LEAVE me alone to get on with my job!That was a luxury not afforded to Roy Keane during his final few months at Sunderland, according to the man himself.

Carl Marston

Ipswich soccer for back

By Carl Marston

LEAVE me alone to get on with my job!

That was a luxury not afforded to Roy Keane during his final few months at Sunderland, according to the man himself.

He loathed the “interference” that filtered down from the board-room at the Stadium of Light, and it was this meddling-from-above which prompted his departure.

But Keane is having no such problems at Ipswich Town. This week he was given the backing of owner and chairman, Marcus Evans, and chief executive Simon Clegg, despite the club slumping to the bottom of the Championship.

He has their support, not their interference. And he wants to repay them with a first victory of the season at Barnsley this afternoon.

“I couldn't take being told what to do or where to live,” revealed Keane, with reference to his tumultuous last few months at Sunderland.

“I've only been here (at Ipswich) for two minutes, but they have let me get on with it.

“The way that people speak to me, that is very important - if they want to end up with my respect.

“My first two years at Sunderland, with the board, were so easy. There was no interference. All clubs are different, but the previous regime just let me get on with the job.

“The club was then sold, and there were then different sorts of pressures. The dynamics changed.

“I started getting off-the-cuff phone calls telling me which players should be in, when we should be training and where I should live.

“And there's still a lot of ongoing stuff. It's in legal hands.

“I was quite happy at Sunderland, and there was no interference for those first two years. I told the media that I would not last long if there was interference. But I left Sunderland in a good state,” added Keane.

Town's under-pressure boss does not like to compare Ipswich with his old club.

“The Ipswich situation is completely different to the Sunderland one. Sunderland had just been relegated, I got a couple of wins very quickly and that gave us momentum. That helped so much.

“Ipswich finished eight or nine points off the play-offs last season, so it's a completely different challenge that I face here.

“Obviously though we didn't envisage not getting a win from our first 10 games. We're doing OK, but OK is not good enough, I appreciate that.