It was on the Portman Road pitch, bathed in bright early May light while immersed in the relief and joy of a third promotion in five years, that Kieran McKenna realised the moment was right. The thought had flickered earlier in the season that this might be his final campaign at Ipswich, only to be pushed into the subconscious by the Championship’s remorseless grind. It was an amazing way to go out on a high.” Five months later McKenna has no regrets about electing to cut things short while the going was so good.
The golf bag lying outside his garage speaks of a man enjoying the break and, more pertinently, of something bigger. His son has recently become interested in the sport and sharing those moments with loved ones, whether out on the greens or spending part of the summer travelling along the East Anglian coastline in a camper van, were among the biggest reasons to pause a soaring career. At 40, McKenna had spent two decades immersed in coaching; it was time to appreciate life’s essentials while continuing professional development at his own speed.
He had, as usual, been linked with moves away but the idea of a voluntary career break was hard for many to fathom when the decision was finalised in June. Leaving through the front door, a luxury rarely afforded, made him proud and there is no desperation to leap back into the fray. I have an idea what that would feel like but football doesn’t always follow your plan.” Since early September he has dipped his toe back in.
That has involved tuning back into the process of watching and assessing games, while travelling to spend time with Bayern Munich, the Wigan Warriors rugby team and Colorado Rapids, who are managed by his friend Matt Wells. He has been working on foreign languages, topping up an already competent level of Spanish. This week he is visiting clubs in Spain and, next Wednesday, he will begin work as a technical observer for Uefa when Shakhtar Donetsk play AEK Athens at Stamford Bridge.
More than once McKenna repeats an assertion he made after promotion in May: that 2025-26 was the hardest of his four-and-a-half seasons at Ipswich, during which he masterminded a dizzying rise from League One to the top flight that marked him among football’s hottest managerial properties. The pressure was heightened last season: Ipswich had gone down and were expected to bounce back, even though the remarkably close-knit core who had propelled them through the divisions were drifting away. In effect, he took two different teams to the top.
Along the way he had come close to departing more than once but jumping ship earlier would have jarred. He reels off a list of coaching staff and other colleagues with whom the goodbyes were touching, meaningful, joyful. Many of the friendships, particularly with members of the “really, really special team” that he led to those successive promotions, will be lifelong.
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