Keane 'excited' to be back

Keane: Ambitious project

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Roy Keane is delighted to be back in football management following his appointment at Ipswich Town.

The Irishman has been out of the game since walking away from his post at Sunderland in December.

He believes he has benefited from spending time away from the stresses of coaching, but insists now is the right time to make a return.

Keane has penned a two-year contract at Portman Road and admits his aim is to steer the club into the Premier League before that deal expires.

"It's a massive challenge trying to get the club back in the Premier League," he said.

"I'm excited and looking forward to it. I've had a good break. It's good to be back.

"Three or four weeks ago I thought, if the opportunity came up, I was ready for it. I've signed a two-year contract but I'd like to try and do it (get promotion) in one year.

"If I wasn't up for challenges I'd be out walking my dogs today."

Keane also hinted that in order to achieve his targets he is willing to implement sweeping changes to his playing staff.

Relationship

"Nothing will be happening over the next week or two, we've got to take stock and take it from there," he said.

"There are a lot of players on long-term injuries and players whose contracts are up, so that might suit me.

"But it would be unfair to say to players whose contracts are up 'You've got two games to prove yourself'.

"All I've asked of any player as a manager is that they give 100 per cent, and that's all I'm asking of the Ipswich players. If they're okay with that they will enjoy working with me, if not it will be a very brief relationship."

Having taken Sunderland into the top flight during his first managerial position, Keane admits he was attracted to the Ipswich job by the club's vision to achieve a similar feat.

He said: "I enjoy working with ambitious people. There's enough people out there with no ambitions who are happy to go through the motions in life.

"It's going to be very difficult, looking at the teams that will come down [from the Premier League].

"It's a massive challenge, but hopefully we will be in the mix. At the moment we are 26 points behind Wolves, so that's a big, big gap to make up."