Kieran McKenna speaks out on pre-season plans at Ipswich Town

Ipswich Town showed a lot of promise under Kieran McKenna in the second half of this season in League One.

The Tractor Boys’ defence was completely impenetrable at one stage, providing a strong base for them to work from heading towards 2022/23.

The favourites may well emerge at Portman Road when the field for next season is finalised, putting some further scrutiny and pressure on the club to finally haul themselves out of League One.

McKenna gave an insight into how the club want to approach pre-season and the type of friendlies they want to play when he spoke to the club’s website.

He said: “In terms of fixtures, we want to get a range of experiences from our games.

“We want a challenge in and around our level but also some games that stretch us against the likes of Premier League and upper end Championship sides.

“We want a variety of home and away games, with some at Portman Road so the supporters can come and get a feel for the team we are building ahead of the season.

“Pre-season is a time of year that I particularly enjoy and on a personal basis I am looking forward to it.

“It’s the time of year that gives you a chance to practice things and work on new things, perhaps experiment to a degree both in attack and defence.

“It’s also an opportunity to work on the team from a physical point of view, which you might not get so much in the season.

“And it’s also a chance to work with the team from a mental point of view.

“We want to develop the spirit and mentality in the side and apply a focus so that we can be successful over what will be a long campaign.

“We’ll have six or seven weeks working together and I think everyone is looking forward to it.”

It was always going to be tough for 19 summer signings to be