Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna pushed for move to European giants

Ajax should look at Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna this summer as they seek out a new long-term manager.

That’s according to journalist Henk Spaan, who appears to have been sold on the idea of the Ipswich Town manager after reading about him this week.

McKenna is forging himself a growing reputation in the English game for the impressive work he is doing with Ipswich, who currently sit top of the Championship table and two points clear of Leicester in third.

It’s been a rapid rise for the Tractor Boys under the Northern Ireland manager since his arrival in December 2021, when the club were still in League One.

They finished 11^th in his first season in charge before securing promotion back to the Championship the following season and he has led them to the top of the table in their first year back with an exciting, attacking brand of football.

He’s already been linked with moves in England, where several clubs have at least been keen to speak to him when looking for managers this season.

And it seems his work is also being picked up on outside of England too, with Spaan convinced he should be on the radar at Ajax too.

“This week I read about a trainer that no one knows, the one from Ipswich Town,” he said.

“Kieran McKenna is 37 years old and was a trainer and scout in the academies of, for example, Tottenham Hotspur, Leicester City and Manchester United.

“He is an excellent trainer who has already given Ipswich a much higher collective transfer value than expected. He was an assistant at Manchester United under Solskjaer, Mourinho, Carrick and Rangnick, before becoming head coach at Ipswich. He was promoted from the second to the first division and is still competing for a promotion spot to the Premier League.

“He plays attacking football and is not immediately concerned about conceding goals. This season he won twice with 4-3. This quote screams Ajax: ‘Few teams deliver the ball so quickly from the goalkeeper to the vanguard, while the opponent hunts for shadows.’

“A lot of video analysis is done during the week and McKenna is focused on the players’ individual progress. He plays with wings and a number ten.

“In a ranking of the average number of points won per match in the Championship and Premier League, he is third behind Guardiola and Arteta, but ahead of Klopp, Emery and Ten Hag. As a footballer he did not get further than the second team of Tottenham Hotspur.”