Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna has been linked to the vacant managerial roles at Celtic and Leicester City. STUART WATSON outlines why he thinks the Blues can keep hold of their highly-rated young boss.
MCKENNA'S BIG AMBITIONS
Whenever asked about his career plans, Kieran McKenna's responses are always respectful, humble and well-thought out. He's self-aware enough to know he's had just one full season in first team management and that's there's still much to prove.
But he also balks, quite rightly, at the suggestion he's some sort of rookie boss with no playing career of note. He played for Northern Ireland at U21 level. He was good enough as a midfield player to be on the verge of making a first team breakthrough at Tottenham. And, after a chronic hip injury forced him into hanging up his boots at 22, he's had years to learn the coaching craft.
You don't get to be Manchester United's assistant manager in your early 30s by luck. In terms of experience, he's more like a 50-year-old than 37.
That's where the steely look of determination and understated yet underdeniably confident tone comes from. He's grafted hard, worked with the elite and, as a result, believes in himself.
Within hours of sealing promotion to the Championship with Ipswich, he said: "This doesn't feel like a start for me. I know people disassociate management from coaching, but for me this started many, many years ago.
"This is just another step in something that I've worked really hard for.
"I've worked at Champions League level, who knows where I'll go in the future."
The question, therefore, is how long Ipswich Town's progress can keep pace with McKenna's.
Back in April, as Town's promotion push was hotting up, the Blues boss addressed that very topic at a Fans' Forum.
"To be honest, I wouldn't be at the club if I didn't think that it could match my ambition," he replied.
"Obviously I've moved here from the biggest football club in the world, a football club that is very special to me, that I grew up supporting and that I felt I had a really big role to play at going forwards.
"As I said when I arrived, I wouldn't have made the step away to go to just any football club. I wanted to go somewhere where there was a project, where there was the potential to grow something and to be there over a good period of time.
"That was the type of project I was waiting for and that was the type of project that Mark (Ashton) and the club presented to me. From what I've seen here first hand that feeling has only been strengthened in terms of the ambition of the football club and the potential of the football club if we all get behind it.
"We know that's going to be a long journey and I'm here to be a big part of that journey. I'm here to help guide the football club to where it wants to get to and, obviously, ultimately where I want to get to as a manager.
"I have worked at the highest levels of the game in club football. I felt very confident there and I feel like that's somewhere I want to be again.
"That's a journey that I want to take with Ipswich Town."
IPSWICH'S BIG AMBITIONS
Ipswich Town have big ambitions of their own.
The money behind the club comes from the Arizona Public Safety Personnel Retirement System.
Mark Steed, the Chief Investment Officer for that fund, spelt out its financial clout soon after the April 2021 takeover.
Asked by a Town fan whether the resources were there to take the club forward following years of steady decline, Steed replied: "Our fund is $13 billion and we’re holding $700m in cash. So, yeah?"
Ed Schwartz, who heads up ORG, the investment firm which manages money for PSPRS, insisted 'this is just the beginning' after promotion to the second-tier was secured.
"A lot of us feel like the most difficult task was to get out of League One," he said. "Our long-term goal has always been to build a sustainable club who can be competitive and compete at the highest levels of English football.”
Speaking after Town's US-takeover, Berke Bakay, one of US-based co-owners, said: "It’s very good to be in a place to have all the resources to not only get out of this league, not just do well in the Championship, but also in the EPL and beyond. We have all of those resources for appropriate times.
"Is getting to the Premier League part of our goal and vision? One hundred per cent. But the Championship is an incredibly difficult place. You’ve got other qualified organisations that also feel like they should be getting promoted too. You’ve got parachute payments to compete against too.
"So I think we need to stay humble."
It appears, therefore, that the grand ambitions of manager and club are fully alligned.
Asked recently if he felt he could keep hold of McKenna, Town chief executive Mark Ashton told Sky News: "Yeah, I would think so, he seems very happy.
"We have stability as a club. We’re well-financed and moving forward in all directions.
"I think Kieran understands the journey he’s on in his career. I think we’re a perfect fit for each other. This is potentially a huge club, with huge opportunity."
THE LINKS...
So what jobs could potentially turn McKenna's head at this very juncture? Not many, I'd suggest.
Chelsea and Tottenham have gone for Mauricio Pochettino and Ange Postecoglou respectively. Realistically, McKenna wasn't going to be in the frame for clubs of that ilk just yet.
What other Premier League jobs might become available soon?
There's talk of West Ham parting ways with David Moyes, despite reaching a European final, and Julen Lopetegui being unhappy with his budget at Wolves.
Will Roy Hodgson stay on at Crystal Palace after their strong finish? Could Roberto De Zerbi and Thomas Frank be lured to big European outfits soon due to the remarkable jobs they're doing at Brighton and Brentford respectively?
Of all those just listed, Brighton feel like the club in the McKenna sweet spot for me. So long may 'De Zerbi ball' continue on the South Coast.
Then we move on to Championship clubs. Ipswich could be a force in the second-tier next season, so why would McKenna leave for another club in the same division?
Recently-relegated trio Leeds, Leicester and Southampton are all on the look-out for new managers. Big clubs, yes. Parachute payments, yes. But also some serious house-keeping to undertake. Recent history shows you're more likely to stay down than go straight back up. That's why the Leicester link doesn't worry me.
Of greater concern are the reports of McKenna being on Celtic's radar.
Being involved in a two-horse title race and facing the likes of Livingstone, Ross County and St Mirren multiple times in a season should be less appealing than being involved in a Championship packed with storied football clubs and big stadiums.
But managing in the Champions League and regularly playing in front of nearly 60,000 passionate home fans would undoubtedly be a gravitational pull.
There's also the fact that Celtic have strong Irish links. Former managers Martin O'Neill and Neil Lennon are both Northern Irishmen.
Tottenham taking a chance on Postecoglu shows that doing well north of the border can lead to one of the big Premier League jobs.
Whether that trend continues, however, could be dependent on how the Australian does in North London.
If he's a success - and it really shouldn't be as black and white as this - then he'll get mentioned along with Brendan Rodgers as someone who came to the Premier League off the back of SPL success and did well.
If he flops then he'll be lumped in with Steven Gerrard, who failed at Aston Villa after doing so well at Rangers, and it could be a while before a top-flight English club looks to Glasgow again.
All things considered, and famous last words, but I see McKenna going nowhere this summer.
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