Keane could be the one to call it a day

ROY Keane is “counting his blessings” that he is still the manager of Ipswich Town.

But Keane also revealed, during yesterday’s press conference ahead of tonight’s Carling Cup quarter-final tie against West Brom, that HE could even be the one to call it a day, rather than wait to be axed by owner Marcus Evans.

The Town boss is facing up to the stark fact that, if his team do not start picking up some results over the next few weeks, then he will be out of a job.

“I ask myself every day – do I think I’m capable of turning things around – and the answer is yes,” explained Keane.

“But it might be tomorrow, or it might be Thursday, when I think that I’m not the one who can turn things around.

“Then I’ll sit down with the owner and we will have that conversation.

“But I’ve not felt it’s got to that stage, and it was the same last year when we didn’t win for two or three months.

“Do I think I am the man to turn it around, challenging for the top six? That is a question I ask even when we are winning matches,” added Keane.

But the Town boss realises that if the likes of Martin O’Neill and Gordon Strachan can be out of work, then so can he.

“If I lose my job, then I shouldn’t be too upset, because it’s the nature of the game,” continued Keane. “We always know that time runs out on a manager, but with these young players they can always hope to get another game or another opportunity.

“The buck stops with the manager, and it’s the manager who pays the ultimate price.

“That’s the industry we are in; there’s no getting away from it and you have got to live with it.

“Over the last few months I’ve seen other managers, top managers who have achieved something in the game, like Gordon Strachan and Martin O’Neill, losing their jobs.

“They are managers who I have a lot of time for, and respect for, so if they are out of work I count my blessings that I’m still working. I count my blessings every day.

“But I know your days are numbered when you are losing matches.”