Roy Keane's Ipswich reign as manager and acrimonious exit after fan clash at Man Utd game
Roy Keane endured a difficult spell as manager at Ipswich and, upon his return to Portman Road with Sky Sports, clashed with a fan who reminded him of his struggles
Ipswich Town fans and Roy Keane don't have the greatest of relationships - and that was evident when the Irishman clashed with supporters on Sunday.
Fans at Portman Road took aim at the Irishman whilst he was on Sky Sports duty, which saw the former Manchester United skipper confront one supporter in particular. It led to Keane urging him to wait in the car park so they could discuss the matter further before they had to be pulled away from each other.
It came as more insults were hurled Keane's way, with one man racing across the upper tier to shout "F*** you Keane".
Those who follow Ipswich are probably still bitter about the period where Keane led the Tractor Boys. It remains the last job the Irishman had as a manager, but he isn't remembered fondly by those at Portman Road following his 20-month tenure, which ended in January 2011.
When Keane eventually got his marching orders Ipswich were 19th in the Championship table and the fan who confronted him, Neil Finbow, reminded the Irishman that his tenure was massively damaging to the club whilst he also chose to bring up some of the more controversial moments in his career - including his acrimonious exit from the World Cup in 2002.
He said on his Facebook : "Yep did remind him he set us back five years and ruined our football club - I also mentioned he wasn't fit to step foot anywhere near our ground.
"Oh and I mentioned about him walking out on a World Cup and breaking [Alf-Inge] Halaand's leg and putting it in his autobiography I hate the bloke and that's been boiling up since he got sacked all those years ago."
When Keane was hired in April 2009 by the Suffolk-based club, they had been in the second tier since their relegation in 2002. He was tasked with improving their fortunes and making them a top-flight club again within two years.
His first major error came in his first summer. Ipswich spent notable sums to bring in the likes of Carlos Edwards and Grant Leadbitter - two men Keane had worked with at Sunderland, where he won promotion to the Premier League.
The Tractor Boys though chose to sell a 19-year-old Jordan Rhodes to Huddersfield, then in League One, for just £350,000. The Scotland international went on to score 87 goals in 148 appearances for the Terriers before signing for Blackburn for £8m in August 2012.
Keane has owned his exit as a massive error. “I still get criticised for selling Jordan, and I have to accept that." he said. "But it was also a club decision. We sold him to Huddersfield, down a division, for (an initial) £350,000, and he started scoring loads of goals. I think I was the one who suggested a sell-on clause, and thank God we had it because they sold him to Blackburn for £8million. The mistake myself and the staff made with Jordan was, we discussed what he couldn’t do rather than what he could do.”
Ipswich failed to win any of their first 14 games - their worst ever start to a campaign - with Keane having to wait until October for his first win of the season as Ipswich eventually finished 15th, which went alongside relatively early exits in the FA Cup and Carabao Cup.
After a loss at Barnsley on October 3 Keane was asked if he would stay on as manager and he, with a stern look in his eyes, responded: "I refuse to answer that question".
The following year Keane received less of a backing in the transfer market. That was despite selling the previous season's top scorer, Jonathan Walters, to Stoke for £2.75m. It didn't stop Ipswich starting impressively though, losing just one of their opening eight games, which helped them sit in the play-off spots come early November.
Keane and Ipswich then embarked on a run of one win in nine, which included an embarrassing hammering at arch rivals Norwich. A home loss to Nottingham Forest would be the final straw for the Premier League winning captain.
"When results aren't good the manager gets the sack, that's the game," he said. "However, I have a genuine belief that we were making progress and that the players have what it takes to turn this season around."
Ipswich were resigned to mid-table mediocrity for the years after Keane's exit as the likes of Paul Jewell occupied the home dugout at Portman Road. A stint under Mick McCarthy saw the club make the play-offs, where they lost in the semi-final to local rivals Norwich.
2019 saw them relegated to League One, where they spent four years with the appointment of Kieran McKenna proving an inspired decision. The ex-Manchester United coach hadn't held a top job previously but in his first full season earned promotion to the Championship - and then backed that up with another promotion - ending a 22-year absence from the Premier League.
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