Manchester United players were ‘unhappy’ with me, and now I’m on the brink of proving them wrong.

Manchester United has not made the lengthy trip to Portman Road to face Ipswich Town since April of 2002.

The Tractor Boys’ 22-year absence from the Premier League may come to an end next season. The Suffolk team will be promoted provided they avoid loss at home to Huddersfield Town, who are already on the verge of relegation.

Ipswich made a huge step towards promotion in midweek, defeating Coventry City 2-1. Victory moved them three points ahead of Leeds United with one game remaining.

If they succeed, they will become the first club to advance from League One to the Premier League in consecutive seasons since Southampton in 2012. You might question how they did it. The solution is simple: Kieran McKenna.

The former United first-team coach entered the competitive world of management for the first time in December 2021, responding to Ipswich’s call. Mark Ashton, the club’s chief executive, had been tracking McKenna for 18 months and understood right away when he met him that he was the appropriate guy for the job. “We approached him and when I met Kieran I knew within 30 seconds, honestly,” she added.

McKenna worked on the coaching staff at Old Trafford for five years, with Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, and briefly with Ralf Rangnick. However, he knew he was ready to put his managerial skills to the test when Ipswich approached him.

“It was the right time for me to take the step, it’s the right profile of club I was looking for, and I’m grateful to them for giving me this opportunity,” McKenna said of his departure from Old Trafford. “I’m confident I’ll be able to repay that faith in the future.”

If Ipswich win, the Northern Irishman will have done more than just repaid the confidence; he will have engraved his name into Ipswich folklore. After finishing 11th in his first season in command at Portman Road, the goal for 2022-23 was clear: to gain promotion from League One.

Plymouth, Sheffield Wednesday, and Ipswich battled it out for the two automatic slots throughout the season. Ipswich won one of them, and finished second with 98 points.

Their visually appealing style of play won them glowing reviews, as they frequently swept opponents aside. Many people expected them to do well again in the Championship. With just one game remaining, they have far exceeded their expectations.

Ipswich, which plays a lively, fluid, and free-flowing brand of football, has fought tooth and nail with the three Premier League clubs that were relegated last season, all of which had parachute payments.

McKenna has mostly stuck with the same set of players who led the team out of League One, with the exception of one or two new signings, such as Omari Hutchinson and Kieffer Moore. His coaching skills have gotten the best out of his team.

The fact he has improved Ipswich’s fortunes and managed to get the best out of individuals will come as no surprise to Solskjaer, whose hiring at United saw McKenna take on greater responsibility at Carrington.

“He’s the most thorough and analytical, step-by-step, process-driven coach that I’ve worked with,” Solskjaer told The Athletic last year. “He makes it so easy for the players to see and understand what we wanted from them.”

Following Erik ten Hag’s troubles at Old Trafford, McKenna has been linked with a return to M16 to take the top position. He has done an excellent job at Portman Road, but he has yet to earn the right to command that position.

Nonetheless, he has more than earned the opportunity to compete in the Premier League, where he will face some of the world’s top coaches. He will seize the opportunity, assuming it arises.

It was originally stated that some United players were ‘unhappy’ with McKenna’s teaching tactics at Carrington, but here he is, on the verge of completing one of English football’s greatest stories in recent years. It will be a welcome change if they make the Premier League next season.

If they succeed, he will undoubtedly look forward to next season’s matchups with United. And if the Tractor Boys’ momentum continues, United may not like their next visit to Portman Road.

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