Just weeks after hauling Ipswich Town back into the Premier League, Kieran McKenna has resigned. The 40-year-old, who took charge of the Tractor Boys in 2021, guided them to three promotions in four seasons, the last of which — a runners-up finish in the Championship in May — secured top-flight football for 2026-27. Now, with the club preparing for the elite, he has stepped aside. “I feel this is the right time for me to step aside,” McKenna said. “I do so with great pride at the incredible progress we have made and with huge hope and optimism for the future of the club. After giving so much to the role over the previous five seasons, I now look forward to taking a break from management and dedicating some time to my family, who have been with me every step of my career so far.”
McKenna left a first-team coaching position at Manchester United in December 2021 to take over Ipswich when they were languishing in League One. He led them back to the Championship at the end of his first full season, then won the League Managers’ Association manager of the year award in 2024 after beating Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta to the prize following back-to-back promotions that ended the club’s 22-year absence from the Premier League. He won 105 of his 222 games in charge and had two years left on the four-year deal he signed in 2024.
“Kieran McKenna resigns as Ipswich manager weeks after promotion to Premier League.”
Chairman Mark Ashton said he was “gutted” to lose the manager. “Achieving three promotions in four seasons, in what is your first role as a manager, is an achievement which means Kieran is now rightly discussed in the same breath as the legends of this club,” Ashton said. “The mark he, his staff and his players have made on Ipswich Town and its community will live forever. It has captured a generation.”
Ipswich must now find a successor. Former Wolves head coach Gary O’Neil — currently manager of Strasbourg after being appointed in January — is one contender. The 43-year-old spent two years as a player with Ipswich’s big rivals Norwich City and has admirers at Portman Road. The club are open-minded about a replacement, but O’Neil is in the frame.