Ipswich legend Kevin Beattie warns Keane: Don't think team is too good to go down

Ipswich's greatest-ever player Kevin Beattie last night warned the club he loves: “Don’t think you’re too good to go down.”

Roy Keane’s misfiring side are unbeaten in nine games but they still remain third from bottom of the Championship.

Beattie saw the crestfallen Blues drag out a second successive 0-0 draw against rock-bottom Peterborough at home on Tuesday night.

The one-time England defender, voted Ipswich’s top player of all time, declared: “I love the club and think a lot of Roy Keane, but I’m very worried about the situation.

“Defensively there is plenty to be admired, but the lack of goals is a major concern. The team have got themselves into a hole and draws are not going to get them out of it.

“In the past it’s been said that big clubs such as Leeds, Charlton and Leicester were too good too go down – even Manchester City. They went down too thinking like that.”

As a player Beattie was likened to the late Manchester United great Duncan Edwards and he scaled the heights with Sir Bobby Robson’s Ipswich in both the top flight and in Europe.

Sir Bobby tagged the one-time rearguard collossus as being:”The best English-born player I ever worked with. An absolute diamond.”

Beattie, an FA Cup winner with Ipswich in 1978, went on: “This is a big club with fantastic support. But if they don’t get more spark and devil up front it’s going to be a long, long winter.

“The owner Marcus Evans has pumped a lot of money into the club. But he must be getting very disillusioned. Roy Keane is someone I admire and I believe he can get it right.

“But no one must think that Ipswich are too good to go down, because not scoring is a recipe for not staying up.”

Ipswich are suffering their worst start to a season for 73 years and Beattie added: “Roy has a big strike force to chose from. It must be driving him crazy as he tries to ignite a spark.”