Kieran McKenna has reflected on his first few weeks as a manager and says he feels comfortable in the role while fully aware that things won’t always go quite as smoothly as they have done up to now.
Saturday’s superb 4-0 victory at Gillingham saw McKenna make it two wins from two, the Blues having defeated Wycombe Wanderers 1-0 in his opening match at Portman Road.
Asked after Saturday’s game whether he was surprised how easily he’d taken to management since his appointment on December 16th, McKenna said: "Not easily, I think, but I do feel comfortable in the role.
"Like I said in my first interview, all the experiences I’ve had in my career up until this point have prepared me well for it.
"I don’t think there’s anything that I’m doing in the job now that is very different than what I’ve done throughout my whole career in terms of working with players, trying to improve players. Coming in every morning, coming in early, working really hard.”
The big difference from being an academy coach at the first-team coach or assistant manager at Manchester United is that the buck now stops with him.
"That’s something maybe to the outside seems really a big thing, but for me it’s not something I focus on,” the 35-year-old considered.
"Obviously you have to pick the team, pick the squad, but for me, it’s still just about developing, trying to get the team better, to be honest. That’s the main part of the job.
"The other parts of the job, the relationship with the fans, with the board, with the press, those things are a little bit different but I feel I’ve prepared well for it, I’m enjoying it, I feel comfortable in the role.
"Everyone says you don’t know until you go in there how you’ll take to it. I feel like I couldn’t have prepared any more or any better in my coaching career to make that step.
"Obviously the first couple of weeks have gone well, but I’ve also seen enough in my time in football already to know that there are ups and downs, you can’t get ahead of yourself, you can’t think that you’ve cracked it.
"As soon as you think you’ve cracked it, that’s when football or anything in life will come back to haunt you.
"It’s good days at the moment but I know there will be tough times ahead, it’s not going to be a smooth upwards trajectory. I just don’t think life works like that and football definitely doesn’t work like that.
"We know there’ll be setbacks along the way, there’ll be disappointments along the way, but I know I’ll just do my work to the best of my ability and hopefully in the enfdthat’s good enough to take this team forward.”