ROY Keane might soon have a right-hand man to help shoulder the responsibility of propelling Ipswich Town up the Championship table.

Carl Marston

Ipswich soccer, back page

By Carl Marston

ROY Keane might soon have a right-hand man to help shoulder the responsibility of propelling Ipswich Town up the Championship table.

Speculation is growing that Town might be preparing to appoint a new first-team coach, to give Keane a helping hand over the coming months.

Any new recruit would obviously have considerable experience to call upon, hence names like Brian Kidd and Peter Taylor being linked with the possible post.

Keane has already admitted that he would not be against such a proposition. Only last week he stated that he was very “open minded” about receiving help from other quarters, to strengthen his back-room staff. That might include a sports psychologist as well as a new coach.

Kidd is currently the technical development manager at Manchester City, having left his role as Portsmouth's assistant manager over the summer.

The 60-year-old learnt his trade as an assistant to Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United during the 1990s. There was talk of him becoming Keane's No. 2 when the Irishman was appointed Sunderland's new manager in August, 2006, but that never materialised with Kidd ending up as Neil Warnock's assistant at Sheffield United instead.

Taylor, meanwhile, can draw on a wealth of experience as manager of England (caretaker basis in 2000) and England Under-21s, in addition to club sides Southend, Gillingham, Leicester City, Brighton, Hull, Crystal Palace, Stevenage and most recently Wycombe.

Town do have a history of bringing in an experienced coach to help the boss, not least during previous manager Jim Magilton's regime when ex-England coach John Gorman came in to help improve results after Christmas last year. Gorman stayed until Magilton's dismissal in April.

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