Roy Keane's arrival at Portman Road means there will be plenty of attention on Ipswich Town this season. They are heavily backed, but have struggled in the summer transfer market so far.

Last Season – 9th Upper mid-table again for Ipswich who impressed on occasions but rarely threatened to push on into the play offs. That proved to be the final straw for the board and Jim Magilton who was sacked a month from the end of the season and replaced by Roy Keane who immediately oversaw consecutive victories. Magilton rebuilt the Ipswich side after Joe Royle’s departure and spent a considerable amount of new owner Marcus Evans’ money, as much as £12m according to some reports, trying to push his side on that extra level without success. In the end Magilton was dividing opinion among fans, the victim of a pretty vicious campaign in the local media and falling out with a number of his own players by the time the inevitable parting of the ways came.

Head to Head: Ipswich are becoming something of a bogey team for QPR and they took six points off us with consummate ease last season. Rangers were comfortably beaten 2-0 at Portman Road during gareth Ainsworth’s first spell in caretaker charge. At Loftus Road for the return game QPR were pushing for the play offs and the Sky cameras were in town to see Sam Di Carmine give us the lead after just three minutes. Ipswich were by far the better side after that though and eventually won 3-1 with the QPR fans turning on their own players, Gavin Mahon in particular, and management by the end of the game.
Ipswich 2 QPR 0
QPR 1 Ipswich 3

Odds: The Roy Keane factor has shortened Ipswich’s odds considerably with most bookies having them down as favourites apart from the three relegated sides. Paddy Power, Ladbrokes and William Hill have them at tens but others are shorter, and you can get as low as eights with Victor Chandler, Blue Square and others.

The Manager: Fears about just what kind of a manager Roy Keane would be when he retired seemed to have been laid to rest by his first season at Sunderland. After a glittering but controversial playing career with Nottingham Forest, Man Utd and Celtic Keane marched into a Sunderland club still settling down after a takeover by Niall Quinn’s consortium, and having endured a disastrous start to the season in the Championship after relegation from the Premiership. They lost their first five matches of the season under Quinn’s own caretaker charge, including a 3-0 defeat to Southend and League Cup defeat at Bury, but Keane calmly turned the whole thing around and won the league with something to spare by the end of the season. It seemed the man could do no wrong. The Premiership proved to be a tougher mistress. Keane spent an astronomical amount of money assembling a distinctly average top flight squad at the Stadium of Light - £43m in his first year when they were nearly relegated anyway, and another £15m last summer with little improvement. Keane has never had to be used to losing during his career and as the beard grew longer, the mood grew darker and the morale of his team worsened it didn’t seem he was taking to it very well. Stories of the players being afraid of him, morale being rock bottom, days when he wouldn’t even speak to his staff and so on started to pour forth and it was left to Ricky Sbragia to be the reluctant caretaker through to the end of a season they were lucky to survive. Keane made an immediate impression at Sunderland, and seemed to do so again at Ipswich with two wins from two games at the end of last season. It remains to be seen whether Keane can inspire Ipswich as immediately as he did the Mackems, I happen to think he can, and if so how he will then cope when things start to decline or a bad run takes hold as it inevitably will at some point. A ticking time bomb, and fascinating character to have back in our league.
Survival Chances 7/10

Players: After throwing money around like Montgomery Brewster in his final 18 months at Sunderland Keane has found shopping with Ipswich a little tougher, even with Marcus Evans’ millions to back him up. When I spotted the headline ‘Ipswich sign Healy’ earlier this summer I barely raised an eyebrow, until I found out it was Cork’s Colin rather than Sunderland’s David. His big summer outlay so far has gone on our own Damien Delaney and he looks to have been overcharged there, they are trying to bring in Watford’s Tamas Priskin with little success at the moment, the decision to allow promising young strikers Jordan Rhodes and Billy Clarke to leave the club strikes me as a strange one as an outsider looking in – particularly Rhodes who I like the look of a lot and would not have minded seeing down at Loftus Road this season. With flop Kevin Lisbie gone as well and Pablo Counago potentially heading Swansea’s way that really only leaves Jon Stead to score the goals. Jon Walters was the club’s top man in 2007/08 but had an injury hit season last year coupled with the distracting interest of other clubs so he should be more of threat this year if he stays fit. David Wright is a classy full back and Richard Wright seemed to at last be getting some of his old form back last season. I am still mystified as to why anybody would employ Alex Bruce for anything other than working behind the till in the club shop at a Championship club. Lee Martin finally gets a chance to put down some roots and play some first team football after a succession of Championship loan deals away from Man Utd – he looks the smartest of Keane’s summer signings.
Likely Star Player – Jon Stead

Transfers:
In:
Troy Brown from Fulham – Free
Damien Delaney from Queens Park Rangers - £750k
Lee Martin from Manchester United – Undisclosed
Colin Healy from Cork City – Undisclosed
Shane O`Connor – Free
Out:
Tommy Miller to Sheffield Wednesday – Free
Billy Clarke to Blackpool – Undisclosed
Ivan Campo – Released
Dean Bowditch – Released
Chris Casement – Released
Jai Reason – Released
Kurt Robinson – Released
Matt Richards – Released
Danny Haynes to Bristol City – £400k
Dan Harding to Southampton – Free
Jordan Rhodes to Huddersfield Town - £850k

Prediction: At the moment Ipswich don’t look a good deal better than they were last season, in fact with Rhodes, Lisbie and Clarke gone and Counago potentially following it could easily be argued they look worse. However they now have an inspirational manager in charge and I very much doubt their transfer window activity is done yet. I just feel that after 18 months stagnating with Magilton the Keane factor will really shoot them up the table this season and a top six finish is highly likely. Personally I think Keane will take Ipswich to the Premiership within the next two years, and then fall apart again when the defeats start stacking up.
Verdict: Play offs.

Photo: Action Images

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