A couple of blog posts back, I wrote an article about my beloved Ipswich Town Football Club. Speculation is rife that our manager, Roy Keane, is to be replaced. I think this would be a bad idea.

I rarely venture beyond this here blog and my Twitter page to publish anything. People that write on oft-frequented online publications are apt to receive a load of comments below their articles, a good deal of which will disagree in an unnecessarily insulting manner.

I thought I’d make an exception, and venture out of my safety bubble. I got in touch with the content editor of Ipswich Town’s successful fanzine, Those Were The Days (a.k.a. TWTD), and that article is now available on their website.

At this point, the ignorance and naivety of my opinions will now be brutally exposed by ruthless comment-leavers. At any rate, it’s just nice to be out there talking about the Super Blues, who I love dearly.

To see the article on the site, go right here: http://www.twtd.co.uk/news.php?storyid=16238.

Alan Curbishley has reportedly attended two recent Ipswich Town games, which is worrying. Sure, ‘Curbs’ is a manager with a strong reputation and an equally impressive CV, but Ipswich already have a tremendous manager in Roy Keane. Although we don’t have to worry that Marcus Evans has been reading Flavio Briatore’s ten-step guide to running a football club, replacing Keano would still be a poor move at this point. At Portman Road, no-one is hastily sacked. Getting rid of Keane would be the worst imaginable violation of this trend.

If talks are indeed taking place, it will be the first time that the owners have demonstrated a palpable naivety in their long-term plans for the club. Admittedly, it has not been a tremendous season for Ipswich; we all know this. However, it has been far from desperate. What Town need is a bit of tweaking, not major change. We’ve not been outclassed by the whole division. We just need to stop the late goals going in and convert a couple more of our chances per game, that is all.

The unlucky start to the season could easily have developed into a full-on disaster, but Roy Keane’s inspirational leadership ensured that it did not. His every statement to the press was calculated by him so that the players wouldn’t lose confidence. By accepting the responsibility himself, and admitting that his job could be on the line, he eased the pressure on the team. Many managers let this pressure mount to a level where winning games becomes near impossible. Roy Keane did not.

As it happens, we’re not likely to do a Norwich. We shouldn’t have to drop a division to play against teams we can beat. Another win should do it, and then we can look forward to next season, when Keane’s vision for Town will hopefully blossom into something more deadly for opposition defences.

This is exactly why the Town fans and management have to be extremely careful. Constant speculation about Keane’s future may well drive him away from our club. We do not want this. In recent years, there have been players who don’t seem too fussed about winning points for our team. Roy Keane is exactly the man to sort this out – anyone slacking will be kicked quickly and powerfully up the backside and may well find themselves landing somewhere near Carrow Road. He seems to care about our club, and won’t accept mediocrity or failure. Let’s remember this before we send him a P45 form, or force him to ask for it anyway.

This is a football-related post, so if you’re not into the beautiful game, you may as well cease reading at this very moment. In fact, your reading this far was essentially a waste of time.

Jim Magilton has been suspended from his current post as manager of QPR for alledgedly headbutting one of his own players. Normally the professional conduct of a QPR manager wouldn’t bother me, but Magic Jim was a legend during his playing career for my beloved Ipswich Town, and served nearly three non-disastrous seasons as manager. His devotion to the club will forever be ackowledged by all of its fans. Whilst he played for us, he was influential in our promotion to the Premiership, and our being able to stay there for two seasons as opposed to one.

As a manager, it’s fair to say he was less successful. His tactical astuteness was questioned by some, but the fact that we didn’t plummet down another flight during his tenure should remind analysts that he is far from useless. It is very easy for a big club to freefall in the seasons following relegation from the top tier, and he prevented this from happening. Although we didn’t achieve to our full potential whilst he took the role of gaffer, you could never challenge his commitment to the club. In his first managerial role, those three seasons were a respectable effort. It can be incredible how quickly some fans will turn on a club legend (some renamed Magilton ‘Tragic Dim’), but on reflection it can surely not be a massive surprise that he is achieving with QPR.

At the very least, they are a very wealthy club with the kind of resources which should increase your team’s likelihood of winning. If he did indeed headbutt a player, then it’s essentially assault and he should face the sack as well as a criminal charge. Nonetheless, this would seem to be completely out of character for the Ulsterman. I hope he didn’t do it, and if he does indeed lose his job, QPR will do well to replace him with someone as passionate.

In 1995 my beloved Ipswich Town football club were spanked at Old Trafford to the tune of nine goals to nil. This will always be a sore point. Earlier today, Tottenham Hotspur brutalized Wigan Athletic by nine goals to one, nearly equalling the disastrous record which will seemingly always appear by Ipswich’s name. Nonetheless, it might be enough to persuade the Wigan ownery-people to send Athletic boss Roberto Martinez a crisp new P45 form.

In fact, this is arguably the most disastrous result which could have occurred. Because it was so close to being a new record, all of the articles which talk about the game are going to remind the reader of the Ipswich one. Much like this blog post here. Coupled with another draw yesterday, this time against Sheffield Wednesday, it’s not been a great weekend for Ipswich Town.

Chin up.

Yes, you did read correctly. Thankfully, our fixture list placed us against Derby County at just the right time to get the first win of the season. Had this fixture occurred sooner, this poor form would not have occurred. Derby often boost our morale by keeling over and conceding victory, and this was another of those fine occasions.

Meanwhile, Keano continues to impress me due to his calm and eloquent demanour. I have no doubt that we’ll be ploughing our way up the Championship table over the next few games. Oh the joys of supporting a proper football club.

My beloved Ipswich Town Football Club remain bottom of the Championship table today, after another draw. This time, it was away to Plymouth ‘Green Army’ Argyle. There’s a lot of talk amongst the media, and Ipswich Town fans, regarding the future of Roy Keane.

Keano is our high-profile manager, and he’s been in charge since the end of last season. We are fourteen games into the season, but have yet to win a game. Despite this, I think it’s important for everybody to gain a little perspective before calling for his head.

Firstly, the table is not as desperate as it seems. A couple of wins could lift us swiftly from the foot of the table, and we have showed some promising football in recent games. We’re only 19 points behind the leaders, which seems like a lot, but we’re not yet a third of the way through the season.

Secondly, the last few seasons have been blighted by Town players who seem indifferent to whether they win or not. Keano is exactly the man to get rid of this culture.

Thirdly, despite being in this predicament, Keane has remained unflustered and has said exactly the right things. He has reiterated his pride in being Ipswich manager, and accepted his responsibility in the poor start to the season. This is inspired leadership.

I just hope we don’t do anything rash, and send a talented young manager his P45 form before he’s had a chance to prosper.

Ipswich are currently getting pasted by Newcastle United. I need a hug.

My beloved football club (Ipswich Town) are on national television tomorrow – the BBC no less – as we play Newcastle United in the ninth game of our Championship campaign. The only problem is, we haven’t actually won a game yet. We’re second from bottom in the table and now probably isn’t the best time for us to be playing against the second-from-top team in front of a considerable armchair audience.

I still think Roy Keane will pull through, and desperately hope that I’m not suffering from some kind of naive optimism. Tomorrow, nonetheless, would be a good time to get our first set of three points.