Roy Keane

Simon Clegg disappointed by Roy Keane parting shot

Chris Brammer Wednesday, February 6, 2013
10:36 AM

THE out-going chief executive of Ipswich Town, Simon Clegg, has had to deal with his fair share of off-field problems since arriving in Suffolk.

There was the acrimonious departure of Roy Keane – one of three managers sacked during his time at the club – and the off-field problems of players such as Michael Chopra.

Keane often made veiled criticism of Clegg and how important transfer deals failed to materialise once talks reached boardroom level.

“My mistake was that I agreed to take the Ipswich job before meeting their chief executive,” said the former Sunderland boss.

Clegg hit back yesterday and revealed he was surprised by the nature of Keane’s comments.

“Roy’s comments disappointed me and I was quite surprised as they did not reflect the relationship we had,” said Clegg.

“He had to vent his frustration on someone though and he was savvy enough not to do that at the owner (Marcus Evans).

“I thought we had a reasonable working relationship, but so be it.”

Meanwhile, Clegg said he was able to cope with issues regarding current squad members.

He added: “I have the right background and experience to deal with those issues, in terms of my time in the Army.

“In terms of managing British athletes, I have managed them at several Olympic Games so it doesn’t phase me.

“One or two of the issues (at Ipswich) have been at the extreme end of the spectrum and my responsibility has been to remove as many of the external pressures as possible and allow players to focus on their jobs, which is to play football.”

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9 comments

So ex CEO Clegg was surprised by Keane's outburst, well he shouldn't have been had he listened to supporters or read supporters' comments on this site. Well he's gone now and we will have to see if the new joint Managing Directors do any better. However, don't hold your breath as these two are also 'money men' of ME's organisation and not the football men we need. Why is it that ME wants to remain unseen? everyone knows what he looks like by now but why should he also remain mute? Come on ME 'grow a pair' and talk to the peasants !

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Brian Betts

Thursday, February 7, 2013
This is nonsense. There is no way that you can even come close to suggesting that Keane was Town's worst managerial appointment. Yes, his time here was a failure - not even he would argue with them. In my humble opinion we have had far inferior mangers before and after him.

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Jonathan_Ray

Thursday, February 7, 2013
Faze, please.

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Bertie Shrimp

Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Come on John, RK was not our worst manager.Cast your mind back to a certain John Duncan. Another one sadly who springs to mind is Jackie Milburn who despite playing a crucial role in setting up our youth infrastructure in the mid-60's (obviously a great move given our subsequent success) was hopeless as a manager.

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Richard Gardiner

Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Irrespective of whether Keane was a good manager or not his departure was fairly dignified. He has not critisised anybody else since so we have to assume that he - like the majority of fans - held the general view that Clegg was a major problem. For those who rate RK as our worste manager I can only assume they stopped watching after he left & never witnessed the debacle that was Paul Jewell ????

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Old Timer

Wednesday, February 6, 2013
John, Keane was not the worst manager of all time at all how long have you been following town in top 4 but not worse at all. SC should have sacked Chopra who has brought only problems to the club one of Jewells biggest mistakes and he made a few !! If he had used his Army backgound then he would have gone by now.

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finchk702

Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Mr Clegg - you approvedappointed the worst manager in the history of ITFC and we are still trying to recover from that decision. End of!!!

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John Maynard

Wednesday, February 6, 2013
And if I was Roy Keane I too would have had serious regrets about not meeting with our Chief Executive first!

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FRANK WESTON

Wednesday, February 6, 2013
SEE ALL THE PROBLEMS WAS MR CLEGG THANK GOD HE HAS GONE SO NOW LETS THIS CLUB UP AND RUNNING AT SORT OUT THE PLAYERS WE WONT AND NEED TO COME INTO THIS CLUB ,

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chris betts

Wednesday, February 6, 2013