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Ball: I've Always Rated McKenna Very Highly - Ipswich Town News

Recent Blues signing Dom Ball says the chance to work with his former Tottenham academy coach Kieran McKenna was central to his decision to join Town this summer.

The 26-year-old joined the Blues earlier this month having been released by QPR at the end of 2021/22.

Speaking to QPR podcast R Generation on Air, Ball talked about his move as well as his recently published book From Winning Teams to Broken Dreams.

"The main thing for me was the opportunity and the manager, Kieran McKenna, who was actually my coach at Spurs when I was in the youth team and I always rated him very highly, he was a massive part of my development as a young player,” he said when asked about why he opted to join the Blues.

"He obviously went on to Man United, had the experience of being the first-team coach there and then got the role at Ipswich.

"I always thought when he went there that there was the opportunity that I could meet back up with him and go from there.

"When Kieran spoke to me pretty early on in the summer and spoke to my brother, who is my agent, and I always thought this was the right move for me.”

Quizzed on whether it was a tough decision to drop down a division, he added: "You always want to stay as high as possible for as long as possible, the dream of playing in the Premier League’s still not over, but I just thought it was going to a club that really wanted me.

"It was a tough last six months at QPR and I wanted to go in somewhere where I’m going to contributing every single week and the main focus at Ipswich this year is to get promoted.

"That was the same focus this year at QPR, which I really enjoyed. I know the second half of the season didn’t really go to plan, but it’s nice being part of something where you’re all striving, you’re all in it together and I’m looking forward to hopefully getting promoted next year and being back in the Championship.”

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