Former Manchester United coach Kieran McKenna has opened up on his reasons for leaving the club, having taken up the manager’s job at Ipswich Town.
McKenna was announced as the League One club’s new boss last week, signing a three-and-a-half year deal, and spoke to the media at his first press conference at Portman Road on Monday.
In it, the former United assistant first-team coach revealed Ralf Rangnick had planned to keep him on his coaching staff, with McKenna having remained in the dugout following Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s sacking.
The 35-year-old had been part of the Norwegian’s backroom staff, as well as working under Jose Mourinho, after arriving at Old Trafford in 2016 as an academy coach.
He now takes his first steps into management with Ipswich, who find themselves 11th in League One, 10 points off the play-offs as they look to secure a return to the Championship, having suffered relegation in 2019.
“The ambition all along was to take this step to lead a team and lead a club, so I knew the day would come,” McKenna said at his first press conference.
“But when you work at the club with the size and scale of Manchester United, I was so focussed on the day-to-day there and put my heart and soul into the club to try and make it better.
“I don’t think it would have been right, with the responsibility I had there, to be applying for jobs or even looking too far forward.
“I was happy there and could see a future there, but this is an ambition I’ve had right from the start of my coaching career. I’ve worked really, really hard to get this opportunity and I’ve developed myself as a coach very well over the last 12 or 13 years to become the best coach I can be.
“I always trusted and knew that it was a case of, if I worked to develop myself and my skillset as I knew I could, then my reputation within the club and within football would eventually lead to the right club coming to approach me.
“Thankfully that was the case with Ipswich. It was done in a very respectful way and I’m grateful to United for how they handled it.
“It was a really good match and the right time for me to take the step and it was the right club with the right profile for what I was looking for.
“This is the right offer at the right time.”
Unlike Michael Carrick, who left United after taking charge on a temporary basis following Solskjaer’s sacking, McKenna stayed on under new interim boss Rangnick, taking his usual seat in the dugout for the games against Crystal Palace, Young Boys and Norwich.
And, despite the German bringing in his own staff to assist him, McKenna looked set to retain his place in the backroom until Ipswich came calling.
“This is an opportunity that I wanted at the age I wanted. I feel I’m ready for it.
“Ralf Rangnick is not too long through the door and I’ve built a really good relationship with him over a couple of weeks. He was fantastic and wanted me to work for him going forward.
“You can’t really say (if I’d have stayed with Ole) because it’s a situation that never happened. But I know this was an opportunity I wanted to take.
“I’m just very happy to have taken that and to be here.”
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