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

Barca was a different league from Barca B for Pep.

Real was a different league from Real Castilla for Zidane.

McKenna has more high pressure experience than both the above when they took on the biggest jobs in football.

What if Pep didn't risk Barca and went to Betis instead?
What if Zidane didn't risk Real and went to Sociedad instead?

You cannot be afraid of risk in football as an ambitious manager. You cannot worry about football fans being worried for you.

Pep inherited one of the best squads in the World when he took over at Barca and was allowed to spend millions raiding La Liga for players like Dani Alves so that situation is in no way comparable to McKenna moving from Ipswich to United or Chelsea.
 
I really hope it’s true. I want someone capable of something special, and he has already proven he could very well be. It would be exciting.
To be fair, I thought that guy was a journalist, he’s always being RT’d - turns our he’s just like you or I, a fan. Ahwell.
 
If it is McKenna stick with him through thick and think like Arsenal did Arteta.
 
I’m in the feck it why not category. I think 80% of the work we require in the next 2-3 years can be done independent of the manager. The manager has a bit of a multiplier effect on this though.

Sounds heartless and boring to say, but our target should be getting to a stage that we can move on from a manager with relative ease.
I think the same.
Why not, it can't get worse - performance wise anyway.

Will he have the draw for any new players though
 
All we need is a great coach and tactician; someone who is focused solely on getting the most of the players available without moaning about needing a £100m signing or other excuses. If the new management team believe McKenna is capable of that then great. Why not go for him now instead of seeing if he is successful elsewhere first.

As for other old fashioned opinions such as some players won't respect him because he's won feck all. Well, that'd be an easy way for the new regime to weed out the cnuts in the squad and replace them with professionals who are capable of behaving like grown ups and following orders
 
I don't get the "go to Brighton first" stuff. If that's your line of thinking, better he go to Chelsea first, surely? We sign far more of their ex-players and staff.
 
I'd have him 100%

Any players who didn't respect him he can see on the first day back when he shows their arse the door.
 
I think if we're to replace ten Hag, then McKenna would be a good choice imo. In other countries we see young up and coming coaches get hyped up like Nagelsmann when he was at Hoffenheim and Leipzig and there's many others who I could mention aswell. McKenna is also a coaching prodigy and was considered amongst the very best coaches at youth level. I even said when Solskjaer was at the club and we finished 3rd and 2nd in the league table, that I give alot of credit to McKenna for finishing so high in the table because he was the main man on the training pitch whilst Solskjaer observed the training sessions.

I think he has the experience of coaching the club before and has since done a remarkable job at Ipswich where he's got them into the EPL after back to back promotions. But I think there's a element within the club that will make their grievances known to the press if things don't go well. And below are just a few examples of how things can get problematic for a coach and rile up a fan base that is easily swayed by things mentioned in the media. This is something the hierarchy at the club need to control to give the coaching staff the best conditions to succeed or else they'll carry in being undermined.

https://x.com/ManUnitedZone_/status/1462466856384614403?t=lQlth2oh8U_lwumAr3l6rw&s=19

https://x.com/UtdDistrict/status/1452638775792787461?t=vIK1nqYbgRnZ0AiNEX7s0w&s=19
 
McKenna left United because the players wouldnt respect him, they daid he was like a headteacher and laughed about his training sessions being high school level.
McKenna left because he got the Ipswich job. The club wanted to keep him. That's what was reported at the time. Anything else is you reading into some reports from back then.
 
If he’s confident and the club puts the right support structure around him then why not. Could be exciting
 
Yeh I'd say that was more Ole than McKenna. Anyway clearly the players were fecking clueless if it was true.

From an article in The Mirror

The Mirror said:
After Solskjaer’s sacking in November, the Daily Mail reported that McKenna is seen as ‘dry and school-teacherly’ by some players while others have ‘privately wondered how he had risen to such a position of power’.
 
He won't end up at Chelsea imo. The club is in a bad state for some time now, fans are on their heels and would be all over him (and the owners) after few bed results. Don't believe there is actual interest from either side.

True. I don’t think he’s right for us, fans will be on his back from day one, because they’ve already gone through the potter experience, McKenna will, rightly or wrongly, be seen in that light. He’ll walk in and feel the skepticism and pressure immediately. If he gets off to a slow start, the negativity will spiral and take on a life of its own
 
That would be the case with any of the managers we're currently linked to though. They are all the same profile, and although they seem to be the lesser mentioned names I'm not a huge fan of De Zerbi or Thomas Frank's characters from what I've seen in interviews etc.

He will basically have to start well to get the fans and media onside. Starting with 1 win from 5 for example might push the narrative frenzy to a place he will never recover from. if I was him, I’d avoid Chelsea. I don’t think failing at Chelsea is the career destroyed some are saying it is but it could set it back a bit.
 
Huh? Where the feck are you getting this from?

The Athletic has been told his approach can, at times, be schoolmasterly. There may or may not be substance to that but these are also familiar complaints from players when results begin to turn. Separate sources countered that Carrick’s skill is in spotting details and influencing players with an arm-around-the-shoulder and a one-to-one chat. A well-placed associate said McKenna has the potential to go on to manage a top-six Premier League club, such is his level of diligence and research when preparing. Others, though, question whether he possesses the requisite charisma.


In fairness we always see exactly this sort of thing come out whenever the results are poor. Also, we'd just signed Ronaldo, who probably doesn't exactly respect anyone without a few trophies behind them, and was certainly a team leader.
 
If the players were against him then that makes me want him. It’s proven they were a bunch of idiots back then so I’m happy to think the opposite of what they said.
 
I'd back him but I think it would be a crazy risk especially with Tuchel and Poch available. We're not an academy for up and coming managers, we need regular CL football.
 
Really not agreeing with the the whole “go manage random lower level team for a bit” logic. If you’re good enough you’re good enough. Pep didn’t have to go and manage Sporting Gijón for three years before managing Barcelona.
Yeah my thoughts as well. If your club wants to get the next great young manager they actually have to take risks and hire them, even if they haven’t managed the “right” clubs.
 
Im hearing on the NI grapevine that he’s prepared to give United some time, they are his first choice and he is their first choice if they exit Ten Hag
 
I honestly can’t believe any here are considering this a good thing! He was here with Ole and it didn’t work then - Ole was a man that very much believed in his collective coaches - Mike, Kieran and Michael Carrick. If Kieran McKenna was some kind of tactical genius then Ole would have used that to his and the teams benefit.
Then, to be the biggest issue, the man has absolutely zero management experience at the top level. It’s one thing to do well in the first division and championship (and he did very well) but entirely another to manage the egos and pressures of a top level team.

We may as well go and get Phil Parkinson at Wrexham, he also managed back to back promotions!
 
So funny isnt it, "decision isnt made until after the final" have to say the breifings have been hilarious.

Why speak to other managers if your not sacking him?
 
If the players were against him then that makes me want him. It’s proven they were a bunch of idiots back then so I’m happy to think the opposite of what they said.
If he does come in and that's a very big if, he has other suitors, we have a manager still and are being linked with a different option everyday, then he has to get players to buy in. He doesn't have the credibility of being a great player and he doesn't seem to be have the most charismatic personality plus he's never managed at the top level so he is going to have to get players to buy in by the quality of his coaching and making them genuinely excited to come in and learn every day. If he can't do that then he has no chance. It's all well despising the players and wanting someone that they don't rate but he needs to get a good chunk of them onside because most of the current squad will still be important players next season.