| I’m interested in your thoughts…… 09:46 - Aug 9 with 4819 views | Chrisd |
McKenna did a terrific job for us during his time with the club, but come May 2027 and GON has us sitting 4th from bottom in the EPL escaping relegation, will he be seen as a better manager than KM by our fanbase? |  |
| |  |
| I’m interested in your thoughts…… on 09:52 - Aug 9 with 3633 views | ITFC_Forever |
For GO’N to be have a successful season, we need to stay up or fight a competitive relegation battle that we only just lose.
But in answer to the original question, it was McKenna that got us here in the first place from mid-table in L1, so no, one season of survival won’t put GO’N ahead of McKenna. |  |
| |
| I’m interested in your thoughts…… on 09:55 - Aug 9 with 3598 views | JakeITFC |
He might be by some but they would be wrong. That we have a manager in a position to keep an Ipswich team in the premier league is entirely down to McKenna. |  | | |
| I’m interested in your thoughts…… on 09:58 - Aug 9 with 3571 views | RIPbobby |
Difficult to answer as KM only had 38 matches in the Premier League. GON has had more. KM would have done better this time. Well it would be hard to do worse or equal that season. |  | | |
| I’m interested in your thoughts…… on 09:59 - Aug 9 with 3551 views | The_Flashing_Smile |
Not by any who have a modicum of intelligence.
As daft as the word "easier" might sound with regard to the Prem, GO'N does have it easier than McKenna. The club has that experience and more money behind it now, and thus better players. McKenna had several of the League 1 team still playing at the start of his Prem season. |  |
| |
| I’m interested in your thoughts…… on 10:00 - Aug 9 with 3522 views | SitfcB |
No. |  |
| |
| I’m interested in your thoughts…… on 10:01 - Aug 9 with 3520 views | ReusersTown |
| I’m interested in your thoughts…… on 09:58 - Aug 9 by RIPbobby |
Difficult to answer as KM only had 38 matches in the Premier League. GON has had more. KM would have done better this time. Well it would be hard to do worse or equal that season. |
It really isn't difficult to answer. | | | |
| I’m interested in your thoughts…… on 10:06 - Aug 9 with 3450 views | DJR |
| I’m interested in your thoughts…… on 09:59 - Aug 9 by The_Flashing_Smile |
Not by any who have a modicum of intelligence.
As daft as the word "easier" might sound with regard to the Prem, GO'N does have it easier than McKenna. The club has that experience and more money behind it now, and thus better players. McKenna had several of the League 1 team still playing at the start of his Prem season. |
EDIT: wrong place [Post edited 9 Aug 10:06]
|  | | |
| I’m interested in your thoughts…… on 10:06 - Aug 9 with 3442 views | DJR |
Nope. | | | |
Login to get fewer ads
| I’m interested in your thoughts…… on 10:07 - Aug 9 with 3422 views | Churchman |
Personally, I think that GON will need to keep us in the Premier League more than one season and establish us there to be put in the same bracket as McKenna.
It’s an interesting question, because of course the club was in a completely different place five years ago. McKenna’s achievement should not be underestimated, despite the financial advantage in L1 and last season. You still have to build a team and he did it twice.
The Premier League is of course a completely different beast, but hopefully GON is the right man and as a club we are in a better position to give it a much better go than last time. |  | | |
| I’m interested in your thoughts…… on 10:13 - Aug 9 with 3357 views | SuperKieranMcKenna |
Apples and oranges - on paper G’ON has a squad more suited to the PL than KM had, as well as 2 PL windows. KM was still having to use AAH and Marcus Harness!
So not really comparable imo, however KM is probably the clubs 3rd most successful manager of all time, can’t see G’ON ever being described as that tbh. | | | |
| I’m interested in your thoughts…… on 10:17 - Aug 9 with 3303 views | DJR |
Let's also not forget that we have Mick Court as head of recruitment.
He spent the best part of 20 years working in senior recruitment roles at Manchester United. | | | |
| I’m interested in your thoughts…… on 10:18 - Aug 9 with 3280 views | Guthrum |
Perhaps better at that specific job (keeping us up first season after promotion to the Prem), but then circumstances and resources are very different for O'Neil's run than McKenna's.
We haven't come straight from L1, we have a wider scouting net, more money for transfers, players/agents are considering Town in a better light, the existing squad and infrastructure are a step up from 2024. O'Neil has much more experience at the bottom end of the Prem than McKenna.
I think it would require more achievements than avoiding relegation in May for O'Neil to be regarded in the same light as McKenna. |  |
| |
| I’m interested in your thoughts…… on 10:25 - Aug 9 with 3217 views | boysof1981 |
Believe we have a better chance than last time of staying up, partly because we’re better prepared but also I think GON’s experience in this league will be helpful. I also like how he’s using players like Egeli where he should be played, unlike KM who played him constantly out of position. Akpom looks like a different player in pre season playing in his preferred role, probably be a very useful player on the bench this season. | | | |
| I’m interested in your thoughts…… on 10:27 - Aug 9 with 3182 views | Simonds92 |
If O'Neil gets us in to Europe this season, McKenna has still done the more important job for our football club. I really think last season was a bigger achievement than the previous promotion. He did a phenomenal job to get this squad together and cohesive by the end of the season and it was crucial for our trajectory that he did. | | | |
| I’m interested in your thoughts…… on 10:28 - Aug 9 with 3164 views | Mullet |
| I’m interested in your thoughts…… on 09:55 - Aug 9 by JakeITFC |
He might be by some but they would be wrong. That we have a manager in a position to keep an Ipswich team in the premier league is entirely down to McKenna. |
Impossible to say that now though, what does GON have to do to beat that for people?
How much is down to Ashton, the coaching staff etc? People seem to have various views on those. Likewise, last season wasn’t great in many ways and wasn’t McKennas or the recruitment teams best performance relative to resources etc. how much play does that have in the debate? |  |
| |
| I’m interested in your thoughts…… on 10:54 - Aug 9 with 3039 views | _CliveBaker_ |
Comparison is the thief of joy.
McKenna did an incredible job, he took us from L1 to about to embark on our 2nd PL season in 3, in 4.5 years. Gave a fanbase starved of anything good for literally decades an incredible journey, unbelievable memories, rightly goes down as a modern day legend.
O’Neil is his own man, supporters owe it to him to back him. Ultimately the proof of the pudding will be in the results. Regardless of what happens there’s no point comparing very different remits and different circumstances. Not least because McKenna decided to step away, it’s not as if it’s a decision the club made.
Time to draw a line under McKenna’s era. The end of the beginning of the GC era, new phase now, new players, manager, staff. New expectations and a new remit entirely. |  | | |
| I’m interested in your thoughts…… on 11:00 - Aug 9 with 2978 views | JakeITFC |
| I’m interested in your thoughts…… on 10:28 - Aug 9 by Mullet |
Impossible to say that now though, what does GON have to do to beat that for people?
How much is down to Ashton, the coaching staff etc? People seem to have various views on those. Likewise, last season wasn’t great in many ways and wasn’t McKennas or the recruitment teams best performance relative to resources etc. how much play does that have in the debate? |
The comparison is difficult but McKenna ultimately had four seasons and was successful in three of them and had reasons not to be in the fourth. His base was non-existent and therefore any work that O’Neil does is from a very different starting point.
I’m sure everyone would be delighted if O’Neil does anywhere near as good a job for us as McKenna did. | | | |
| I’m interested in your thoughts…… on 11:00 - Aug 9 with 2969 views | TRUE_BLUE123 |
I would rather just have a season where we dont compare the two of them at every opportunity. We are only in pre season and I am already seeing fans saying ridiculous things about KM. |  |
| |
| I’m interested in your thoughts…… on 11:01 - Aug 9 with 2969 views | SomethingBlue |
No, he'll have achieved something different but how anyone could think good/better/worse based on that is beyond me. It's not a necessary line of thinking. Hopefully he can achieve it and it's looking like he might build a squad that gives us a shot at it. | |
| |
| I’m interested in your thoughts…… on 11:05 - Aug 9 with 2924 views | Blue_Heath |
Very difficult to compare but I'd say keeping us up for two seasons with progress in the second it would be a yes. Keeping us up this year I'd say puts them fairly level as it would equal KM's second promotion whereas tbh the other two should have been a given. | |
| |
| I’m interested in your thoughts…… on 11:07 - Aug 9 with 2919 views | mellowblue |
I am pretty sure that the short term brief is avoid relegation. If O'Neil achieves it, then he will be another successful manager. We haven't had 2 successive successful (tounge twister) managers since Lyall and Burley, and even then you have to ignore the problematic period 1994 - 1997. Direct comparison of O'Neil and McK is fruitless. About as pointless as comparing Lambert to Jewell. | | | |
| I’m interested in your thoughts…… on 11:08 - Aug 9 with 2911 views | Basuco |
KMc took us from mid table L1 to PL, with two major rebuilds of squad/team, at the same time the back room staff were expanded greatly, analyst's, coaching and development staff who we do not see or hear much about, GON has come in and continued the progression from a L1/Championship squad/team backed up by a continued upgrade to back room staff and facilities. The entire club has had a major upgrade from top to bottom, more professional and focused on making us a comfortable PL team, I think the next step is to be a Brighton or Bournemouth, not top 10 but not bottom 6 either. Where the club currently stands is down to far more than just the manager, but KMc had to step up on the pitch to ensure the owners ambitions were met, which he did with great style and even better performances. Comparisons are very difficult if not impossible. |  | | |
| I’m interested in your thoughts…… on 11:28 - Aug 9 with 2791 views | RonFearonsHair |
I've never really understood the purpose of 'ranking' managers (or players for that matter). They are all dealing with a unique set of circumstances and may be judged, appreciated or derided against our idea of how well we may reasonably expect them to perform at that moment in time.
If O'Neil keeps us up then it may be fair to suggest correct decisions have been made, but that would be no slight against McKenna. In fact, we could praise his ability to identify the correct moment to part ways. |  | | |
| I’m interested in your thoughts…… on 11:31 - Aug 9 with 2768 views | Pettabelieveit |
GON keeping us up this year doesn’t put him on par with what KMc achieved IMO. 3rd tier with no sign of getting out to the premier league will require some feat from
GON. | | | |
| I’m interested in your thoughts…… on 11:35 - Aug 9 with 2741 views | BlueySwede |
No!
You have to remember where we came from two years ago.
Survival would be a good achievement, but I am sure that McKenna would give us a decent chance this time around as well. | | | |
| |
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.
