Blues CEO Mark Ashton has revealed the process behind the recruitment of manager Kieran McKenna with 450 names on what was initially a very long list of potential candidates.
McKenna was appointed on December 16th, former boss Paul Cook having been sacked 12 days previously.
Since then the former Manchester United assistant first-team coach has made a hugely impressive start to his managerial career, seeing the Blues to 10 wins from his first 17 matches.
Speaking in a podcast with TWTD and Blue Monday, which can be watched in full below, Ashton was asked about Cook’s departure and the search for his replacement.
"I’ve got nothing negative or bad to say about Paul Cook,” Ashton said. "Paul was really committed, he worked really hard but it just felt when we debated this with the board and about the direction that the club wanted to go for the medium to long term, added to the run of results that we’d had, that it was the time to change and go in a different direction.
"We then looked at who and what we needed and you’ve got to remember I’m nine months into this here. Part of this has been an education process for me so, once we’d made the decision to change Paul, I made sure that I spent time with what I call Ipswich people.
"I spent time with the likes of Matty Holland, Simon Milton etc, all of whom were absolutely fantastic in just educating me on the football club, the history of the football club, the way people should conduct themselves at this football club, what this football club meant, and that helped.
"We ran a process and I know this sounds crazy, but we ran a process with 450 previous, current and potential future managers. We ran a whole data process and off the back of that I interviewed seven or eight people.
"We talked to the guys in the US and I think it was Ed Schwarz who said to me, ‘You just don’t look happy. Something’s not sitting right with you’. And I said, ‘I’m not feeling it, I’m just not feeling it’.
"Where Ed was brilliant, Ed said to me, ‘What I want you to do is step back, go and look at what you’ve done historically well in your career and what’s worked for you’.
"And when I did that my nervousness was, I’ll be honest with you, could a young manager first time out of the blocks handle 29,000 fans against Sunderland? Handle a club with the history and the tradition of Ramsey, Robson, the Premier League? Sometimes that’s easier to do at a smaller club, to cut your teeth.
"This is a big, big club with a big weight of tradition, history and expectation. When I looked at that list, and that was a very, very short list of people that I’d been tracking, it was a list I had been tracking that group for maybe two or three years.
"Kieran was someone that I’d really kept a close eye on and with my links with [assistant manager] Martyn Pert [from Watford] I’d always been meeting Martyn and asking questions about him.
"We approached him and when I met Kieran I knew within 30 seconds, honestly. Within 30 seconds I knew. It was very late on one Sunday evening when we met and within 30 seconds I knew.
"I’ve had that feeling maybe once or twice in my career when you just know. I think it’s been well documented, [executive vice-chairman] Ed Woodward and Manchester United were really first class in their approach, they didn’t want to lose him but also didn’t want to stand in his way.
"And I think this is one of the few football clubs that they would have supported him coming to because Kieran had to explain to [Manager Ralf] Rangnick what Ipswich is and why Ipswich. This isn’t a normal-sized football club, this is a real opportunity.
"And then I remember getting back in the car and, it must have been after midnight by now, calling Mick O’Leary and saying to Mike ‘I’m delighted, I think I’ve got him, I know exactly who is the right person, but can we get him is the next question’. And the rest is history.
"He’s been an absolute delight to work with, I love his professionalism, his communication is outstanding. Like all of us, we all have areas to develop and learn in but so far, so good.”