There was no visible rage from Kieran McKenna after Bryan Mbeumo’s 96th-minute cross bounced almost apologetically into the net.
No water bottles were kicked, no dugout seats were assaulted. Instead, the Ipswich Town manager stood impassively, hands in pockets and slowly, ruefully shook his head, like he was waiting for an overdue bus.
His serene demeanour — which appears to be reflective of a man who has the desire for control, rather than that of someone who has lost heart or faith — continues in the post-match press conference 42 minutes later when McKenna talks, yes, of “extreme disappointment and devastation” but also of his great pride in Ipswich’s performance and his team’s identity from a tactical and mental point of view.
“If we show those things on a consistent basis we’ll be competitive in the majority of the games,” he added.
McKenna cuts an impressive figure: astute, intelligent and positive, but not to the point of cheerleading ignorance.
McKenna was integral to Ipswich reaching the Premier League, but they are yet to win this season (Stephen Pond/Getty Images)
His is a managerial star that has risen almost vertically in the past two years, what with back-to-back promotions achieved with a modest budget (Ipswich just spent a few million last season and were mid-table for wages) and high-pressing, attack-minded football. That decent football has mostly continued in the Premier League (albeit, again, not to the point of one-eyed stubbornness; they can go direct and be defensive too), but the winning has completely stopped.
How long, then, before McKenna’s reputation starts to suffer as a result of all the losing? How long before a manager who was strongly linked with vacant jobs at Chelsea and Brighton in the summer, before surprisingly signing a new contract at Portman Road, is no longer the ‘next big thing’, if that hasn’t happened already? Is there a chance he has already missed the boat with a picky ‘Big Six’ club? And if he goes down with the Ipswich ship, what then, if the Bayern Munich job isn’t available? (As was the case this summer when Vincent Kompany made the fairly remarkable jump from the relegated Burnley to the Bundesliga giants.)
There is nobility (and money) in McKenna having stayed loyal to Ipswich rather than heading straight to the big time — a return to Manchester United should Erik ten Hag have been sacked was also mooted in May — but should Ipswich be relegated under his watch, his standing will undoubtedly be sullied, perhaps beyond the point of no return in the eyes of the league’s table-toppers or Champions League chasers.
And yet there is a litany of examples of ‘next big things’ taking that jump at the first opportunity, be it to the Premier League itself or to a top-end club, and failing.
Graham Potter is the most obvious recent example when he swapped Brighton for Chelsea, started wearing turtlenecks and lasted only seven months. Similar examples — minus the turtleneck — are David Moyes going from Everton to Manchester United, Nathan Jones swapping Luton Town for Southampton, or Nuno Espirito Santo taking the Tottenham Hotspur job shortly after leaving Wolverhampton Wanderers. All failed miserably and, at the time of writing, never returned to that level again in terms of the size of the clubs they have been employed by.
Potter endured a difficult spell at Chelsea after leaving Brighton (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
Michael Beale, who was very ‘next big thing’, turned down the Wolves job when he was top of the Championship with QPR in October 2022 and spoke of integrity and loyalty. A month later, he left for Rangers. Two years later, he is out of work, with his most recent job being a disastrous 12-game stint at Sunderland.
Timing is everything. Enzo Maresca looks to be working out pretty well at Chelsea. Brendan Rodgers stuck with Swansea after promotion to the top flight, guided them to 11th and got the Liverpool job, which worked out very well for his career. Had Swansea struggled in the Premier League and gone down, Rodgers’ career may have taken a very different trajectory.
That’s the line McKenna is treading now and it will matter to a man who has hinted that the higher echelons of English football are where his eyes are fixed.
“I’ve worked at the Premier League as a first-team coach (at Manchester United) with a big contribution to some big wins and good seasons there, so I know the level, have operated at that level and can work with players at that level and think I can help players and teams at that level,” he said in February.
“I think ultimately in my career that is where I want to work and want to make an impact, but I think there are other coaches in the chain who can do that.”
Some never take that chance (or are never offered it). Garry Monk, Chris Wilder, Sean Dyche, even Alan Curbishley; all very highly rated at one point but missed their shot.
Perhaps we obsess too much over upward trajectories and reputations. Someone like Nuno, for example, is better suited to a Wolves or a Nottingham Forest where he is a bigger fish in a smaller pond, with more control over the variables than he would get at Spurs or Porto. When Nuno tried to replicate at Spurs the tight-knit, Jose Mourinho-style us-versus-them and my-word-is-final culture he cultivated at Wolves, he found a dressing room (and a club) that was much harder to manage in his way, for a variety of reasons.
Then there’s McKenna’s counterpart on Saturday, Brentford’s Thomas Frank, who last week made some fascinating comments on how he views taking that jump.
Frank has been regularly linked with English football’s biggest clubs having guided Brentford to the Premier League for the first time in 2021 and then the club’s highest finish since 1938 when they placed ninth in 2023.
“In terms of alignment, leadership, culture, everything… why should I ever leave this place?” he told The Sports Agents podcast. “For sure, if I ever got the offer to go to a big club and I decided to go there, it would probably not make my life better. I think we all know that.
“I have sacrificed a lot throughout my life to reach where I am now — I missed my children’s birthdays for five years in a row. I have been working 60, 70 hours a week for the last 30 years. You don’t know how it would be if you walked into another job.
“Maybe it will be even better than it is here? I don’t know that and I am just looking at the exposure on certain managers. I don’t think that is part of the football they love.”
The “it would probably not make my life better” comment is particularly notable, for its uniqueness and, well, frankness.
(Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
Frank is 51, which is 13 years McKenna’s senior, so perhaps fiercely ambitious fires to reach the top have been doused. Or perhaps happiness is underrated. Not being in the national spotlight and mercilessly over-analysed or ridiculed is underrated.
“The key thing for Kieran is you believe in what you’re doing,” Frank said after Brentford’s 4-3 win over Ipswich on Saturday. “You’ve got your principles, you learn along the way and then stick to consistent messages, which I’m sure he’s doing.”
If McKenna takes Frank’s advice then he should thrive, wherever he ends up.
(Top photos: Getty Images)
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