English football's most exciting new manager and how he was shaped by Mourinho
Kieran McKenna has become English football’s hottest property but if a non-follower passed him on the street they would more likely guess he is a geography teacher than a head coach overseeing the return to relevance of a big club.
In his sensible half-zip jumpers, the Northern Irishman may have an understated exterior that screams educator but he has steered Ipswich Town back into the Championship, where they maintain a 100% record before Saturday’s game against Leeds United.
And the hype, despite the 37-year-old’s best efforts, is hard to keep a lid on. McKenna remains the youngest manager in the top four divisions but in coaching years he is already an old hand.
His playing career was derailed in his early 20s - just as he was on the fringes of Tottenham ’s first team - but he was soon convinced to start coaching and, after studying in Loughborough University, he climbed the academy ladder at Spurs.
From there he was head-hunted by Manchester United ’s underage system - an easy decision for a boyhood fan - and soon impressed Jose Mourinho to the extent he was given a place on the first team backroom staff when Rui Faria departed.
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The more sentimental Ipswich fans are pointing to the link to their greatest manager. McKenna’s path to senior football was in part paved by Mourinho, who is eternally grateful to Sir Bobby Robson for the opportunity to turn the interpreter into a coach.
So when McKenna was told after last Saturday’s 1-0 win away to Queens Park Rangers that his team’s unbeaten run of 22 league games surpassed the previous record set by Robson there was a fleeting bit of recognition for the achievement.
Which is much more than the short shrift he usually gives to such milestones, of which there have been many in recent months, being pointed out. Only because McKenna is not overly interested in reflecting on his recent achievements or looking too far into the future.
It is all about the next game and this weekend presents, from a neutral perspective, the biggest challenge so far as Leeds visit Portman Road. “That’s harsh on the other teams we’ve played so far,” centre back Cameron Burgess said. “It’s an exciting game looking at it but it’s just the next game on our journey.”
Ipswich have won their first three games back in the Championship but Kieran McKenna is warning his players not to get carried away.Those final six words are typical of the McKenna view. Last Saturday the Fermanagh man seemed almost affronted when asked if he would have to do something to ensure his players block out the growing external expectations.
“There’s no deluded heads in our dressing room,” he said. “We know we’re working hard for every game and right now the margins are going our way. “We know how tough the division is and anyone can beat anyone. But there’s no chance of us getting ahead of ourselves, we know we’ll have to work unbelievably hard to compete.”
Yet they are doing more than competing. Almost everything about his team right now seems a reason for fans to get excited.
In League 1 they raced to 98 points, a club record, and scored 101 goals but the key to their success was a defence that conceded a meagre 35 and went on a run of shipping two goals in 15 games that included nine straight clean sheets.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer describes McKenna as the “most thorough and analytical, step-by-step, process-driven coach that I’ve worked with” and those numbers explain why the former Manchester United manager would put him in charge of the team’s work off the ball. “I learned from him about defensive shape and how not to concede,” Solskjaer told The Athletic a few months back.
Kieran McKenna was put in charge of Manchester United's defensive shape by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer - and that nous was shown by last season's defensive record at Ipswich.German football has been a source of inspiration with elements of Hansi Flick’s pressing style applied at Ipswich. In the rough and tumble of League 1 they were proof that a style of play perceived to be for a higher level can succeed a couple of steps down the ladder.
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"Of course there's a difference between working with players at Manchester United to working at this level,” McKenna told Sky Sports last season. “But it's a misconception in my opinion that you can't implement a certain style at this level or that you can't do certain things.”
Beyond tactics or automatisms, Ipswich may be the finest present example of a collective being more successful than the sum of its parts. The only member of the squad to have spent sustained time in the Premier League is veteran forward Sone Aluko and several have earned their corn in non-League.
"If you give trust to the players and improve their understanding of what they're capable of, the level you can get is usually higher than what they believe of themselves,” McKenna said.
Conor Chaplin, last season’s top scorer with 26, is a vital part of the machine but there is no standout star which Premier League clubs are making offers that cannot be refused. Yet. There is, however, a sense that McKenna is destined for a top flight job down the line. The Tractor Boys, last in the top flight 22 years ago, will cross everything that it is with them.
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