Sign up now ><\/a><\/b><\/i><\/p>\n\u201cIt is with a mixture of gratitude, pride, sadness and contentment that I have decided to step down from the honour of managing this historic football club,\u201d McKenna said in Ipswich\u2019s statement. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you have the connection that we have built at this club there is never a good time to say goodbye.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, having achieved a second promotion to the Premier League last season, with another memorable final day in our stadium, and after reflection over the last couple of weeks, I feel this is the right time for me to step aside. <\/p>\n
\u201cAfter 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
McKenna was under contract with Ipswich until 2028, having signed a new deal two years ago after guiding the club to a second consecutive promotion. <\/p>\n
He left his role as assistant manager at Manchester United to join Ipswich in December 2021, succeeding Paul Cook. <\/p>\n
After leading the club out of third-tier League One in his first full season in charge, McKenna then took the Tractor Boys back to the top flight for the first time in 22 years. <\/p>\n
Ipswich kept faith with McKenna after they suffered relegation, and their decision was vindicated when the club secured automatic promotion by finishing second in the Championship last season. <\/p>\n
Ipswich chairman Mark Ashton said McKenna\u2019s achievements meant he was \u201cnow rightly discussed in the same breath as the legends of this club\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe mark he, his staff and his players have made on Ipswich Town and its community will live forever,\u201d Ashton added.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has captured a generation. <\/p>\n
\u201cLike so many, I am of course gutted that our journey together has come to an end, but I understand and respect the decision he has made after five incredibly intense years.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kieran McKenna is to step down as manager of Ipswich Town, just weeks after overseeing the club\u2019s return to the Premier League. A club statement issued Wednesday said the 40-year-old had \u201cmade the decision to step away from football management and dedicate time to his family\u201d following five seasons in charge at Portman Road. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":247657,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6807],"tags":[156],"class_list":{"0":"post-247656","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leagues-cups","8":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247656\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}