All the next great managers are described this way: obsessive, a perfectionist, a details man with a personal touch who always remembers Cutman’s birthday.
Ipswich Town’s Kieran McKenna is certainly one of them: he has collected more points than any manager in English football since taking charge in League One in 2021 and has led Ipswich to back-to-back promotions. are on the way. Saturday’s win over Huddersfield sealed their return to the Premier League after a 22-year absence.
McKenna has great tactical ideas and a distinctive way of playing. He exudes energy and enthusiasm and earns the trust of his players. But what stands out is that, first and foremost, McKenna is a coach: He not only gets the best out of players, he makes them better.
His talents were highlighted during his academy stints at Tottenham, Leicester and Manchester United. The blossoming career of Ipswich’s creative left-back Leif Davies tells the story: he’s the Championship’s top assist-maker and one of Europe’s most prolific players, an attacking full-back Joe McKenna. Credits his rise to
“I can thank him for all his support because he helped me in the final third of the pitch,” Davies said. told Athletic. “It’s helped me a lot with my decision-making and knowing which pass to pick. I’m not just putting my head down. It’s developed me in a lot of other ways – my header, my win. -V-One Defense…”
Davies could soon be damaging defenses in the Premier League after a three-year switch for Ipswich Town. The new American owners began investing in the roots of a club that had long been neglected. Director Ed Schwartz and CEO Mark Ashton sifted through a spreadsheet with 450 names to find the right manager. Ashton, who gave Brendan Rodgers his first managerial job at Watford, made another calculated gamble on McKenna.
McKenna moved into the downtown Salthouse Harbor Hotel, 15 minutes from the stadium, and began work in earnest. He instituted his preferred 4-2-3-1 system and placed a strong emphasis on fitness and endurance. Within months, Ipswich were scoring more goals, conceding fewer and were top of every running metric in the league. McKenna’s family moved down from Manchester as he committed himself to the project.
“A lot of people have asked me how he compares to Marcelo Bielsa,” said left-back Davies, who worked under the Argentinian coach at Leeds. The intensity of his training, the way he wants everyone to be fit. ‘If you don’t want to run,’ he says, ‘you shouldn’t be here.’ Perfect for me because I love to run.
Ipswich became one of the Football League’s most exciting teams in recent memory as they stormed League One, scoring 101 goals. They retained the core of the team in the Championship and kept pace with squads far more impressively assembled at the top of the table at Leicester and Leeds.
McKenna asked Ashton not for expensive signings but for better facilities. He installed two state-of-the-art hybrid grass pitches at the training ground and persuaded the club to spend £2.5m replacing the dilapidated pitch at Portman Road. The new surface is among the best in the Championship and has been the stage for Ipswich’s impressive home form, where they have lost just once all season.
McKenna worked under Jose Mourinho at Manchester United but has little to do with Mourinho’s reactionary philosophy, the way Ipswich likes to press down the pitch in attack. They are reminiscent of Roberto Di Zerbi’s Brighton before beating their opponents at pace. The playmaker full-back role is something from Jurgen Klopp’s playbook; Many of the cut-backs in the area look like something designed by Pep Guardiola.
It’s a mosaic of thoughts that McKenna has had since withdrawing from Tottenham’s senior squad, aged 22, due to a hip injury and turning his attention to coaching.
“The kind of football we’re playing takes a lot of work – a lot of video analysis, grass work and talking,” captain Sam Morsey said recently. “He’s so detailed, you can see he’s put a lot of effort into his craft to get where he is.”
The goalkeeper, Vaclav Hladky, is key to improving the game with his ability to chip away at the opposition’s press. There’s no settling with possession for possession’s sake, and that more direct approach can sometimes make for some wild games. Ipswich have scored the most goals in the Championship this season but have also beaten several teams in the bottom half of the table.
Their games are almost always entertaining and there have been some thrillers this season: a 3-2 win over Southampton after a 97th-minute winner; 3-2 win over Bristol City after an 89th-minute winner; 4-3 win over Rotherham after a 95th-minute winner, who conceded a penalty a minute earlier. All the late goals tell a story of resilience and passion: Ipswich’s most reliable goalscorer is the bench, with substitutes accounting for 20 per cent of their goals.
Fans were scrambling to find tickets to Saturday’s game. Huddersfield supporters urged their club to allow Ipswich to fund their match – Huddersfield were relegated, a fate that was later confirmed, and they favored an Ipswich win anyway. Because it prevented Yorkshire rivals Leeds from gaining automatic promotion.
The match itself was a piece of history. For two decades there was little to excite loyal supporters at Portman Road. Now they are back in the promised land.
Credit : www.independent.co.uk
