There’s no chance he would be considered for the United job but still he is building a impressive career.
Ipswich play some great football.
Ipswich play some great football.
Kieran McKenna | Ipswich manager
- Thread starter roonster09
- Start date
Very happy for McKenna. Always been a really likeable guy and I didn't like how much flak he got from United fans at the end of Ole's reign. It would be great to see Ipswich go up with Leicester. We just need to see Leeds lose against Hull now 
This Ipswich team actually have a lot of traits of the team Ole/ McKenna was trying to create at United. Very attacking and high energy. The signings of CR7 and Sancho unfortunately meant we had a real mis match of players that ultimately led to the demise
Why would he go to Ajax when he could potentially be in the EPL next season?
He's the one
If he is good enough to be our manager he is good enough now doing anything else in the PL is irrelevant, what does finishing say 7th in the PL prove really nothing look at Potter 18 or so months ago he was the best new thing since sliced bread and now you don't hear nothing from him, look at Moyes he had a very good PL record before we appointed him again didn't do anything you're either the right man or wrong man
He’s been a manager for what 2 years and you’re suggesting he’s good enough? Normally managers go through stages where they may end up at a bigger club. That tells us if he’s up to it. You don’t go from Ipswich to man united just like that.
Many people bring up that there is an aspect of gaining experience that I recognise as a valid point. But then as a counter argument, does any job or experience really prepare you for the Man Utd job? Moyes, ETH both had great managerial experience but that didn't really help them here.
So I do somewhat agree with what you say. I actually think it would be a bigger risk for McKenna coming here than for us. We are used to failure this past decade, so what's one more failure? But for him, as we saw with Moyes, LVG and Jose, it could be a hammer blow to his managerial career if he fails here.
Also, fair few examples who got big jobs without any prior experience and did well.
The important thing is talent and ability.
I didn't say he was good enough I said if he was good enough he is good enough now.
Look at our hires outside Ole, every single one of them had massive experience and it meant feck all, there are plenty of outliers who had little experience and went onto greatness, the bald guy across the way in Manchester springs to mind Barca B to main job
Still an element of truth. Hottest flames makes the hardest steel. If you can make it in the PL…
I think the PL is a great place to be for a good, young coach these days. And it seems like it is hard to prepare for some of the competition here.
I agree with the competition aspect.
Ye that’s true to be fair. I’m a strong believer of experience though and think it’s vital to have plenty of experience behind you to manage the biggest club in the world. Everyone that does well becomes the flavour of the month but if Ipswich finish 3rd which is still a possibility, he’ll be forgotten about. I don’t believe in rushing in judging someone when you haven’t seen them in a different environment or how they’d cope in a tougher league. He was one of the people that was getting slaughtered when he was a coach here under Ole.
Pep, Zidane, Xavi, Arteta and Alonso all had less experience than McKenna has now when they took over Barca, Real, Barca, Arsenal and Leverkusen. It obviously isn't that important now they are considered coaches rather than managers.
Also he has the best Experience an incoming manager could ever want, he's been an assistant manager here already so seen it all including when it was really good and really bad.
I don't know if he's the best option but I've always maintained that if he gets automatic promotion battling it out with the three basically Prem teams in Leicester, Leeds and Southampton then he should be at least considered considering there isn't really anybody that's a standout candidate.
The commentator said before that no team has ever not auto qualified for the Premiership with 27 wins or 90 points, Leicester already has 27 wins (85 points) Ipswich 26 wins (87 points) and Leeds 26 wins (84 points) and they all have at least 6 games to go that's how impressive they have been, the four of them have just been crushing (Southampton 22 wins 74 points but have 2 games in hand).
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He is the Messiah.
Sorry but people can't laugh at the idea of Potter or Southgate getting the job, but then advocate hiring a championship manager.
Everyone you listed, besides maybe Arteta, had already made their names as players at least so the players would already respect them, even if they were inexperienced as managers.
The manager needs that respect from the players or the players would be questioning them after one bad patch/falling out with a player. Look what happened with Ragnick here, the players wouldn't press how he wanted from about the 2nd game onwards and soon downed tools altogether.
Potter fine as he performed well in the championship and prem. but Southgate was poor at club level.
Also is he less accomplished as a manager/coach that Arteta, Zidane or even Pep was when they got their big breaks to manage their former teams. Sometimes if you got it you got it and demanding that he proves it with Ipswich in the PL is bonkers to me - the tactical requirements of surviving in the PL are different to what's required at the top of the table and so are the resources available.
McKenna's style may well be good enough to earn a promotion in the Championship but he will lack the requisite resources needed to play front foot football in the PL and avoid relegation. That won't mean he is a bad coach but his ability may not be suited to operate as an underdog. There is a reason why Pep never goes down to take a team from the Championship into the PL, he could easily get relegated.
In my view, looking at the top 5 managers in the game right now, only Ancelotti has the skillset to survive a relegation dogfight.
It could be a huge risk appointing him but others have done, yes they had playing careers that bought them time but Jose, Nagelsmann etc didn't. I have also seen that sometimes you need to get managers in when they are on their way up before a major failure scars them and turns them toxic. We won't be troubling engravers of major trophies for some time whislst we clear the Glazer sized mess at the club, we could do worse that bring in a young talented manager to build with as he also grows.
And Jose, LVG, Moyes failed with proven records. for me experience counts less. it more to do with how good you are at the moment. Jose was world class when he broke through with Porto and then with Chelsea. he became worse with more experience. sometimes fresh ideas and new methods are more important than experience. Ten Hag did well in his first season and he is struggling with a season experience in Premier league. I really don't get this experience urgent thing. This does not mean McKenna will be a better fit for us. however, if he is that good, he can make it with us without proving himself elsewhere first.
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They can when comparing to Southgate, who's only club pedigree is relegating Middlesborough.
The job McKenna is doing at Ipswich is light years ahead of Potter at Swansea. They were one of the promotion favourites and he failed to get them up through the playoffs. Ipswich have absolutely zero business being ahead of the three relegated premier league clubs.
McKenna spent over five years at this club and almost or over three seasons coaching the senior team here. He knows the club, he knows the quitters in the dressing room and we could counter your fears by preemptively moving on the usual suspects and replacing them with younger players ready to fight to make their name.
Ideally that happens irregardless of who the new manager will be. I'd love the club to copy what Arsenal did with Auba and Pepe and just get rid of the likes of Sancho, Martial, VdB and Greenwood at any cost. I just don't think it will happen.
arsenal were too worried about success and not worried enough about quarterly budgets and spreadsheets. i know which one attracts investors.
It does pose a potential risk but there isn't exactly a glittering list of names out there either. Some of the better ones will also be in the mix for the vacancies at Liverpool, Bayern and Barca this summer.
McKenna was assistant here during our best spell of football post-Ferguson and is in a position to do back to back promotions as a very young coach. His Ipswich team are the highest scorers in all four divisions since his appointment too. Ideally you'd want somebody with a bit more experience but he's clearly capable of inheriting a group of players and improving them. I don't necessarily think he'll be a serious contender for the job but I don't think he can be sniffed at either when you hear some of the alternatives and consider the predicament we're currently in.
As for Rangnick, he was in a precarious position from the get go. He was brought in as interim in a far more toxic dressing room than this one. His authority was completely undermined by having a personality like Ronaldo who clearly didn't respect him. The fact that everybody knew Rangnick was only in charge for a short amount of time meant there wasn't really any coming back from that either.
Decades ago though
Lisan al Ghaib
I don't believe that, if they like you they like you. If he's a good attacking coach and he gets them enjoying their football they will respect him. You say he needs experience but if got promoted and had back to back top 10 finishes I doubt they would respect him anymore than they would now.
They didn't run for Ralf because he asked for hard work and they knew he was only here until the end of the season so never bothered, I
So whilst this is true McKenna has been exceedingly highly rated for years. Just because the Caf and usual Twitter bellends decided he was a joke as he led the coaching at a team that finished 2nd and 3rd with Maguire, Mctominay, Lindelof, Fred and Martial as it’s spine beating Pep numerous times at the age of 31 doesn’t mean his success is a huge shock. When he left the club I remember articles saying many at the club felt he was a nailed on future top 4 manager.
Hope he picks his next club correctly. Could have a special career because what he’s done at Ipswich is phenomenal
Yes he has been an highly rated coach. I just think a job of this size is way to much for certain managers and people don’t seem to let managers grow anymore… they see someone overachieving with a club and instantly want them to be our next manager. ETH was highly rated and now he’s being crapped on by our fans. You think our players are going to respect a 37 year old manager when they don’t even respect and take in ideas from a 54 year old.
I can see him doing well at like a mid table prem club. Wolves/fulham/Bournemouth.
The player revolt dynamic is not significant to me, his talent as a coach and in the way we like our football is beyond doubt imo. What's needed is to know whether he has the grit to stay true to his beliefs under pressure, the mental strength to maintain a clear head during a rough patch and the steely required to put rebels in their place. That's for Ashworth, Brailsford and maybe Wilcox to judge.
We have had managers who have achieved great things before come here and fail. Others have been shocked by the enormity of the task and probably underestimated it. He knows where we are right now because that's where we were when he left. Now with an improved structure the demands on him will be reduced so he can focus on one thing, the team.
He is also way more experienced than Arteta, Pep and Zidane were when they started. His talent is beyond doubt and we are seeing Arsenal reaping the rewards for standing by a young, talented manager. I believe he can be that especially if we, as fans, give him the support and tone down on expectations.
He was very well respected the first time around until certain high profile experienced players arrived. Ultimately this is why you need a strong DOF to stick with the plan and ignore short term noise - if the plan is to build a young attacking team and only have a head coach then McKenna ticks shit tons of boxes.
It will, it just takes time. It’s not like Arsenal immediately sold loads of players and then had a clean slate - where they are now took a good number of seasons.
United aren’t a million miles away when you take away the burning desire to win tomorrow. We have a good young/younger core in Mainoo, Hojlund, Garnacho, Dalot, Martínez and some players we don’t yet know if they’ll make it in Amad, Willy, Malacia if he’s alive. If we can bring in 3-4 good young players and shift 2-3 big names each year, we basically have a two year build up towards being ready to challenge and it should be quite enjoyable for us to watch the team building towards something (hopefully).
Ipswich could potentially be one of those types of teams if he stays though. They've secured a large investment last week and have a very good structure in place from what I've been told by my Ipswich mates. The fans adore him and I think he has everything there to make it a success. They say he's done wonders on a small budget but they say the monies there to be spent if he needs it. I would be surprised if he leaves
Absolutely. I agree with this. I’d rather sacrifice a few years and build a young team to grow together rather than have expensive more experienced players. That’s what Arsenal did, built a young team and now there getting some kind of reward for it, and Arteta is only 42.
I think like most managers have done, he’ll stay with Ipswich for a year in the prem and try and get them to finish in a respectable position and then maybe if a bigger club comes in for him the year after he may be tempted to leave.