From the top flight to the Tractor boys - it's a big drop for Roy Keane..

To the surprise of many, Roy Keane has agreed to become Ipswich Town's new manager. When he quit his last appointment at Sunderland, Alex Ferguson said that he wondered if his former captain would ever manage in the top-flight of English football again. That question will only be answered in the fullness of time.

What we do know is Keane was driven as a player, by all accounts he is just as driven as a manager, but when he left relegation threatened Sunderland, his confidant Eamon Dunphy went on record saying that he doubted his fellow Irishman had the qualities to become a top manager and basically that Keane had lost the plot.

To be fair to Dunphy, he also said that maybe Keane needed to follow the example of Brian Clough and learn his trade in the lower divisions, it may well have been a case of "Hobsons Choice", but Ipswich Town are a club who don't part company with their managers' on a frequent basis.

Perhaps Keano will drive the Tractor boys on to the promised land of the Premier League, the only thing we can be sure for now is the bumpy ride.