Ipswich Town: Kieran McKenna on rapid ascent of club

The Blues stand one point away from the Premier League after beating Coventry 2-1 on Tuesday night.

A draw in their final game, at home to essentially-doomed Huddersfield Town this Saturday (12.30pm) will be enough to secure back-to-back promotions and bring top tier football back to Portman Road for the first time since 2002.

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McKenna only arrived in Suffolk in December 2021, with the club toiling in League One. He led them to promotion in his first full season, and now stands on the brink of another.

After years of steady decline, Town fans are enjoying a rapid ascent (Image: PA Images)
“I don’t think anyone was thinking along those lines to be honest," he admitted, when asked if he expected the team to be pushing for another promotion this campaign.

“We wanted to come up to the division, keep building our culture at the training ground, we wanted to try and impose our style of play at a higher division and see how successful we could be with that and be competitive in every game.

“We spoke about 46 games, we’re going to put our identity out there and put everything into every game and just see how many points we get.

“We’ve done really well with that and of course to be on 93 points with one game to go is an incredible tally and great credit to the boys.”

After years of steady decline, McKenna has overseen a remarkable upturn in fortunes since agreeing to leave his post as assistant boss at Manchester United and take his first senior management job.

So, did he really expect things to happen in such rapid fashion? 

Sam Morsy and Town are one point away from the Premier League (Image: PA Images)
“No, not so quickly, certainly," he conceded.

“I came to the football club because of the history and tradition of the club, but also the ambition going forward to get it back to better places.

“That’s why I took the drop down to the level, the belief that I could do that.

"Of course, we didn’t expect it to happen so quickly, to get promotion in the first full season in the way that we did and to be on this journey so far this year.

“I think it’s accelerated, I have to say, but hard work every day, doing the right things and a brilliant group of people at a big football club with a big support behind it, you can get momentum behind you – keep doing the right things and you can really carry that forward.”