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Former Manchester United coach, Kieran McKenna, has continued his meteoric rise by achieving promotion to the Premier League with Ipswich Town.
After achieving what Manchester United could not by beating Coventry City in 90 minutes mid-week, the Tractor Boys were only a point away from securing promotion back to the Premier League for the first time in 22 years.
A no-nonsense 2-0 victory over Huddersfield Town earlier this afternoon sparked pandemonium as McKenna secured back-to-back promotions and his side became the first since Southampton in 2012 to secure consecutive promotions from the third division to the Premier League.
The scale of the job the Northern Irishman has pulled off should not be underestimated.
When he left United in 2021 his reputation was hardly soaring as rumours of the United dressing room not respecting him or his methods were rife.
Seen as a “dry school teacher” and lacking ability to make a personal connection with United’s big names, not many would have held out much hope for his chances of succeeding as a manager.
However, he was given an opportunity when the Portman Road side called on his services in December 2021. McKenna took over the role on the 16th December 2021 and he took the reins of a side who were 11th in League One and had won seven out of 22 league matches.
There wouldn’t be much improvement as Ipswich finished the campaign in the same position but it was the next season which really saw the team take off.
The next campaign saw an increase of 28 points and an incredible 101 goals scored as they gained promotion to the Championship in second place.
However, his work this season has been even more impressive.
After winning 98 points last season, McKenna has gained 96 in this campaign and once again guided his side to a second place finish and automatic promotion to the Premier League.
This is even more of a jaw-dropping achievement when you consider that the Tractor Boys pay the 18th highest wages in the league.
Not that the amount of wages you pay necessarily equates to success, as any United fan can attest to, but there is no logical reason for Ipswich to be competing against much richer teams with bigger individual talents.
The work of the Enniskillen native has not gone unnoticed. He has been linked with moves to copious amounts of Premier League clubs including at his former employees, Manchester United.
He has also been named the Championship manager of the year award due to his ability to go toe-to-toe with the champions Leicester City who have numerous players from their FA Cup winning team of 2021 still playing for them.
McKenna has been described as “arguably the most exciting young manager in England” and after taking the Suffolk-based side all the way back to the big time, it is hard to argue against this logic.
In addition, his side play in a swashbuckling manner, that in true Manchester United style, gaining numerous points from losing positions and scoring a truckload of goals in the process.
In the last two seasons Ipswich have scored 193 league goals. Whilst it is hard to imagine his side being top scorers next season in the top-flight, they are also unlikely to be happy to just shut up shop and eke out 1-0 wins in the Premier League.
His adaptation to the biggest league in the world will be fascinating for United fans to witness and if he can manage to do a stellar job, more and more fans will call for the former coach to get a chance at being the manager who can finally turn around United’s fortunes.
Only time will tell if he will ever he good enough at the top level or have the opportunity to coach United but congratulations are in order for the incredible work the ex-United man has been able to pull off in such a short period of time.
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