target of having five or six in the first team squad towards the end of his previous spell in charge.

Klug said: “When Joe Royle was here we were aiming to get five or six players in the squad most weeks and we were achieving that quite easily.

“I think we’ve probably tailed off a little bit since then. Certainly at Championship level I think a club of this size should be producing more than we have done for whatever reason in the last few years."

Klug says he expects plenty of clubs to try to emulate Barcelona’s philosophy given their recent success but feels Town should have an approach of their own: “I think everyone’s going to try and copy Barcelona and play out ridiculously from the back and have teams all the way through [the age groups] playing the same way, that is the ultimate really. I do like their style, but Ipswich has its own style and you’ve got to have your own identity.”

He says he and Paul Jewell haven’t yet spoken along those lines but is clear what he feels he has to instil in young players: “I’ve not really had that conversation.

“At the end of the day you just want to be practical on the footballing front. What you have to do for your academy, what you have to do, and we always have done, right the way back to Bobby Robson, is to establish good habits.

“Good habits for me are about playing the game in the right way, passing the ball well, good movement. At the end of the day, style with steel is what you’ve got to aim for because the reality of the game is that you’ve got to win.”

Klug represents a link back to Sir Bobby Robson's days at Portman Road, and also to every subsequent Town boss: “I’ve worked for every manager since Sir Bobby Robson, so I’ve seen some really good managers, and one or two not so good!

“Obviously there was Sir Bobby, but when I first started coaching John Lyall was here and was an unbelievable coach, his philosophy and his ability to put things on, get messages over and handle players. He was fantastic.

"Joe Royle was a great manager as well. We’ve had some really good managers here.”

Photo: Action Images

ITFCMonk added 13:04 - Jun 14 didnt mention George Burley then in those 'great managers'?
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itfc1981 added 13:10 - Jun 14 I think thats a given ITFCMONK he set Klug on his way! Wish he named Keane as dross though!
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buryblue77 added 13:28 - Jun 14 ITFCMonk, I got slated when I picked on Burley before but he wasn't a 'great' manager as some would believe. He took 5 years to take Ipswich back to the Premier League, had a lucky season because he did get us playing some very good football, something that established Premier League clubs weren't used to seeing from a promoted side but then got found out the second season when a lot of money was spent on average players. He did do a very good job for us and I will always remember the delight when we won in the play offs in 2000, but I can't call him a great manager. Joe in my view could have been a much better manager in our history books than George had he had access to the same level of money that Burley had, after all he nearly got us promoted with a low budget squad. Johnny Lyall again excellent and of course no the late great Sir Bobby, need I say more.

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Bergholtblue added 13:31 - Jun 14 "and one or two not so good" That will be Keane and Duncan then.
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irishtim added 13:37 - Jun 14 buryblue77 i think george burley did very well for us. We are all entitled to our opinions
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Langdon_Blue added 13:49 - Jun 14 reading between the lines, he is basically pointing out that Roy Keane was a disaster, but we all knew that anyway! Buryblue77 - re Burley, In the years leading up to our Promotion, we were always involved in the Play-offs and were unlucky not to have gone up. Individual errors in the Play Offs like Clapham's O.G springs to mind, rather than bad management. Not to mention finishing 5th in the Premier League and our European Tour. TWTD, as far as I'm concerned. I'd love us to be such a force as we were when he was boss, once again!

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buryblue77 added 14:25 - Jun 14 Langdon and Irishtim, agreed and in my post I did say Burley did very well for us, we were always up there in play off spots, just my opinion is that he wasn't a 'great', doesn't mean he wasn't a very good manager. If we could get anywhere near that I'd be happy, it was amongst my favourite years being a Town fan, I started supporting Town during the Duncan era so I've seen the ups and downs and Burley's years were definitely amongst the best. However I always felt a sense of disappointment year after year of constantly missing out during the mid to late 90's It was what followed after that excellent 5th place that tarnishes Burleys reputation for me, over spending on some average players (which ultimately rests on Sheepshanks shoulders) and after escaping the relagation places in early 02, ketting it all slip away and relegation followed.

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Langdon_Blue added 15:11 - Jun 14 Ah yes. John Duncan was manager when I first started attending games too. Just as well we had video footage of the 70's and early 80's to appreciate. What a team we had, before our time. A history and players we can still be proud of even though we missed out on actually being there. :-)
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buryblue77 added 15:20 - Jun 14 We missed out on so much not being old enough to remember the glory years. However it's funny that everyone generally refers to Robsons days in charge as the glory years, almost forgetting that Sir Alf winning the title back in 62, although those years weren'tlong enough lived to be as successful as Bobby's Anyway, it's all going a bit off track, so to keep it all relative I have to agree with Klug, we should have more players in the first team, a core of the squad should be from our own system.

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Fatboy added 15:27 - Jun 14 Make it so.
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itfchorry added 16:20 - Jun 14 What about a not so good CEO
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BillBlue added 17:28 - Jun 14 BuryBlue you got this right off track with your comments and thoroughly confused me in the process. How did George Burley have a lucky season by getting us playing good football? really, really confusing. Back on track. Reading BK's comments i feel a lot happier about us having a second class Academy than I did previously, mind you I still do not fully comprehend the situation but I have such a healthy respect for the guy that I feel his presence will be so complete that it will not matter which category we are in. I firmly believe that things are now going absolutely right for Ipswich Town and the glory days are still in the future! COYB

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Sindre94 added 17:29 - Jun 14 Haha! Klugey getting the headlines today :)
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jas0999 added 17:39 - Jun 14 Clearly Klug doesn't have much time for Roy and for obvious reasons. However, it is also very clear that PJ has not exactly excelled so far with bringing our own younger players through. Roy did at least bring Wickham through and in the end we sold him for £8.1M. I know some posters on here will chose/prefer to forget about that - but it did happen. struggling to see what PJ has done so far. Burley on the other hand did persist with youngsters, until he also lost his way with big name signings who flattered to deceive. It's a shame some people have short memories - as George did very well until then. A credit to ITFC. Unlike PJ - but that's just my opinion and as someone else said, we are all entitled to our own opinions. Good luck to Klug though - good to see him back and hope to see more youngsters coming through the academy with him in charge.

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bigolconnor added 18:21 - Jun 14 I hope that Klug doesn't talk too much jive behind PJ's back.Wouldn't want him getting sacked before he cleans up the mess.Also if we haven't got the right kids then its not exactly the coaches faults. Its easy to teach the basics, but it would appear at the moment that the academy is staffed by turd polishers and we all know what a difficult job that is. The kids we have had recently just arent good enough. Lavery, Cropper, Bennett?, even Hyam to a degree. Thats why we have to buy them in: i.e. Hewitt and Kourouma.

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Langdon_Blue added 18:39 - Jun 14 Jas0999 - Personally, I'd give Klug all the credit for Wickham's progress into the first team. All Keane did was play an obvious talent and sack Klug for his efforts.
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are_these_the_days added 19:07 - Jun 14 This club doesn't like academy players Bryan - we sell them. Jas - please just accept once and for all that 'Roy'!! was an absolute disaster for this club & far and away the worst manager that the club has ever had during my 40 years of supporting it.
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KIWI78 added 19:12 - Jun 14 Burley was not a great manager. Good yes, great - No. His best spells always happened when he had a good no.2 - Gorman, Housten etc, without them by his side we slipped. As Langdon said, all the manager does is pick up a good youth player from the acedemy - the hard work was always with the likes of Klug. They produced - the manager took the credit - thats football. I think BFG was our most underated manager - dont blame him for walking away when faced with the prospect of replacing all those players sold when we lost to the Ham in the semi's.

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KIWI78 added 19:16 - Jun 14 and I should have added welcome back Kluggie - we need someone with Ipswich in the blood to remind those who now run it what a club this was, and still can be.
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h32 added 19:35 - Jun 14 buryblue77 - your comments reference Burley not being a great Manager are probably correct - very good Manager, yes, most certainly - but great Managers titles are for the Sir Alf's and Sir Bobby's of the Club. Sad that so many of todays younger supporters missed out on the Glory Days - you will never know what you missed - and had you have seen those days, you would fully understand why people like myself have the views of today that we do. Wonderful memories I treasure, and always will - my ultimate wish is for us ALL to see those days again.

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h32 added 19:41 - Jun 14 Common sense being spoken at Portman Ro0ad again - much to everyones relief. Just hope Klug can have some serious input into pointing the Club in the right direction again soon. Clegg, Jewell and Evans - LISTEN TO THE MAN - he knows his stuff.
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buryblue77 added 20:53 - Jun 14 Billblue my comments regarding Burley were in response to ITFCMonks observation of no praise for Burley from klugs comments. What I meant by getting lucky by playing good football was exactly that, most teams promoted until recently didn't play the brand of football we tried and the likes of Swansea have just been succesful in doing, but we got found in in that second season, but yes the comments went off subject just a bit. h32, as I'd said, I wished in a way I was older and can remember the glory days, it's a shame that events back in the 80's lead to selling off our best players and we've never really recovered from it. I do understand your views and wanting the best for the club, sadly in this world of the mega rich I'm not sure we'll ever see those times back as I don't think we could ever compete financially, but if we could emulate the likes of Stoke and become a mid table Premier League side then it would be an achievement. I think we'd be on our way had Magilton not been sacked for the big name that Evans wanted in Keane, who destroyed this club and its set up, losing integral people like Klug but I think we can see the damage is slowly being repaired.

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h32 added 21:14 - Jun 14 buryblue77 - agreed - you make some good balanced points - unlike some.
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Dozzells_Bobblehat added 21:46 - Jun 14 buryblue - as usual i agree with most of what you say, i see no reason why we cant be a Stoke or a Fulham, we have the stadium, fan base and just need the team. h32 - i was at Wembley in 78 and 2000 and saw us win the UEFA. I understand your frustrations but i dont share your viewpoint (as you probably know by now). If you are harbouring hopes of us getting back to the Robson years then IMO you will always be disappointed. We were punching above our weight and football has moved on hugely. Klug coming back is great and lets hope he can unearth some more gems and help get us back in the PL.

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harlingblue added 01:14 - Jun 15 Brian Klug is a major signing, knows the Club through and though and will prove to be a force in getting the 'feel good factor' back. He should have a big input in pushing worthy young players to get their chance, as PJ will find that this man knows who is ready for the 1st team squad.
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