Excuse the analogy, but the Championship promotion race is similar to a convoy of pricy, showy cars travelling down a difficult, twisting road.
In this instance, Ipswich Town is not one of those ostentatious cars, but it more than holds its own. The Tractor Boys are, well, a tractor in this example.
Even if it doesn’t sound like one, it is a praise. The Premier League is the ultimate target for the wealthy speedsters, but as soon as they spot a gap, it closes.
From December 16 to Valentine’s Day, Kieran McKenna’s team won one of nine games, seemingly creating an opportunity over the holidays and into the new year. Despite this, teams with excellent coaching and a tonne of players at this level, like Southampton and Leeds, are simply too strong for them to overcome.
Although many teams have attempted and failed to return to the top flight, it would be incorrect to accuse the elegant Daniel Farke of Leeds, Russell Martin of Saints, or Enzo Maresca of leaders Leicester of spending lavishly to do so. However, there is a significant difference in their finances compared to Ipswich’s.
Thus, McKenna, 37, has a chance to win the League Managers Association’s manager of the season award. Chris Wilder was the previous non-Premier League manager to win this title in 2019. He should, at the absolute least, be discussed among some elite heavyweights.
The Northern Irishman, who gave up playing in his early 20s, got his coaching start at Manchester United, where he worked alongside Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. After Ipswich was relegated in 2019 after 17 seasons in the lower division, the team moved to League One.
His first job was to instill confidence and enthusiasm in the Portman Road supporters who had grown weary of the team’s lack of success. Then, after they were promoted the previous year, he combined that with a dynamic playing style that saw them score 101 goals.
While previewing this season, I made a big prediction regarding McKenna’s men. “No goal should be too high for McKenna’s men; Ipswich are the most exciting team in the Football League this season,” the statement read. “They ought to be hoping for at least the play-offs.”
It goes without saying that I also believed Birmingham and Stoke would finish in the top half, but they are currently in the relegation battle. Though it wasn’t exactly crystal-ball stuff, the important thing is that I’m not startled by Ipswich’s barnstorming run.
What has impressed me is McKenna’s ability to adjust his strategy mid-game to win points—a crucial component of their success—and his willingness to acknowledge when his methods aren’t working.
That was vital in Tuesday’s dramatic 3-2 victory over twice-leading Bristol City, which maintained Ipswich’s position in second place in the standings, three points behind Leicester and two ahead of Leeds in third.
According to reports, McKenna works from 6 a.m. until 14 p.m. at his office at the Playford Road training complex in Ipswich. He’ll analyse opponents for days on end and carefully craft his master strategy to reveal their vulnerabilities.
To use that automobile analogy again, Ipswich was in need of some replacement components following their depressing Christmas season. Ali Al Hamadi, Lewis Travis, Jeremy Sarmiento, and Kieffer Moore are four outstanding new additions who arrived in January and have revitalised the promotion fight.
The recent additions also have interesting pasts. Ten years ago, Moore was balancing football outside of the League with work as a lifeguard at a swimming pool. In Norway, he was dropped by Viking FK, Yeovil, and Forest Green.
Prior to joining Bournemouth in the Premier League and becoming a standout player for Wales, he began his career as an apprentice at Barnsley and Wigan. Moore has made it his mission to disprove his naysayers throughout his career, and he is succeeding in this regard at Ipswich, where his supporters heckled him during his lacklustre first season there in 2017–18.
Al Hamadi was perhaps the most eye-catching Football League signing of the winter window when he switched League Two Wimbledon for Ipswich.
His journey started on the streets of war-torn Iraq. As a toddler, he fled his home of Maysan with mother Asseel, a teenager at the time. His father, Ibrahim, was tortured and imprisoned by Saddam Hussein for protesting against the dictator. Those scars followed the Al Hamadis as they gained asylum in Toxteth, Liverpool.
Some players’ stories follow a more conventional route, such as Brighton loanee Sarmiento trying to prove he is ready for the top flight, or flying full back Leif Davis being out to get one over on former club Leeds in the promotion race.
Whether from Iraq or Ipswich, everyone seems to be pulling in the same direction: to the Premier League. McKenna, one of seven permanent Championship bosses aged 40 or younger, is the mastermind of that success, with six wins on the bounce.
This is a club steeped in history, which you can sense on the approach to Portman Road. It is hard to miss busts of two knights of the realm here, Sir Alf Ramsey and Sir Bobby Robson. Ramsey, the only manager to win a World Cup for England, and Robson, who lifted the UEFA Cup and FA Cup at Ipswich, led the Tractor Boys through glorious eras.
McKenna is the manager who has dragged Ipswich out of the doldrums. For that, his name should be up in lights.
Accrington’s cold shoulder for a legend
Accrington Stanley? Who are they? Who are they? Well, when John Coleman took over in 1999, they were playing in the Northern Premier League but they quickly climbed into the Football League in 2006. He left in 2012, then the third longest-serving boss in England.
Coleman returned in 2014 and cemented Stanley as a Football League club, taking them up to the third tier in 2018.
He left again this week, after 1,098 games across two stints. Alongside long-time assistant Jimmy Bell, the pair have been more responsible than anyone for Accrington’s success.
They deserve a statue outside the Crown Ground but instead got a poxy 43-word statement on the club website confirming their departures.
Yes, there is bad blood between them and owner Andy Holt, but this was a blatant lack of respect for two club legends.
Stat of the week
Hull have played Birmingham four times this season — twice in the Championship and twice in the FA Cup, one a replay. The Blues have had four different managers for those meetings: John Eustace, Wayne Rooney, Tony Mowbray and Mark Venus.
The latter can’t be helped as Venus is only in charge while Mowbray is off ill, but fans are now anxiously fearing relegation, with Birmingham just a point clear of the drop zone.
That gamble of replacing Eustace with Rooney in October looks as miscalculated now as it did at the time.
