When Kieran McKenna arrived at Portman Road two years ago, Ipswich were mid-table in League One and going nowhere.
Paul Cook had been sacked after just nine months in charge following an FA Cup draw with Barrow. An embarrassing defeat in the replay against the League Two side was a new low for the Suffolk club after Cook had been relieved of his duties.
By handing McKenna his first senior managerial role, the club’s US owners have certainly found what they were looking for.
Lured from his role as first-team coach of Manchester United at the age of 35, the Northern Irishman secured promotion to the Championship in his first full season in charge and is on course to lead Ipswich back into the Premier League for the first time since 2002.
They remain second in the table despite a humbling defeat to Leeds on 23 December, a shock result which to some, will dampen the growing feeling that Ipswich are ready for the Premier League.
The top flight is a distant memory for many fans, but former striker Marcus Stewart, who scored 19 goals when the Tractor Boys finished fifth in the 2000-01 Premier League, believes something special is happening at the club regardless.
“I thought they would be up there just near the play-off places,” Stewart, now Yeovil’s head of player development, tells i.
“But to be doing as well as they are at the moment is incredible. They have just carried on that momentum following promotion and didn’t make a massive amount of changes to the squad.
“For Kieran to be in only his second full season as a manager and pushing for another promotion, it would be an amazing achievement if he can pull that off. It’s probably never been done before to go up twice in your first two full seasons.
“They are such a good side to watch and were unstoppable with the run they were on last season, then just carried that on.”
London-born McKenna was a teenager – and on-loan forward Omari Hutchinson was not even born – the last Ipswich were in the Premier League.
However, he has wasted little time in stamping his authority on his new role after earning a great reputation as a coach, having been forced to end his playing career at the age of 22 due to a knee injury. By the time he joined Ipswich, he had already assisted Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ralf Rangnick after moving to Old Trafford from his previous role in charge of Tottenham’s U18s.
“I can remember doing my pro license with Kieran six or seven years ago and got to know him, he’s an impressive character,” Stewart says.
“He’s taken to management like a fish to water and I’m delighted for him. He was a coach at Spurs at the time I met him and he came across as a very nice guy and serious about his work, you could see the drive he had.
“You never really know if someone will take to management, they can be great coaches and not make that transition. The way he’s done it has been fantastic. He’s obviously made for it and has a big career ahead of him.”
Ipswich’s glory years, when Sir Bobby Robson masterminded an FA Cup triumph in 1978 and lifted the Uefa Cup three years later, may still feel a world away.
Yet Stewart, who was part of the side that qualified for the Uefa Cup under George Burley (before relegation the next season), believes the club is finally on track again – even if it means McKenna is bound to attract interest.
“I want him to succeed at the club, which is in just as good as a place as when George Burley was there in what were great times,” Stewart says.
“Who knows what will happen, sure he’ll be in demand but hopefully he stays around.
“Success always brings attention, whether that is for a player or manager. Hopefully they can get promotion and then his stock will be even higher, it would be great if he is the job for a good while.”
With a meticulous approach and first-rate man-management skills, McKenna has been a breath of fresh air and Ipswich are soaring in style after falling short of expectations for so many years.
He promised to “build something special” when he took the reins in December 2021, but surely even he could not have envisaged being at this stage of the project so soon.
A slick attacking brand of free-flowing football with relentless intensity and ruthlessness helped to end four years in the doldrums of the third tier, Ipswich finishing second behind Plymouth in League One last season with a staggering 98 points – ending the campaign with a 19-match unbeaten run.
It is still shaping up to be another glorious season, regardless of what happened at Elland Road.
The takeover has also been crucial. Gamechanger 20 Ltd, who bought the club from Marcus Evans in April 2021, vowed to restore the club to its former glories – and they have lived up to their name.
All too often, Evans went back to the drawing board by changing managers, but this time the move has paid off. McKenna could soon be plotting the downfall of his former employers United and Spurs.