Following an intense fortnight of speculation about his future, Kieran McKenna has signed a new four-year contract at Ipswich Town. Stuart Watson gives his thoughts...
Finally, the talking can stop.
The panicked debate online, at social gatherings and work places as anxious fans tried to make sense of a maelstrom of often contradictory noise.
The private discussions, in boardrooms, down mobile phones and in family homes, that led to the above too.
The reality is that only a handful of people know the true story from start to finish. The full details may never be known. There are some things we can safely assume though.
One; Kieran McKenna was a wanted man. Of course he was. The scale of what he’s achieved in his first two full seasons as a senior manager - 194 points and two automatic promotions, playing an entertaining brand of football without doing anything wild in the transfer market – is still scarcely believable.
Two; Kieran McKenna explored/assessed his options. Of course he did. This is a career he's given everything to. It’s a brutal industry. When you’re hot, you’re hot. His dream job was potentially available. You’d do the same.
Three; Ipswich Town Football Club did everything they could to keep him. Thankfully, it was enough. Big ambitions remain aligned. This exciting journey together continues.
What an unedifying soap opera it’s been. ‘Manchester United ponder McKenna move’, ‘Brighton make McKenna top target’, ‘Chelsea eye up McKenna’, ‘Brighton push to seal McKenna deal’, ‘Chelsea contact Ipswich’, ‘McKenna offered quadruple your money contract by Ipswich’, ‘McKenna likely to reject new deal’, ‘Manchester United make contact with McKenna’, ‘Chelsea look away from McKenna’, ‘United to undertake season review after winning FA Cup’, ‘McKenna expected to sign new long-term contract at Ipswich’. Welcome back to the big time.
Was I surprised by the level of noise? Perhaps naively, yes, because I thought Kieran would be a man keen to let his body of work and outstanding personal reputation do all the talking. Could he have reined in those stirring the pot a little? Possibly. Maybe that's impossible to stop once the wheels start turning though.
We live in a world where people demand micro updates and instant gratification. When it comes to no news, minutes feel like hours, hours feel like days and days feel like weeks. Did things constantly swing one way and then another, largely following the pattern of events set out? Were some stories leaked from agenda-driven sources to drive the narrative and test public opinion? Did some, under pressure to be in the know, gamble on repeating the mood music and give extra credence to gossip? It was probably a mixture of all of the above. Not getting sucked into all that was difficult.
Does this go down as a Mark Ashton masterclass or McKenna representation masterclass? Probably a bit of both.
Initially it seemed unlucky that so many top jobs were vacant/potentially vacant at the same time, but that may have actually worked in Ipswich’s favour. If Man United – a club that has a special draw for McKenna - hadn’t been potentially in the mix, then would McKenna have gone to Brighton sooner? If Man United had lost the FA Cup Final then might he have ended up there?
With Vincent Kompany being on the verge of going from Burnley to Bayern, did that make McKenna think it’s not necessarily now or never? That move is evidence that you can have a difficult season of results as manager of a newly-promoted club, get relegated and still be considered for big jobs.
There are lot of ifs, buts and maybes doing some heavy lifting in there though.
Ultimately, the how and why we got to this point doesn't really matter. The main thing is that Ipswich have held onto one of the most impressive young coaches in the game and one of the most important people in their organisation. For the second summer in a row, the biggest signing of the summer has been made before the transfer window has opened.
Squad morale will be through the roof when potentially it could have been seriously dented. And the way this has been told - ‘Ipswich keep hold of Man United target’ - may just turn the heads of transfer targets who might previously have been slightly reticent to join a relegation favourite.
The only negative is that McKenna’s bumper new contract – £6m a year according to The Times – eats into the spending limits allowed under the Premier League’s strict Profit and Sustainability Rules.
Still, he deserves it. This is a man who’s improved the value of the squad tenfold. Without him, Ipswich wouldn’t be tapping into the mega riches of the Premier League. No-one in the squad will be arguing that ‘the boss’ shouldn’t be the highest earner.
How will the last fortnight affect McKenna’s reputation? If u-turns have been made along the way – again, that’s a big ‘if’ - does that put a black mark against his name inside the game? Maybe. It’s a small world. People talk. And has the way this has unfolded left a slightly sour taste in some Ipswich fans’ mouths? Again, maybe. That won’t last long though.
I imagine everyone in and out of the game will move on from this saga pretty quickly. The first time we hear those familiar calm and measured words come out of McKenna’s mouth, memories of magic moments will come flooding back and thoughts will excitedly turn to chapters yet to be written.
Togetherness, consistency and momentum. That’s what’s got Ipswich Town to this point. That, crucially, is what Ipswich Town still have.
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