Brendan – Roy Will Turn It Around

Ipswich have slid in recent weeks to 17th in the Championship table but a place in the Carling Cup semi finals has released the pressure slightly on former Man Utd midfielder Keane.

And Rodgers believes that despite recent league form, Keane has it in him to turn the corner and lift Ipswich back up the table.

“Roy will turn the corner,” he told the Evening Post.

“They have got through to the semi-final of the Carling Cup. The players are obviously playing for him and sometimes you just need that bit of luck as a manager.

“They started the season very well, then they went on a bad run.

“Now they have beaten West Brom they will be looking to go on another run of good results, but hopefully it will come after this weekend.

“They will be fine because they have good players and in Roy they have a manager who wants the very best.

“There’s no doubt that what Roy did as a player has increased the expectation levels around him as a manager.

“But I did my pro licence with Roy and I was really impressed with one thing in particular.

“He was arguably the top midfielder in the Premier League for a number of years, and as a result he could easily have taken a short cut in his coaching career. But he didn’t do that. I remember as part of the course we had to do a report on a club abroad.

“I know a lot of coaches and managers who would not bother going abroad and try to get their information through a computer.

“But Roy went to New Zealand to study the All Blacks, and I thought that was a mark of the guy.

“He doesn’t take any short cuts, and he doesn’t want his players to take them either.”