Town Confirm Keeley New Keeper-Coach Wednesday, 26th May 2021 11:56 Town have confirmed the appointment of John Keeley as their new goalkeeper-coach, the 59-year-old having left Portsmouth last week. News that Keeley was set to be reunited with manager Paul Cook at Portman Road, the two having worked together at Fratton Park, emerged over the weekend. “I can’t wait to get going. I’ve been in the game a long time but I still get a buzz about being involved in something good and I’ve got a great feeling about this,” Keeley told the club website. “I was at Portsmouth with Paul and I loved working with him. I was very close to going to Wigan with him when he left. “We have stayed in touch over the years and that shows you how we get on and I was delighted when he asked me to come to Ipswich. “He’s a proper football manager. He loves the game, he loves to see his teams playing attacking football and Ipswich is a massive club. “Like I said, I’ve just got a good feeling we are going to achieve something here. It’s a really exciting opportunity.” Keeley left the Pompey staff last week having been in his role for a second stint for the last five years. The Plaistow-born former keeper was with Southend, Brighton twice, Oldham, Oxford (loan), Reading (loan), Chester (loan), Colchester, Stockport, Peterborough, Chelmsford and Worthing as a player. Keeley initially joined Portsmouth as their academy goalkeeping-coach in 2007 after a spell working at Brighton. He stepped up to coach the senior keepers in 2010 before moving on in 2013. Spells with Blackburn, again at Brighton and in the Chinese Premier League with Guangzhou R&F, where Terry Butcher would later also spend time coaching, followed before he was brought back to Pompey by Cook ahead of 2016/17. Cook has told both Town's senior keepers, Tomas Holy and Dai Cornell, that they can move on this summer. Keeley's appointment could well see the Blues move for Pompey keeper Craig MacGillivray, who is leaving Fratton Park this summer the Hampshire club not having taken up an option on his contract. Charlton have been linked with the 28-year-old Scot. Town’s previous goalkeeping-coach Jimmy Walker left the club last month with academy keeper-coach Carl Pentney having filled in in the role for the final few games of the season.
Photo: ITFC Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
You need to login in order to post your comments |
Blogs 295 bloggersIpswich Town Polls[ Vote here ] |