EDITORIAL USE ONLY No use with unauthorised audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or "live" services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications. Mandatory Credit: Photo by Mark Kerton/Shutterstock (14420990ag) Ipswich Town Manager Kieran McKenna prepares for kick off Norwich City v Ipswich Town, EFL Sky Bet Championship, Football, Carrow Road, Norwich, UK - 06 Apr 2024
Kieran McKenna, the manager of Ipswich Town, is excited about the last stretch of the competition for automatic promotion from the Sky Bet Championship.
The Tractor Boys need to win three games to guarantee a top-two finish. McKenna’s team will visit Hull City this weekend, then travel to Coventry City in the middle of the week. They will return to Portman Road for the season’s final game against Huddersfield Town.
Leicester City, Leeds, Ipswich, and Southampton are the four contenders, but the Suffolk club has a game in hand on their rivals for promotion. Another season full of surprises and turns may be ready to come down to the last moments when the regular Championship campaign culminates next weekend.
“It has been thrilling,”
We’ve made a sincere effort to tackle it in the manner of our choosing and leave our mark on the division. We’ve succeeded in doing that, I believe, and it’s fantastic that we’re still in the running this late in the season. Our attention is on the remaining issues, which we will fight for with all of our might.
After finishing as runners-up to Plymouth Argyle, the winners of Sky Bet League One the previous season, Ipswich had the opportunity to go back-to-back and eventually return to the second division. Few people had anticipated that they would return to the second tier so rapidly, but McKenna had always intended to at least contend.
He continued, saying:
The 37-year-old, who began his managerial career with Ipswich after serving as a coach at Manchester United, won the divisional Manager of the Season title at the 2024 EFL Awards and is regarded as one of the top young managers in the making.
But he thinks that maintaining the nucleus of the League One promotion-winning team and turning them into Championship players has been his most remarkable accomplishment. Those who were with the Club the previous season, like Wes Burns, Luke Woolfenden, Conor Chaplin, Sam Morsy, and Leif Davis, have adapted to the new level with ease.
