Kieran McKenna | Close to signing long term deal to stay at Ipswich

Stobzilla

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Spark said:
Just stay at Ipswich for another season Kieran, you are properly young. Sacked by Christmas at another club and it's a steep mountain to climb to regain a hard fought reputation.

At least at Ipswich the pressure is off to a certain extent, fully underdogs in every game - keep them up and his stock will be sky high.
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It's so easy to say from the outside, this year there has been an un-naturally low amount of sackings in the PL, but just for a moment imagine if Ipswich come up and because of the under investment in the squad, they do a Sheffield United, the Ipswich board panic and make a wrong decision and now he is sacked.

KM really can't do right for wrong here, if he stays then there is every chance he lowers his own stock in all in aid of his "development" which may end up being all for shit depending on if Ipswich deliver the goods or not in terms of giving him a fighting chance of survival.

No coach, or player can be blamed for going and testing themselves at the highest level that is open to them at the time, like Sir Alex himself says in his documentary (I am paraphrasing slightly I think) "You should always take a big opportunity, you might only get the one"
 

Jev

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What is the thread title referencing? Nothing about United interest in the tweets and articles shared as far as I can see.
 

flameinthesun

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I don't think the Chelsea or Man United move would be risky for him. If he failed he'd most likely still be able to get a prem level job and easily a championship job as we have seen with countless other managers. Experience doesn't matter as much as people think as we have seen with a number of managers with little experience who are doing well, as well as a number of experienced managers who are struggling. He'll back himself to do well and I'd have him at United.
 

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I'd love for us to take a punt on him, seems made for us given that we're his number 1 destination and the obvious talent he has.
 

AngeloHenriquez

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Raven said:
I'd love for us to take a punt on him, seems made for us given that we're his number 1 destination and the obvious talent he has.
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In reality with the ego's we have the minute it went bad they would take over the dressing room and we would all be blaming him - This club has far bigger problems than the manager and it's some of the players and how they cannot be bothered so quickly. The only way Mckenna would work is if we got rid of a lot of these bad eggs but if we do keep them for money sake you need a big name they won't go against like an Ancelotti/ Zidane etc
 

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Not convinced. It would end up like with Moyes back in the day
 

golden_blunder

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criticalanalysis said:
Since Bruce went into management irrelevancy, we've been missing a good feeder club :(

Mowbray was all on the Amad gravy train when he was at Sunderland. Maybe we should give him a couple at Birmingham, who we already probably have a good relationship with anyways considering our loans there over the years.
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Mowbray resigned yesterday due to illness
 

Giggsy13

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Would love to see McKenna take over as manager to see the cafe tear him down after 2 months in charge.
 

Jev

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luke511 said:

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Cheers. Assumed there had been something solid today since the thread title was changed but everything from today seems to be about him being interested in us rather than the other way around.
 
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UnitedSofa

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Jev said:
Cheers. Assuming there had been something solid today since the thread title was changed but everything from today seems to be about him being interested in us rather than the other way around.
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Here’s more

 

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Imagine the Caf’s reaction if he really becomes Man United manager and then brings a couple of Ipswich players with him
 

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If he’s waiting, he surely has enough contacts in the club to know whether waiting is a good idea or not…?
 

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DJ_21 said:
McKenna might not be ready yet. Poch might be good for the first couple of years to build with him and then jump onto McKenna unless Poch does really well and improves us massively… I’m not gonna lie I wasn’t the biggest fan of us going for Poch but I’m starting to warm to the idea… especially if he can get us top 4 regular.
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I've really never been impressed with Poch. He's still riding off that spurs team from 7 years ago and it reeks of the same situation as people rating Mourinho years past when he was actually a good manager.

There's just no high ceiling with Poch, hire him and you basically are saying "it's fine just to be a top 4 team"
 

Valencia Shin Crosses

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Stobzilla said:
It's so easy to say from the outside, this year there has been an un-naturally low amount of sackings in the PL, but just for a moment imagine if Ipswich come up and because of the under investment in the squad, they do a Sheffield United, the Ipswich board panic and make a wrong decision and now he is sacked.

KM really can't do right for wrong here, if he stays then there is every chance he lowers his own stock in all in aid of his "development" which may end up being all for shit depending on if Ipswich deliver the goods or not in terms of giving him a fighting chance of survival.

No coach, or player can be blamed for going and testing themselves at the highest level that is open to them at the time, like Sir Alex himself says in his documentary (I am paraphrasing slightly I think) "You should always take a big opportunity, you might only get the one"
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Yeah McKenna's stock will literally never be higher than it is right now at Ipswich. Even if he stayed and managed to keep them up, it's going to be playing a much different brand of football than what elite clubs would obviously want to see.

At bare minimum he needs to take the Brighton job, but if we also offer him I think this would be as good as a chance as any for him to rocket into the top echelon of clubs.
 

DJ_21

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Valencia Shin Crosses said:
I've really never been impressed with Poch. He's still riding off that spurs team from 7 years ago and it reeks of the same situation as people rating Mourinho years past when he was actually a good manager.

There's just no high ceiling with Poch, hire him and you basically are saying "it's fine just to be a top 4 team"
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Ye I get what you’re saying. And I’ve been against poch too. But many people on here have been saying he’ll be good to do the first part of the rebuild and make us a top 4 regular before going for someone who can take us to the next level. I’d say Poch as a better chance of getting us top 4 or challenging for titles than the likes of McKenna who isn’t very experienced
 

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DJ_21 said:
Ye I get what you’re saying. And I’ve been against poch too. But many people on here have been saying he’ll be good to do the first part of the rebuild and make us a top 4 regular before going for someone who can take us to the next level. I’d say Poch as a better chance of getting us top 4 than the likes of McKenna who isn’t very experienced
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If the club is looking for a serious rebuild then it has to forget about getting the top 4 for a season or two. I am not saying we shouldn't aim for it, but it shouldn't be a stipulation.

We should look to clearout majority of the squad and try a proper rebuild. No half measures or paying for overhill players to get top 4 in order to keep the Adidas money intact. Will have to take some short term pain in our stride for long term gain.
 

Valencia Shin Crosses

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DJ_21 said:
Ye I get what you’re saying. And I’ve been against poch too. But many people on here have been saying he’ll be good to do the first part of the rebuild and make us a top 4 regular before going for someone who can take us to the next level. I’d say Poch as a better chance of getting us top 4 or challenging for titles than the likes of McKenna who isn’t very experienced
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I really don't think "getting top 4 regularly" is difficult though provided you aren't completely incompetent, especially with our buying power as a club. So that should be a given pretty soon with any manager coming in. Then the question becomes who can potentially elevate a squad past just "top 4" into real title contention, because that's a much bigger gap than you think. I don't think Poch is remotely the man that can do that. I think McKenna potentially could, and obviously Tuchel can but has his own drawbacks.
 

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Insanity said:
If the club is looking for a serious rebuild then it has to forget about getting the top 4 for a season or two. I am not saying we shouldn't aim for it, but it shouldn't be a stipulation.

We should look to clearout majority of the squad and try a proper rebuild. No half measures or paying for overhill players to get top 4 in order to keep the Adidas money intact. Will have to take some short term pain in our stride for long term gain.
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We normally seem to do well in the first season of new managers so we would probably get top 4 anyway. Top 4 is crucial in getting that extra money which helps us for transfers and signings the following year. Next season will be a battle between quite a few teams. I think only Arsenal and city are guaranteed top 4 unless one of them as a massive drop of which is unlikely. We will be battling with Villa, Spurs who’ll improve, Liverpool who won’t be the same as their getting use to a new manager, same with Chelsea. I agree we should definitely have a clear out. But we need to sign some young quality players aswell to help us push on.
 

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Insanity said:
If the club is looking for a serious rebuild then it has to forget about getting the top 4 for a season or two. I am not saying we shouldn't aim for it, but it shouldn't be a stipulation.

We should look to clearout majority of the squad and try a proper rebuild. No half measures or paying for overhill players to get top 4 in order to keep the Adidas money intact. Will have to take some short term pain in our stride for long term gain.
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I don't know how the majority of fans and sponsors would react to this route but I'm very much in support it. No more half-hearted attempts at rebuilding. We rip things up and have a proper fresh start with a manager like KMC. Considering the bright sparks we had this season from Garnacho, Mainoo, Hojlund and Amad, I won't mind sacrificing CL qualification for a season in favour of a long-term project.
 

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Valencia Shin Crosses said:
I really don't think "getting top 4 regularly" is difficult though provided you aren't completely incompetent, especially with our buying power as a club. So that should be a given pretty soon with any manager coming in. Then the question becomes who can potentially elevate a squad past just "top 4" into real title contention, because that's a much bigger gap than you think. I don't think Poch is remotely the man that can do that. I think McKenna potentially could, and obviously Tuchel can but has his own drawbacks.
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Getting top 4 regular though shows that your at least in and around the mix. And competing in the CL yearly. Rather than one year in and one year out. It also all depends on what the other teams are like. A few injuries to a team and they could go on a downfall like we seen with Liverpool a couple of season ago. We’ve seen no evidence that McKenna could challenge for titles… at least with Poch he came 2nd with a spurs team and only 7 pts behind top. Tuchel would probably get us challenging the quickest with his tough approach but like you said he has his own drawbacks and he certainly wouldn’t be long term.
 

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Actively hoping for United to beat us to a signing for once. Just don’t think he’s what we need at all in this moment.
 

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Orc said:
Actively hoping for United to beat us to a signing for once. Just don’t think he’s what we need at all in this moment.
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No one is. Your club is a circus, I think most managers would be smart to avoid it. Surprised Mckenna is interested.
 

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DJ_21 said:
We normally seem to do well in the first season of new managers so we would probably get top 4 anyway. Top 4 is crucial in getting that extra money which helps us for transfers and signings the following year. Next season will be a battle between quite a few teams. I think only Arsenal and city are guaranteed top 4 unless one of them as a massive drop of which is unlikely. We will be battling with Villa, Spurs who’ll improve, Liverpool who won’t be the same as their getting use to a new manager, same with Chelsea. I agree we should definitely have a clear out. But we need to sign some young quality players aswell to help us push on.
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Because we spend stupid amount of money on players the managers want and because of the new manager bounce. Then we tail off from the second season on and become a complete mess again with all the players purchased the new deadwood. We need to stop buying the Matic's, the Casemiro's & the Varane's for a while. Those players can be bought as the final piece of the jigsaw, not the starting pieces. We need to invest in young players with huge potential and give them time to develop. If that means another year out of the CL, so be it.

Top 4 helps, but it is not that crucial given our revenue from other streams. Any European football will help with the gate receipts, and more importantly crucial experience for a youngish squad.


Fanatic 00237 said:
I don't know how the majority of fans and sponsors would react to this route but I'm very much in support it. No more half-hearted attempts at rebuilding. We rip things up and have a proper fresh start with a manager like KMC. Considering the bright sparks we had this season from Garnacho, Mainoo, Hojlund and Amad, I won't mind sacrificing CL qualification for a season in favour of a long-term project.
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Exactly.
 

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Insanity said:
Because we spend stupid amount of money on players the managers want and because of the new manager bounce. Then we tail off from the second season on and become a complete mess again with all the players purchased the new deadwood. We need to stop buying the Matic's, the Casemiro's & the Varane's for a while. Those players can be bought as the final piece of the jigsaw, not the starting pieces. We need to invest in young players with huge potential and give them time to develop. If that means another year out of the CL, so be it.

Top 4 helps, but it is not that crucial given our revenue from other streams. Any European football will help with the gate receipts, and more importantly crucial experience for a youngish squad.




Exactly.
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I could get behind this.
 

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Surely it's not a case of 'if Ten Hag is sacked'? I mean, they surely know either way by now. I've been saying that if we sack him and then start the process of replacing him only then, then I would be concerned. I don't believe we could be that incompetent though.
 

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VP89 said:
No one is. Your club is a circus, I think most managers would be smart to avoid it. Surprised Mckenna is interested.
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Club is absolutely a circus off the pitch but on it we’re in an extremely promising spot. The right appointment coming in who can focus solely on coaching can take us into the top 4 next season.
Insanity said:
Who do you need?
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We need an experienced hand. Preferably someone who has PL or other elite league experience. I don’t think we should be taking a punt on someone from the Championship when the mandate from the ownership next season is CL qualification.
 

Tom Van Persie

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Kieran McKenna has been linked with the Chelsea vacancy. How might #CFC look under him if he is to become their head coach?

McKenna's stock is understandably high having guided Ipswich Town to back-to-back promotions in the past two seasons since joining them for his first job in senior management in December 2021.

McKenna has instilled a free-flowing style of football that builds from the back, using a double pivot in midfield to bounce the ball through the heart of the pitch within a wider 4-2-3-1 structure.

Ipswich produced the most attacking football in the 2023-24 Championship on the way to finishing second, with their 15.6 shots per 90 being more than any of the division’s 23 other sides. Out of possession, their PPDA (as a proxy of pressing intensity) was among the most intense in the second tier, and speaks to the progressive style of play that is highly regarded in the modern game — on and off the ball.

McKenna’s coaching career in youth football — he has also worked at Leicester City and Nottingham Forest — will be a tick in the box for Chelsea’s owners, as the 38-year-old has a portfolio of developing young players within a forward-thinking system.

One glowing report on the London-born Northern Irishman comes from a current Chelsea player.

“Tactically, he (McKenna) is just a genius,” says Omari Hutchinson, a 20-year-old midfielder who spent this season on loan at Ipswich. “I have improved a lot since I came here. Him, his coaching staff and the other players have all improved me. In the attacking third, he has just told me to be free, to do what I am best at — ‘Go at players, that is why we signed you’. He has told me that I am now one of the best pressers he has seen, so that has become one of my attributes. I am making it a strength now.”

An approach for McKenna could fall into a similar category to the one that saw Graham Potter arrive at Stamford Bridge from Brighton & Hove Albion in September 2022, before being sacked seven months later. It would be high risk, but potentially high reward if he were to be trusted in the long term.
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Orc said:
Club is absolutely a circus off the pitch but on it we’re in an extremely promising spot. The right appointment coming in who can focus solely on coaching can take us into the top 4 next season.
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They can't focus on coaching, because they essentially need to be prepared to "take advice" from the higher ups as and when, even on that front. It's an absolute mess.
 
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