As an Ipswich supporter, it is not possible to fully convey the utter decay and doom and gloom around the club as we got relegated from the Championship, and had sunk to being a mid-table L1 team, with further falls likely, until we got the new owners.
For any of us old enough to have seen the full Robson era, and also the great football we played, under Burley, Royce and Magilton, it was the dire, dire, non-football we were playing which hurt almost more than the fall in status.
Above and beyond the article, Mc Kenna is a highly intelligent man, with strong principles, on and off the pitch, who treats others with respect, and is able to lead as well as manage.
He is a very good communicator, and is always constructive, so never admonishes players in public, and is focused on solutions, not problems.
He was instrumental in getting a new pitch laid at Portman Road, costing £2.5M, so we can play our football all season round, and the home record has justified that, one defeat (to Leeds, and that was 4-3) in the last 34 league games I think.
The next large project is the creation of world class training facilities, and he has creative input into that as well, and has the final say on all transfers, so he has a great combination of stability, and influence, something he is more than aware is not common at many clubs in modern football.
He did not drop to L1 lightly, and it was the project as a whole which drew him to Ipswich, and he has a very strong working relationship with Mark Ashton (CEO) and he will not leave Ipswich lightly either.
I would recommend that anyone interested enough to have read my comment up to this point, search out Mc Kenna's first interview when he came to the club, (it is on you tube) [
edit: la ved link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwz4ScgixjQ] and it will tell you all you need to know about him.
I am aware, like Bobby Robson he will leave someday, and when he does we will all wish him well and be grateful for what he has done for us. Personally, I have felt all along, he is here for the duration, and we have a further £105M to invest in the club over the next five years, and we are moving up to Academy Category One as well
At some point, the ground will have increased capacity, as we are currently selling 97% of all home tickets, with the 3% being unsold away teams allocation, and all of our away tickets, as an example, we are taking 5,000 tom Blackburn for a 5.30pm game on Good Friday, which is live on Sky! Phenomenal.
I can see him wanting to manage Spurs or Man Utd, someday, but not sure he would want to manage at a smaller club, just because it is in the Premiership, when he will get there with us, hopefully this season, and we can grow, and see what we can do in time.
Finally, it is interesting that Mourinho saw the talent in Mc Kenna and 'promoted him' when it was Bobby Robson who did so much for Mourinho, and full circle as it were!