Roy Keane to rebuild

Keane: Ready to rebuild

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Ipswich boss Roy Keane is plotting a summer of rebuilding following Town's 3-0 defeat at home to Sheffield United, while Kevin Blackwell admits it has been a tough season for the Blades.

The Blues ended a disappointing season on a losing note and were booed off by the Portman Road fans.

Keane is now planning major changes to his squad in the weeks ahead and admits he will waste no time in getting on the phone.

"My work starts this evening," said Keane. "I'll be on the phone tonight and I'm not a great one for speaking on the phone. My wife will tell you that.

"But hopefully the biggest bill the club will get from me this summer will be my phone bill. My work starts now. Most definitely. There's no switching off.

"I don't even like talking about summer holidays. We don't deserve a holiday.

"Of course you need to switch off physically and mentally but this idea of people off gallivanting for eight or nine weeks isn't going to happen.

"No-one likes losing but imagine if we'd won today. I might have thought maybe 'we're not that bad'.

"You always have doubts in the back of your mind - shoes, cars, holidays, your marriage. But this has confirmed it in my mind, especially those last 20 minutes. I'll be bringing in characters.

"Forget stats, ages, the country they're from or what size boot they wear. It's all about characters."

Blades view

Mark Yeates was Ipswich's tormentor, scoring one and creating the other two as the visitors eased to their biggest away win of the season and first at Portman Road since 1975.

"We always feel we're a club that should be going for promotion but at the end of last season we found ourselves with 15 players out of contract," said Blades boss Blackwell, reflecting on a difficult season at Bramall Lane.

"It left us with a big hole to fill and we'd already missed six weeks of the transfer window. We've been trying to catch up ever since.

"We couldn't get the type of player we were looking for and we had to rely on loans.

"That leads to instability and a lack of consistency but to finish eighth is still a terrific achievement for the players.

"It'll be good to get a solid squad together and start again from scratch.

"We've had a colossal number of injuries and 24 debuts.

"That's completely different to having a squad of players you know and when situations are controlling you, rather than you controlling them, it makes it very hard."