FORMER Derby County and Wigan Athletic boss Paul Jewell is set to replace axed Roy Keane as Ipswich Town manager.

Jewell’s odds of becoming the next Ipswich Town manager plummeted earlier in the week as speculation over Keane’s future mounted.

Bookmakers have since suspended betting on who will become the next Blues boss.

Jewell is expected to watch Town’s FA Cup tie at Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge on Sunday and assume control in time for the first leg of the Carling Cup semi-final with Arsenal.

Liverpool-born Jewell is currently out of work having left Derby County in December 2008 - ironically after a home defeat to Ipswich.

His first managerial job came at Bradford City, guiding the Bantams into the Premier League in 1999 and keeping the club up the following season.

Jewell managed a similar feat with Wigan Athletic, taking the club from the old Division Two into the top flight.

But his CV also contains disappointing spells at Sheffield Wednesday, where he was sacked after eight months, and Derby, where he oversaw the club’s humiliating relegation from the Premier League without winning a single league game.