Ipswich’s Kieran McKenna: ‘It’s more satisfying because it’s not been easy’

K ieran McKenna smiles as he recalls the fixation that took root early and never slackened. “I was the eight-year-old sitting up watching a League Two game in the spare room while the rest of the family had the TV on elsewhere,” he says of a County Fermanagh youth spent soaking up every available detail. “I know so many children are passionate about the game but I was the one watching every single second of football, day and night.”

Little has changed in almost three decades, although McKenna may have fewer opportunities to dwell on the lower divisions now. He has lifted Ipswich from the doldrums, winning promotion from League One in his first full season, and that is hardly the entire story.

They scored 101 goals, lost only four games and prospered with a sophisticated, dominant brand of football virtually alien to the third tier. More experienced heads had failed to reignite Ipswich but McKenna, who turns 37 on Sunday, arrived with a plan in December 2021 and executed it perfectly. It is hard to think of a more exciting young manager working in the country.

“When you have a club of this size and history, the only one in a big county, there’s massive potential,” he says, sitting in his office at the Suffolk club’s training ground. “We’ve had really powerful momentum, incredible support, and it’s a great place to be. We know there’s a lot of hard work to do but it’s nice to be in this position and there’s a real chance to push onwards and upwards.”

Ipswich are backed by Gamechanger 20, which makes little secret of its ambitions to restore the club’s glorious past. The US-led consortium outwardly took a risk when appointing McKenna, a rising star as first-team coach at Manchester United who had yet to go it alone, but