ESSEX COUNTY STANDARD TOWN CORRESPONDENT MATT PLUMMER DELIVERS HIS WEEKLY THOUGHTS ON THE NEWS FROM PORTMAN ROAD:

Roy Keane admits he’s facing a “big, big summer” in terms of shaping his squad for next season.

And both for his sake and that of the team, I hope his judgement is better than it was this time last year.

The Ipswich boss has had successes in the transfer market and it would be remiss to ignore that.

Grant Leadbitter has been a class act in a poor side, Damien Delaney became a pivotal figure after a shocking start and Sunderland loanee Jack Colback has just been crowned Players’ Player-of-the-Year.

Keane obviously spotted the raw talent in Shane O’Connor, too, and the young Irishman has been a consistent performer since February.

But in terms of other new recruits during the last close season, they have collectively left plenty to be desired.

Lee Martin, Colin Healy, Tamas Priskin and Carlos Edwards have been a massive (not to mention expensive) disappointment and, as the season went on, Town made loan swoops for Liam Rosenior, Stern John and David Healy. None worked.

On top of that, Keane oversaw the departures of Jordan Rhodes to Huddersfield (22 goals for the Terriers), Kevin Lisbie to Colchester (12 goals) and Jon Stead (then the club’s leading scorer) to Coventry (ironically, the fact he has now scored eight goals in total means he has managed more than any Town player).

Rhodes’ exit, in particular, stuck in the throat and as fans we’ve had every reason to question the Town boss.

Especially now he’s talking about major reshuffles of a squad he effectively put together (at great cost).

Now, however, we’re on the cusp of another pre-season and, once again, we have to put faith in the Irishman.

It’s massively important he gets it right, both in terms of the balance of the squad and, as he so often tells us, bringing in characters.

That last word means everything to Keane. A man of fierce and unswerving principles, it would seem a player’s mentality is just as important as natural talent.

And with that in mind, he says he knows the core of his squad for next season already.

Some, like Leadbitter, Delaney and Gareth McAuley, are no surprise and it’s the same with David Norris.

Keane is also a massive fan of Jon Walters.

Time and again he has praised him this season but the skipper himself would admit to having been poor.

Like the team, much, much better is expected next time around.

As for those that will go, it’s easy to take an educated guess.

Richard Wright is out of contract in the summer and so too is defender David Wright.

Others clearly out of the frame are Owen Garvan, Pablo Counago, Alan Quinn and Alex Bruce.

To me, it looks like their time is up but in terms of ins and outs, so much obviously depends on the club’s next budget.

One thing that encourages me irrespective of that is Keane’s faith in the up-and-coming young players, including Clacton’s Tom Eastman.

The Ipswich boss has said he wants three or four of them to become key figures in his group and another of them, Billy Clark, made his debut in the last few seconds of Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Doncaster (the less said the better about that one).

That’s pleasing because young players are the way forward. It’s always been that way at Portman Road.

Whether Keane pitches them into the white-hot atmosphere of St James’ Park on Saturday remains to be seen. I, for one, certainly hope so.

What a wonderful experience it would be and playing in front of such a huge, partisan crowd would stand them in the best possible stead for next season.