Town boss Kieran McKenna says managing the Blues is everything he could have wished for when he took charge in December 2021.
The 37-year-old Northern Irishman has enjoyed a hugely successful time at Portman Road since then, seeing Town to promotion from League One last season and up to second in the early stages of the Championship campaign.
Asked at last night’s Fans’ Forum whether the job has gone as he would have expected when he took on the role after leaving the Manchester United backroom staff, McKenna said: "I don’t think you can ever say what you expect in football. I think it’s certainly gone as I would have hoped.
"As I’ve said before, my first job in management was always going to be a big decision for me personally and to come to Ipswich Town when they were mid-table in League One was a big decision because it was a club with fantastic history and tradition and fanbase and a wonderful new ownership and a chief executive who was going to be really good to work with, but a lot of risk as well and a lot of risk for any coach taking a first job as a manager.
"But it’s everything that I could have wished for. The support has been fantastic from the ownership, the support from [CEO] Mark [Ashton] and everyone at boardroom level’s been wonderful, from the chairman Michael O’Leary.
"The investors when they come over are nothing but supportive, whether they’re here or we have a discussion on Zoom, they’ve been wonderful.
"The supporters have been incredible to myself and to my family in terms of welcoming us to the area and I’ve come into a group of players, who have been a joy to work with and their professionalism and their desire to be part of something special at this club shows to this day, and a lot of them we’ve still got on that journey from where we were a couple of years ago.
"It’s been everything that I could have hoped for and it’s just hoping for lots of good years ahead now.”
CEO Ashton was asked what he was most proud of in his time at the club having taken his job in June 2021 but having been part of the Gamechanger 20 Ltd takeover which was completed earlier in the year.
"That’s a question that Ed Schwartz [CEO of ORG, the US investment firm which manages funds on behalf of the Arizona Public Safety Personnel Retirement System, which holds a 90 per cent stake in Gamechanger 20 Ltd, of which he is a board member] asked me just after we were promoted, ‘Tell me, in the first two years of your tenure, what do you think has been the best decision that you’ve made?’.
"And for me, the answer’s really simple. It was identifying this football club as the football club that our owners should invest in and acquire. Had I got that decision wrong at that point, none of this would have happened.
"Be under no illusion, this gentleman [Kieran McKenna] is so important to us, so are these [pointing to his fellow panel members], so is Jacob [Henderson, who was MCing the event], so are the staff, so are you [the fans].
"But if I hadn’t taken this club to them and said, ‘This is the one, these are the reasons why we could acquire a club that is very special, maybe broken, maybe dented, but I believe it still has a heartbeat and we can help rebuild this football club quickly’.
"Had I got that wrong, none of this would have happened, so, for me, whatever I go on to achieve or not achieve at this football club, that single decision I think will be the most important one I’ll ever make at this club.”