Kieran McKenna has said he left Ipswich Town after their promotion because he felt the moment was right to depart on a high, while making clear that he is not rushing into another managerial job. The 40-year-old has described his current period away from the dugout as an opportunity to spend more time with his family and continue his professional development before choosing his next role.
McKenna’s departure was finalised in June, following a season in which Ipswich secured a return to the Premier League. He told the Guardian that, after QPR were beaten and promotion was assured, he felt the time was probably right to leave.
He said that standing on the Portman Road pitch with his family and supporters after that result reinforced a feeling which had surfaced earlier in the campaign: that the end of the season could be the appropriate time to leave. McKenna said the prospect had been pushed aside during the demands of the Championship season, but he regarded promotion as the right point at which to close a successful chapter.
Why promotion shaped McKenna’s decision
McKenna said he wanted to leave Ipswich in the best possible circumstances rather than move on mid-project. That aim matters in the context of his spell at the club: he oversaw a rapid climb from League One to the Premier League.
The final campaign was, he said, the hardest of his four-and-a-half years at Ipswich. The club had been relegated and expected to respond quickly, while a close-knit core of players from the earlier promotions was changing. McKenna said there was a risk that the season could have moved in a negative direction without work to keep the group together.
Instead, Ipswich achieved promotion again. The sequence gives his timing a clear sporting logic: rather than leaving after a setback, McKenna chose to go after Ipswich’s third promotion in five years. He said he was proud to have departed with the club back in the top flight and with what he considered a strong platform for the future.
That does not mean the decision was simple. McKenna described the emotional difficulty of saying goodbye to staff and players, including delivering a message to supporters on camera. He said many of the relationships built during the club’s rise would remain important to him.
A deliberate pause rather than a retirement
McKenna said his break is not the result of a lack of interest. He reported that approaches about potential next jobs had arrived, but said they came too soon given the manner of his Ipswich exit. His position is that he has no urgency to accept a role and wants any return to feel appropriate rather than rushed.
Family life has been a significant part of that calculation. McKenna said he had spent two decades immersed in coaching and wanted time with those close to him, including sharing his son’s new interest in golf. He also spent part of the summer travelling along the East Anglian coast in a camper van.
Professionally, however, he remains engaged with the game. Since early September, McKenna has resumed watching and assessing matches, visited Bayern Munich, Wigan Warriors and Colorado Rapids, and worked on foreign languages, including Spanish. He is also visiting clubs in Spain.
He is due to begin work as a Uefa technical observer when Shakhtar Donetsk play AEK Athens at Stamford Bridge. That assignment underlines that McKenna’s time away is structured as a period of learning rather than a complete withdrawal from football.
What it means for his next job
McKenna did not identify a preferred club, league or timetable for his return. He said he had an idea of what the right opportunity would feel like, while accepting that football careers do not always follow a fixed plan.
He said he was in no rush to return and would wait for an opportunity that felt right. His record at Ipswich gives him a recent achievement to reflect on, while he said his current programme was intended to give him the best opportunity to learn before accepting the next challenge. McKenna’s message is that he remains open to management, but only when the role and timing match his own judgement.