Ipswich Town set Kieran McKenna’s asking price amid Crystal Palace speculation
The former Manchester United manager would cost a potential new club up to £4m to leave Portman Road, according to Alan Nixon.
Ipswich have been a standout team in the Championship so far this season, with their form putting them in the automatic promotion queue.
This follows the club’s promotion to the second tier of League One in May.
McKenna guided the team to a second-place finish last season, returning Ipswich to the Second Division after a four-year absence.
Previously, it was reported that Premier League side Crystal Palace had put McKenna on their shortlist of potential new managers. While Roy Hodgson is doing well at the London club, the Eagles are preparing for some time after the 76-year-old is likely to retire soon.
However, Palace may not be the only club interested in signing McKenna in the near future.
While no other team has emerged as a potential next destination, the team’s incredible form in the Championship will certainly attract attention.
In this case, the Ipswich hierarchy saw it coming and paid a heavy price on their heads.
Interested parties would have to pay up to £4m to convince the Suffolk side to let the 37-year-old leave Portman Road, if he so wishes. Otherwise, Ipswich would not have parted ways with one of their main assets so easily.
The record amount paid to sign a coach was achieved when Bayern Munich paid more than £20m to sign Julien Nagelsmann from RB Leipzig.
Chelsea paid a similar fee for Brighton’s Graham Potter, but £4m is still a significant figure for a coach working in the Championship.
McKenna will soon celebrate two years with Ipswich after joining the club in December 2021.
Previously, he worked as a coach at Man United, first in the youth team and then as a member of Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s back team. McKenna worked alongside Middlesbrough manager Michael Carrick before both men became head coaches in their own right.
Ipswich is currently second in the rankings, just two points behind leaders Leicester City and eight points ahead of third place Preston North End.
McKenna has played a key role in making Ipswich a promotion challenger this season, so his departure will be a big loss.
A fee of £4 million won’t make the difference between promotion and staying in the Championship.
But it would allow the club to spend money to find a replacement for him, which could also help. There are only a handful of other managers Ipswich could recruit who could continue to guide the club forward in the race for automatic promotion to the Premier League, so it would be a huge loss if he left the club.
Music star Ed Sheeran served pints at Ipswich Town Football Club and celebrated with the players following the side’s victory over Hull City on Tuesday night. The award-winning singer-songwriter and Ipswich fan got behind a bar at Portman Road to serve pints, with many fans capturing images and videos which they shared to social media.
Following the match Sheeran, 32, who grew up nearby in Framlingham, Suffolk, was also filmed singing in the changing rooms alongside Ipswich Town’s players to his 2017 hit Perfect after their 3-0 victory kept the side top of the Championship. In a video shared to X, formerly known as Twitter, Ipswich Town’s official account posted a clip of the moment with the caption “Perfect”.
The A Team singer, a lifelong fan of the Tractor Boys, became the shirt sponsor for the men’s and women’s first teams in the 2021/22 season. Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna said Sheeran’s “sing-song” in the changing room was a “moment for everyone to enjoy”.
“It was nice, he came down to the dressing room tonight which was nice,” Mr McKenna said. The players haven’t met him yet, he’s been to some games here, but he’s of course so busy doing marvellous things.
“(It was) great for him to be here tonight, it was lovely for him to be able to come down to the dressing room after the game, meet the players. They had a little bit of a sing-song together, which is a moment for everyone to enjoy, players and staff.
“He’s an important part of the football club, we really appreciate his support, and it was great to have him here tonight.” Sheeran was spotted in the stands during the match and he also appeared on the football club’s official TV channel, TownTV, where he sat down with the presenters ahead of the game.
When asked what it was like to be back at Portman Road, The A Team singer said it is “just great to be back in England”. “I was teaching at my old school today, I think I came here with my dad in April, but I’m now going to be here regularly which is nice,” he said.
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