Ipswich Town have made a blistering start to the 2023/24 Championship campaign, currently sitting in 2nd place of the table.
Ipswich Town have won nine of their opening 11 Championship fixtures, drawing one and losing one to make for an incredible start to the new campaign.
The Tractor Boys are starting to look like serous title contenders under Kieran McKenna who’s drawn praise from all corners of the footballing world; for his attacking style of play and overall management of Ipswich.
The former Manchester United coach was once a youth player at Tottenham Hotspur. He never played for the club, but McKenna says that current Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou is an example of the kind of attacking intent he wants to don as a coach.
After winning the Manager of the Month award for September, McKenna gave an interview to Sky Sports, and he highlighted Postecoglou’s Spurs philosophy as an inspiration behind his own at Ipswich.
“I think football is such a wonderful game because there’s so many ways to win and to be successful,” McKenna said.
“Supporters like to come and watch their team be brave, be positive, try and create a lot of chances, score a lot of goals – Tottenham are one example. It’s been a great start to the season for them. I’ve got a lot of friends still there as well.
“You can see how much their supporters are behind that start and the same for our club. If you look at the top echelons of the English game, if you look at the last winners of the Championship: Burnley, Fulham, Leeds, they’ve all been successful with a really attacking approach, a brave approach and that’s the way I enjoy the game, that’s the way the players want to play and feel like they can show their best football in.
“It’s certainly how we’re going to keep trying to go about it. It’s something we enjoy. It’s a big challenge and it takes a lot of work, but we want to keep putting that football out on the pitch for our supporters to enjoy and our players to keep developing in.”
Ipswich Town under McKenna
McKenna clearly knows his stuff. And he clearly wants Ipswich fans to have a team they can be excited to go and see, which is certainly what they’ve got this season.
Ipswich are one of the best attacking forces in the league and as each fixture passes by, and Ipswich retain their current form, it’s starting to look more and more like they could achieve an unlikely promotion.
Keeping hold of McKenna throughout the season may be difficult. Premier League teams will no doubt take a look but at the same time, it’s hard to see McKenna jumping ship midway through what could be an historic season for the club.
Ipswich Town face Rotherham Uited on Friday.
‘Only getting better’ – Rotherham United vs Ipswich Town prediction: The72
