Kieran McKenna stepping down as Ipswich boss to take a break from football

STEPPING AWAY: Kieran McKenna has announced he is stepping down as Ipswich boss to take a break from football just weeks after guiding the club back to the Premier League. Pic: Nick Potts/PA Wire.

Kieran McKenna has announced he is stepping down as Ipswich boss to take a break from football just weeks after guiding the club back to the Premier League.

McKenna, 40, has been strongly linked with the vacant Fulham job in recent days, but the Northern Irishman said he was leaving the Tractor Boys in order to take a break from football and spend time with his family.

In a statement on Ipswich’s website, McKenna said: “It 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.

“When you have the connection that we have built at this club there is never a good time to say goodbye.

“However, 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.

“After 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.”

McKenna was under contract with Ipswich until 2028, having signed a new deal in the summer of 2024 after guiding the club to a second consecutive promotion.

He left his role as assistant manager at Manchester United to join Ipswich in December 2021, succeeding Paul Cook.

After leading the club out of League One in his first full season in charge, McKenna then took them back to the top flight for the first time in 22 years.

The club stuck with McKenna after they suffered relegation, and they secured automatic promotion by finishing second in the Championship last term.

McKenna won 105 of his 222 games in charge of the Tractor Boys, with the club scoring more than 400 goals under his management.

Club chairman Mark Ashton described McKenna’s achievements with Ipswich as “simply incredible”.

“Achieving three promotions in four seasons, in what is your first role as a manager, is an achievement which means Kieran is now rightly discussed in the same breath as the legends of this club,” he said in a statement.

“The mark he, his staff and his players have made on Ipswich Town and its community will live forever. It has captured a generation.

“Like 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.

“Kieran will be greatly missed but he and his family leave us with our immense gratitude for all he has done. He will always be welcome at Portman Road.”