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Ipswich manager, Kieran McKenna, is expected to stay at Portman Road, especially if they are successful in their bid for promotion.
The former United coach has made waves ever since taking over the Tractor Boys in 2021, after leaving the Red Devils following the sacking of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
McKenna has taken Ipswich from League One, to Championship title challengers as they are second in the table, one point off the top, with five league games left to play.
It is not just the results but the swashbuckling style of play which has also attracted numerous envious glances from other teams.
Conversely, United’s current manager Erik ten Hag has largely disappointed in this campaign and with the club looking increasingly unlikely to qualify for the Champions League next season, there is a sizeable chance that INEOS look to continue the Glazer trend of sacking a manager when qualification to European football’s premier competition is not secured.
As a result, the Enniskillen man has been linked to a spectacular return to Old Trafford and to the soon-to-be vacant hotseat at Anfield, when Jurgen Klopp departs at the end of the season.
However, according to the journalist Ben Jacobs, a move from Portman Road is unlikely at this stage of his career.
Elaborating on the situation he reported, “with Kieran McKenna specifically, he’s very much admired by the INEOS team, because he’s doing a fantastic job at Ipswich. But there’s no indication that he will leave Ipswich. If Ipswich go up, McKenna has every indication to stay”.
“He’s done a fantastic job and when you do a fantastic job, you get plaudits. That’s really all it is at this point. In the long term, a lot of top clubs start monitoring young managers doing well, perhaps with a view to three, four or five years time”.
“That’s been the case with Ruben Amorim as well. Clubs were looking at him three or four years ago, knowing it would come to this point. That is what succession planning is. That’s what a lot of top clubs are doing with McKenna”.
But my understanding is that McKenna wants to stay at Ipswich and if Ipswich go up, he will stay at Ipswich. It would be probably too big a step up anyway for him to go from Ipswich to Manchester United this summer.”
This interpretation of events makes a lot of sense when you consider that McKenna at 37 years old, is incredibly young for being a manager and he has plenty of time on his side to manage a top club someday.
Furthermore, it is highly unlikely a side such as United would take the risk of hiring someone who has never managed in the highest division. It will please Red Devils that the club are being proactive and following his progress and should the time come where the Ulsterman has continued to impress at Ipswich in the Premier League or another topflight team, then that could just be the time to strike for the exciting manager.
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