Keane becomes another sacking victim

Among all the forecasts for the first of the vulnerable Premier league managers to fall, suddenly comes the sacking of Ipswich Town manager Roy Keane.

Ipswich sit an uncomfortable 19th in the Championship, and have suffered seven defeats in the last nine games. Yet Keane has led Ipswich to a Carling Cup semi-final against Arsenal, the first leg of which is at Portman Road next Wednesday.

After losing 1-0 to his old club Nottingham Forest on Monday Keane said: "I'm doing my best and if my best isn't good enough, then I'll take the consequences."

As for the vulnerable Premier League managers, Roy Hodgson of Liverpool surely heads the list, followed by Avram Grant (West Ham), Carlo Ancelotti (Chelsea) and Gerard Houllier (Aston Villa).

Given the large number of recent sackings across the top four divisions, the next one could be only hours away.

Keane's Ipswich blow away a two-goal lead

Poor Roy Keane and Ipswich Town. After a dreadful start to the season which had secured just four points from four draws in the opening nine games of the season, they found themselves 3-1 up at promotion hopefuls Sheffield United last night with just 13 minutes left.

But football - as we all know - is a cruel game, and a goal from Darius Henderson and an equaliser from Chris Morgan two minutes into added time denied Town their first win of the season.

To add insult to injury, fellow strugglers Plymouth Argyle won their first game of the season - 2-1 at Peterborough - to leave Ipswich at the foot of the Championship table.

Boss Roy Keane said afterwards: "It's got nothing to do with luck. We were 3-1 up and should have seen it out but it was two bad goals to concede. We gave the ball away cheaply. There was a spell in the second half where we needed one or two players to see the game through but nobody did."

It is interesting that Keane's management is followed so closely by the media. Why is that? The some time bad boy of top flight English football now seems to court popularity rather than controversy. There seems to be an underlying feeling of wanting him to do well.

The trouble is, he's not doing well at the moment. With only five points in the bank from ten games, the patience of Ipswich's fans and board will not last forever.