Why Are Ipswich Town Propping Up The Championship?

I am not an Ipswich fan. Actually, having been a lifelong Chelsea supporter I changed my allegiance to Colchester United a few years ago having lost interest in a Chelsea side that seemed to be successful only as a consequence of millions of the Russian fellas money being pumped into the team. And anyway, I live near Colchester so it seemed like a good idea and to be fair I don't regret it one bit. I feel more legit supporting a local team, even a League One team.

Anyway, I digress. Ipswich Town, a team a few miles up the road and as such the butt of friendly banter from Colchester fans and, from the other direction, not so friendly banter from Norwich City fans. Amongst much ballyhoo Roy Keane took over as manager of Ipswich earlier in the year and great things were promised. And yet here we are approaching the halfway mark of the season and at the time of writing Ipswich have won only one game and are second from bottom in the Championship.

Anyone with a vague interest in football will be aware of Roy Keane. He was a successful player and captain at Manchester United. But many people will remember his famous tantrum when with the Irish national side when he came home early from the 2002 world cup basically because he couldn't get on with the manager, Mick McCarthy. Much throwing of toys out of pram.

Since then he has a fairly luke warm go at management with a lacklustre performance at Sunderland and now at Ipswich. Recently his performances when being interviewed or at press conferences have shown a man who seems very angry at anything and everything, showing all the hallmarks of being nothing but a petulant bully.

Now am I the only one who thinks that perhaps the poor performance of the team on the pitch may be down to, basically, the players being afraid of their manager? If he behaves in the same way to his players as he does in his dealings with the media then they're probably living in fear of his outbursts - hardly conducive to getting the best out of anyone, especially the fragile egos of professional footballers.

And yet, despite their dire position in the league Ipswich fans still seem to revere Mr Keane as some sort of god. What is the hold he has over people?

Perhaps it's just me....