Kieran McKenna | Close to signing long term deal to stay at Ipswich

Marcelinho87 said:
Massive jump and this fan base would kill him 3 games in because they ah e the patience of a toddler.
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Do you really feel the fan base on an Internet forum represents the fanbase that actually attend and interacts with players and managers in public? Judging by the 'fanbase' here on redcafe, you'd think ETH would be egged or insulted everyday outside of the office.

That aside, McKenna has his squad playing to his system so well. Other than Leif Davis who leads the assists charts in the Championship, individually speaking, they don't have anyone in particular who has outstanding metrics compared to players in the Leceister, Leeds or Southampton or other teams for instance. In fact, the squad has players who are quite error prone to individual mistakes, especially in defense which is likely why they have conceded 47 goals already this season.

That's being said he, the belief and mentality he has instilled in this squad and the freedom he allows them is something else. Reminds me a bit of Postecoglus teams. They just won't lie down and take a loss without a fight. I feel that he has got this Ipswich squad to play beyond their means. Maybe its easier to get a squad of average players to buy in to your tactics and system than it would for superstar players? What is clear though is he has clearly got the trust of his players, has a sharp eye for transfer targets and is tactically very astute. He made four subs at the same time against Bristol and they changed the game for Ipswich.

I think he's got a very bright future ahead of him but I don't think it's the right time for him to jump ship yet at Ipswich.
 
Skills said:
It wasn't the squad that cost him his job. It was the fanbase that wanted his and Carrick's head because they were letting Solskjaer down by not being as good as Pep's coaches.

If the fanbase hadn't made the entire place such a toxic cesspit, they might have stayed on.
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Yep, negativity taken on by the press
a new coach would have binned them anyway to bring in his own staff
 
I can sleep soundly knowing that we had established a deep, long term connection with two of the best managerial crops:
Michael Carrot
and
Kailan McKenna
 
This guy has always been very highly rated i just hope he gets ipswich up and stays there for couple seasons and then makes move to another mid table premier league club and take his time and not rush into anything as hes clearly doing a great job with Ipswich last year was no fluke and this season has been just as good could be a future northern ireland manager aswell.
 
Might be work out better for him if Ipswich just miss out and he gets maybe the Brighton or West Ham job that look like might become available.

Ipswich don’t look like they would survive in premiership and if after 2/3 months things look shit will he get sacked and on the scrap heap or will they be like Burnley and kompany (at the minute) and Luton with Edward’s and trust him with what he is building
 
6-0 win today and for the time being, up into 2nd. A second promotion would be fantastic.
 
I imagine Ipswich's wage bill is way smaller than other clubs in the top ten or so. The job he's done is absolutely incredible.
 
Robbie Boy said:
I imagine Ipswich's wage bill is way smaller than other clubs in the top ten or so. The job he's done is absolutely incredible.
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Would be an interesting option if Ten Hag was kept on next season with that being his last year of his contract, at the same time if Ipswich can get promoted then if Ten Hag did not work out next season then we would have a season of Mckenna in the premiership to judge him on. If he was doing a good job and Ten Hag struggling then he'd definitely be an option at the end of next season.
 
flameinthesun said:
Would be an interesting option if Ten Hag was kept on next season with that being his last year of his contract, at the same time if Ipswich can get promoted then if Ten Hag did not work out next season then we would have a season of Mckenna in the premiership to judge him on. If he was doing a good job and Ten Hag struggling then he'd definitely be an option at the end of next season.
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I can’t see him coming back after how it ended, being hounded out by fans on social media, club legends like Scholes and whatnot. He’s not a boyhood United fan.

Still, he tried his best for us under Ole, and I much prefer him and Ipswich to get promoted than Leeds for other obvious reasons too.
 
MalaysianRed7 said:
I can’t see him coming back after how it ended, being hounded out by fans on social media, club legends like Scholes and whatnot. He’s not a boyhood United fan.

Still, he tried his best for us under Ole, and I much prefer him and Ipswich to get promoted than Leeds for other obvious reasons too.
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He is a boyhood United fan, that’s one of the main reasons he came here.
 
MalaysianRed7 said:
I can’t see him coming back after how it ended, being hounded out by fans on social media, club legends like Scholes and whatnot. He’s not a boyhood United fan.

Still, he tried his best for us under Ole, and I much prefer him and Ipswich to get promoted than Leeds for other obvious reasons too.
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Where did this narrative come from that things ended negatively for McKenna at United? He was retained by the club after Ole got sacked, and shortly after that he got the offer from Ipswich, which I'm sure he would've accepted regardless of how United were doing at the time, as it represented a step forward in his career (moving from first-team coach to manager).
 
macheda14 said:
He is a boyhood United fan, that’s one of the main reasons he came here.
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Imagine he turned down the United job because he was "hounded out by fans on social media".

I don't think social media had anything to do with him moving into a head coach role elsewhere, I'd be surprised if he even cared that much what randoms on the internet said about his coaching ability from their lofty positions of no knowledge, especially when he is clearly rated by people whose job it is to actually know about what coaches do.
 
Oldyella said:
6-0 win today and for the time being, up into 2nd. A second promotion would be fantastic.
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It’s the football manager trick. Keep loaning players who belong in the division above and who look likely possibly end up PL players.. Experienced heads to guide them. Nobody expected this though. Excellent stuff from McKenna. The word always was that he was very highly rated. I’d love to see us take a punt on someone like him.

Recruitment isn’t going to be on the manager anymore and by default neither really is disciplining lazy or unprofessional players. All the manager is doing is reporting to their boss who is going to be far more hands on and visible at all levels anyway. The heads above will know who isn’t pulling their weight or isn’t good enough and will change them out. All a new manager really needs here is a good playing style and for the players to want to work as hard as possible. He needs to be able to calibrate and compete while also thinking of the bigger picture. I think he could do a lovely job here for a long time if we sort out the upstairs. For any manager we need to strip away the entitled carry on from the players who are serial underachievers and massively overpaid.
 
If we sack ETH, I would definitely consider him above the likes of Potter.
 
Ali Dia said:
It’s the football manager trick. Keep loaning players who belong in the division above and who look likely possibly end up PL players.. Experienced heads to guide them. Nobody expected this though. Excellent stuff from McKenna. The word always was that he was very highly rated. I’d love to see us take a punt on someone like him.

Recruitment isn’t going to be on the manager anymore and by default neither really is disciplining lazy or unprofessional players. All the manager is doing is reporting to their boss who is going to be far more hands on and visible at all levels anyway. The heads above will know who isn’t pulling their weight or isn’t good enough and will change them out. All a new manager really needs here is a good playing style and for the players to want to work as hard as possible. He needs to be able to calibrate and compete while also thinking of the bigger picture. I think he could do a lovely job here for a long time if we sort out the upstairs. For any manager we need to strip away the entitled carry on from the players who are serial underachievers and massively overpaid.
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From here on in the term manager, should and hopefully will, be outdated when it comes to United. With our new structure, what we’ll have - what other top teams have - is a head coach. Responsible for training, tactics, coaching, picking the team. A manager is what Fergie was. They barely exist at the top level anymore, football is too complicated with all the data usage seeking out competitive advantages where possible, The newer systems also provide stability in playing style, better allocation of resources etc. You aren’t hiring someone to be a figure head of the club, just someone to coach the team.

This is all to say that I don’t see the job as being “too big” for any coach now. Not if it’s compartmentalised like it should be. So someone like McKenna could, in theory, coach the team successfully.
 
simonhch said:
From here on in the term manager, should and hopefully will, be outdated when it comes to United. With our new structure, what we’ll have - what other top teams have - is a head coach. Responsible for training, tactics, coaching, picking the team. A manager is what Fergie was. They barely exist at the top level anymore, football is too complicated with all the data usage seeking out competitive advantages where possible, The newer systems also provide stability in playing style, better allocation of resources etc. You aren’t hiring someone to be a figure head of the club, just someone to coach the team.

This is all to say that I don’t see the job as being “too big” for any coach now. Not if it’s compartmentalised like it should be. So someone like McKenna could, in theory, coach the team successfully.
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Exactly. I agree 100% with everything you’ve said.

Once things are compartmentalised and jobs given to the best people available the managers job gets exponentially less complex.

If we provide the best facilities and start actually getting value for the kind of money we are spending on players. Stop signing and protecting unprofessional players or players who just aren’t worth putting up with for whatever reason. It should be an easy job to at least challenge if we can identify talent properly. We seem to be doing quite a lot better at that since INOES came in.
 
MalaysianRed7 said:
I can’t see him coming back after how it ended, being hounded out by fans on social media, club legends like Scholes and whatnot. He’s not a boyhood United fan.

Still, he tried his best for us under Ole, and I much prefer him and Ipswich to get promoted than Leeds for other obvious reasons too.
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He didn’t leave under bad terms at all. He was highly rated by everyone at United. He took the job because it was a great opportunity for him and he believed in himself. The social media narrative is pretty irrelevant. If that was a deciding factor, no one would ever stay or return anywhere, because there are always negative social media elements around every player and every coach. That’s because social media, certainly the loudest voices, is populated by mindless, hysterical idiots.
 
But but but McKenna and Carrick are rubbish they do the coaching ???
 
Ali Dia said:
It’s the football manager trick. Keep loaning players who belong in the division above and who look likely possibly end up PL players.. Experienced heads to guide them. Nobody expected this though. Excellent stuff from McKenna. The word always was that he was very highly rated. I’d love to see us take a punt on someone like him.
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This isn't at all what he's doing though. From their team today, only 2 have played in a higher division. One is Tuanzebe, who I imagine has played less than10 Premier League matches in his career. And the other is Keiffer Moore.
 
He's doing a great job but different leagues and team environments require different skills and those don't always translate. Daniel Farke won the Championship twice with Norwich. Steve Coppell with Reading broke the point record when they won the league in 2006. The following season in the PL they finished 8th in the PL. Considering how overly hyped and downplayed managers are these days he'd be considered the 2nd coming of John Smith with that kind of performance. Instead many posters on here probably even don't know who he is as he hasn't really managed again after Reading got relegated in their 2nd season.

McKenna is really promising. Been coaching for a long, long time now despite relatively young age and his managerial career is starting brilliantly. One to watch for sure.
 
sizzling sausages said:
This isn't at all what he's doing though. From their team today, only 2 have played in a higher division. One is Tuanzebe, who I imagine has played less than10 Premier League matches in his career. And the other is Keiffer Moore.
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Im saying that they looked to have scouted the loanees well. Some have a good chance of eventually making it as PL players. Not saying anything about his signings as he clearly is going to have a small budget. He’s majorly exceeding expectations either way.
 
Snow said:
He's doing a great job but different leagues and team environments require different skills and those don't always translate. Daniel Farke won the Championship twice with Norwich. Steve Coppell with Reading broke the point record when they won the league in 2006. The following season in the PL they finished 8th in the PL. Considering how overly hyped and downplayed managers are these days he'd be considered the 2nd coming of John Smith with that kind of performance. Instead many posters on here probably even don't know who he is as he hasn't really managed again after Reading got relegated in their 2nd season.

McKenna is really promising. Been coaching for a long, long time now despite relatively young age and his managerial career is starting brilliantly. One to watch for sure.
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I'd hope other United fans know who Steve Coppell is!

I do agree with your overall point though.
 
I like him a lot, but I think a club like Brighton could be a very good place if De Zerbi moves somewhere else.

I can see a lot of movement in management next summer, plenty of clubs looking to change things around.

Of course if he manages to get Ipswich promoted then that could be a great challenge as well.
 
If he does get them promoted he shouldn't make the mistake of staying. If you want to progress as a top coach its as much about jumping ship.
 
Smores said:
If he does get them promoted he shouldn't make the mistake of staying. If you want to progress as a top coach its as much about jumping ship.
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He will stay, but I agree. Kompany’s stock has fallen dramatically with this Burnley side that had no chance staying up. They are lucky there’s a much worse team in the league in Sheff Utd.
 
Amazing stat. He’s done an incredible job at Ipswich - nobody can deny that.

But talks about managing the likes of Man United are too premature. That’s as much about managing and motivating players who are already global superstars v/s the day to day coaching to improve players with a more humble background who are probably way more grounded.

Would love to have him in the Premier League. Either managing Ipswich or another mid table team.

Definitely one to watch for the future.
 
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MalaysianRed7 said:
I can’t see him coming back after how it ended, being hounded out by fans on social media, club legends like Scholes and whatnot. He’s not a boyhood United fan.

Still, he tried his best for us under Ole, and I much prefer him and Ipswich to get promoted than Leeds for other obvious reasons too.
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Of course he can come back. Nobody hounded him out. There is always some criticism of the staff when the manager fails.
 
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