| The McKenna Effect 15:39 - Oct 26 with 3262 views | ITFC_Essex |
I think it's fair to say we were spoiled having him here when you see what he did with some of the players we had on the books.
Aside from Delap and Hutchinson playing for two of Europe's giants after leaving, although McKenna got more out of Delap than any other manager since, if you look at key players who have departed, its clear to see how much they improved/played to their absolute strengths here when you look at who has left and how they have done since:
Hladky (retired after playing 5 games in 2 years)
Clarke (Championship journeyman at Sheffield United, Charlton, and now Preston)
Woolfenden(barely used squad player at Coventry)
Edmundson (Squad player at Middlesbrough, barely features)
Burgess (was doing well at Swansea prior to injury)
Tuanzebe (did okay with Burnley, now at Auxerre in France)
Morsy (reverted back to being a decent Championship player with Bristol and Blackburn)
Hutchinson (AC Milan - not a great AC Milan side but thats a good move)
Luongo (Millwall - injured)
Burns (Leicester and struggling)
Broadhead (assume injured at Wrexham? Done okay but hardly a game changer there)
Chaplin (Leicester and struggling)
Hirst (Stoke and struggling)
Delap (scored twice since leaving)
It shows just how well they were coached when they were here under McKenna. He got so much out of these players that they looked great for us, and all bar Hutch and Delap (on paper) have struggled to have the same form/impact since departing us.
[Post edited 26 Oct 15:41]
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| The McKenna Effect on 15:53 - Oct 26 with 2865 views | FrimleyBlue |
When I think of the KM era, i think of The Mighty Ducks. A bunch of misfits, that fitted together.
You go back to the partnerships, Luongo Morsy, Chappers Burns, Burgess, Wolfenden
Phases of play Luongo, Broadhead Davis.
The 'usual' goals, Wes to chappers. Davis to chappers, etc
It wasn't a team of stars, but the passions and desire to fulfil dreams is what got the club promoted and promoted again.
It's not a wonder most haven't gone on to do much, they don't have the rest of the side with them. At leicester Chappers and wes aren't playing the way they used to together for example
Morsy is simply Morsy, was never amazing as a footballer, but good enough to keep a side ticking over and an important cog.. he's not go those around him completing the puzzle.
I think it was a mixture of right club right time for most of that squad and a manager who simply wanted to play exciting football. |  |
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| The McKenna Effect on 15:56 - Oct 26 with 2867 views | _CliveBaker_ |
No doubt McKenna did an exceptional job. I think it was a multitude of factors at play, McKenna's 1st job as #1 and having everything to prove, his tactical nous, man management abilities, absolute obsession to make his mark in management after years probably of dreaming of that sort of opportunity.
It really felt like it was a 'moment', beyond McKenna you had the pent up demand from fans who had been deprived of any real success for years and absolutely desperate to get behind our club and see some relative success, a club that had been left to rot by Evans that had a renewed optimism and funding, momentum, culture, mentality from an ambitious ownership group. A group of players who maybe felt they had a bit of a point to prove, and lets be honest by L1 standards some deep pockets on and off the pitch. Getting promoted from L1 isn't easy, but we should've been strong at that level.
Riding the wave of that momentum into the Champ in 23/24 was a remarkable season though, we had absolutely no right to outpace Leeds and Southampton, among others. We wanted it so much more, the application, togetherness and desire from that squad was on a different level. McKenna deserves a lot of credit, a lot has to come from within as well.
Just felt like a perfect combination of many factors and the stars aligning. |  | | |
| The McKenna Effect on 15:57 - Oct 26 with 2855 views | BelsteadCav |
This 100% this
And you get idiots on twitter trying to tell everyone Gary O is better already
Great post |  |
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| The McKenna Effect on 16:01 - Oct 26 with 2814 views | hype313 |
| The McKenna Effect on 15:57 - Oct 26 by BelsteadCav |
This 100% this
And you get idiots on twitter trying to tell everyone Gary O is better already
Great post |
Well, going by PL results so far he is.
But I get what you're saying. |  |
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| The McKenna Effect on 16:03 - Oct 26 with 2770 views | FrimleyBlue |
| The McKenna Effect on 15:57 - Oct 26 by BelsteadCav |
This 100% this
And you get idiots on twitter trying to tell everyone Gary O is better already
Great post |
It'll never be a fair comparison to make unless we end up in league 1 and then we'll know, but then he'd be the one that got us there so probably not lol. | |
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| The McKenna Effect on 16:09 - Oct 26 with 2736 views | Billywitch |
| The McKenna Effect on 15:53 - Oct 26 by FrimleyBlue |
When I think of the KM era, i think of The Mighty Ducks. A bunch of misfits, that fitted together.
You go back to the partnerships, Luongo Morsy, Chappers Burns, Burgess, Wolfenden
Phases of play Luongo, Broadhead Davis.
The 'usual' goals, Wes to chappers. Davis to chappers, etc
It wasn't a team of stars, but the passions and desire to fulfil dreams is what got the club promoted and promoted again.
It's not a wonder most haven't gone on to do much, they don't have the rest of the side with them. At leicester Chappers and wes aren't playing the way they used to together for example
Morsy is simply Morsy, was never amazing as a footballer, but good enough to keep a side ticking over and an important cog.. he's not go those around him completing the puzzle.
I think it was a mixture of right club right time for most of that squad and a manager who simply wanted to play exciting football. |
Misfits? I mean, we paid some serious money for some of these players (for L1 and the Champ i mean)
Lets not make out they were down and out and nobody wanted them.
He absolutely made them better players, and a great team spirit. but misfits is the wrong term |  | | |
| The McKenna Effect on 16:20 - Oct 26 with 2653 views | yorkshire |
I think it’s important to note that a number of those players are now towards the later end of the career - Hdaky, Morsy, Luongo, Chappers, and Burns all had great years at Ipswich but were certainly released/sold at the end of their prime
Some of the others were good Championship players but just not capable of playing in the Prem - McKenna certainly did an amazing job with them but as we have shown this time around, we have to spend some serious money on players with Prem experience in order to hold our own (and let’s hope that we do)
McKenna was an amazing manager for Ipswich and we can all be grateful for what he did - Oneil has made a good start and we can all hope that he keeps that going | | | |
| The McKenna Effect on 16:21 - Oct 26 with 2633 views | FrimleyBlue |
| The McKenna Effect on 16:09 - Oct 26 by Billywitch |
Misfits? I mean, we paid some serious money for some of these players (for L1 and the Champ i mean)
Lets not make out they were down and out and nobody wanted them.
He absolutely made them better players, and a great team spirit. but misfits is the wrong term |
"That is the perfect application of the "band of misfits" trope in real-world football. The incredible rise of Ipswich Town F.C. from floundering in League One to consecutive promotions into the Premier League is widely celebrated precisely because Kieran McKenna achieved it using a squad heavily built on cast-offs, underdogs, and players who had stalled elsewhere"
By taking individuals who had been written off, benched, or undervalued by previous clubs and building a hyper-collaborative tactical system around them, McKenna created the ultimate modern "band of misfits." They weren't a collection of expensive superstars; they were a group who understood their roles completely, shared a collective chip on their shoulders, and played with a unified spirit
(Checking my thoughts with AI) | |
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| The McKenna Effect on 16:24 - Oct 26 with 2602 views | Benters |
| The McKenna Effect on 16:01 - Oct 26 by hype313 |
Well, going by PL results so far he is.
But I get what you're saying. |
I think KM was more cuddly. |  |
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| The McKenna Effect on 16:26 - Oct 26 with 2608 views | nrb1985 |
Think it's far more simple than that.
Look at the age profile of most of them...
Hardly surprising almost none have gone on to anything bigger and better in that context. [Post edited 26 Oct 16:27]
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| The McKenna Effect on 16:32 - Oct 26 with 2573 views | ITFC_Essex |
| The McKenna Effect on 15:57 - Oct 26 by BelsteadCav |
This 100% this
And you get idiots on twitter trying to tell everyone Gary O is better already
Great post |
Gary O'Neil has done great job so far but it's not a certainty at this stage he will finish higher in the Premier League than McKenna did, if thats all they are basing it off of. Most of us are hopeful given the early signs, but you'd be a fool to believe we are all but safe this season. 17th will do just fine.
O'Neil also has much stronger starting base, he's taking over a club thats spent the last couple of seasons between the top of the Championship, and the bottom of the Premier League, whereas McKenna took over a club in its's third season in the third tier going into its fourth. Yes, there was investment (as did Cook who recruited a lot of those key players), but thats a different job from the one Gary inherited.
O'Neil has had some positive effects on Walton, Davis, O'Shea, Akpom and Jack Clarke so far, they all look better since he came on board, so huge credit, but they are also being supplemented by young prospects and World Cup winners, last time we had Connor Townsend and Kalvin Phillips. It's just not the same situation. [Post edited 26 Oct 16:34]
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| The McKenna Effect on 16:49 - Oct 26 with 2474 views | Sharkey |
| The McKenna Effect on 16:21 - Oct 26 by FrimleyBlue |
"That is the perfect application of the "band of misfits" trope in real-world football. The incredible rise of Ipswich Town F.C. from floundering in League One to consecutive promotions into the Premier League is widely celebrated precisely because Kieran McKenna achieved it using a squad heavily built on cast-offs, underdogs, and players who had stalled elsewhere"
By taking individuals who had been written off, benched, or undervalued by previous clubs and building a hyper-collaborative tactical system around them, McKenna created the ultimate modern "band of misfits." They weren't a collection of expensive superstars; they were a group who understood their roles completely, shared a collective chip on their shoulders, and played with a unified spirit
(Checking my thoughts with AI) |
I'm sure many if not most of them will look back at those times as the highlight of their careers. Many of them were lucky in that they were recruited on Championship wages to play in L1, and they developed together while winning most of the time, so that when they got to the Championship they were able, as a unit, to achieve truly remarkable things. |  | | |
| The McKenna Effect on 16:54 - Oct 26 with 2446 views | HighgateBlue |
| The McKenna Effect on 16:21 - Oct 26 by FrimleyBlue |
"That is the perfect application of the "band of misfits" trope in real-world football. The incredible rise of Ipswich Town F.C. from floundering in League One to consecutive promotions into the Premier League is widely celebrated precisely because Kieran McKenna achieved it using a squad heavily built on cast-offs, underdogs, and players who had stalled elsewhere"
By taking individuals who had been written off, benched, or undervalued by previous clubs and building a hyper-collaborative tactical system around them, McKenna created the ultimate modern "band of misfits." They weren't a collection of expensive superstars; they were a group who understood their roles completely, shared a collective chip on their shoulders, and played with a unified spirit
(Checking my thoughts with AI) |
I don't think that's true in relation to McKenna's teams in L1, the Championship or the Premier League.
Granted, on our budget we were always going to have to be ready to accept the odd misfit in the Prem, and try to get more out of them than their previous club. Phillips is the obvious one there - he was certainly a misfit at Man City. But he was not a success under Kieran either. Brandon Williams was something of a misfit, but he can't be used as evidence of the power of team spirit. And despite showing high levels at times, he was neither a success of a signing, nor in any way typical of Kieran's signings.
The most successful players in the Prem season were surely Omari and Delap, they were young and promising, we paid decent money for them, and they went on to bigger clubs. Can it be said that the likes of SS and Akpom did better under Kieran than previously? No, quite the reverse. And whilst I think the 'Champ all stars' was overdone as a diagnosis and criticism, there was something in that - we did sign a few players who had really excelled in the Champ. These were not misfits.
I really don't think that misfits is the right term, and I value your view more than that of AI. In my experience AI is very ready to be sycophantic and support an argument that is put to it.
Yes, in our first Champ promotion season, we didn't have as big a budget as others, and we outperformed in that sense. But the core of the squad was already in place from L1, and they were largely acquired on high wages and a high budget for L1. So when they arrived they were higher calibre players and not misfits, and when they were in the Champ with us, they were sure performing better because of the excellent team spirit and morale, but that doesn't suddenly make them misfits.
I don't think there were too many chips on shoulders. No more so than at any other club. They understood their roles, yes, and they played with a unified spirit. But I think that's togetherness and good coaching, and yes, maximising what you have. But I'm not sure where this misfits thing comes from.
Sure, a number of them have hardly set the world alight since leaving, but as has been said elsewhere, that's to some extent an age-related thing. And in any event it doesn't mean they were misfits when they arrived at Town. |  | | |
| The McKenna Effect on 18:06 - Oct 26 with 2193 views | armchaircritic59 |
I could probably say the same about one or two other managers we've had in the past, possibly before your time. The obvious screaming out loud example being Sir Alf Ramsey. Who came along, kept basically the same group of players and went from two divisions below to winning the equivalent of today's PL in a handful of years!. Now that is an achievement! Mind you personally, I move on, but don't forget the past. Live for the present, remember the past, while preparing for the future. |  | | |
| The McKenna Effect on 20:00 - Oct 26 with 1915 views | MedwayTractor |
After reading the OP and some of the replies, it isn't too far removed to substitute Alf Ramsey for Kieran, in the ability to make a team greater than the sum of it's parts and, as well, how quickly things changed for most of those players after a change of manager or club. |  |
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| The McKenna Effect on 20:11 - Oct 26 with 1873 views | bluesimon |
Aren't most of these players, now still playing at or around the same level we signed them from?
No doubt we did improve them, but they've not exactly crumbled and fallen down the leagues. | | | |
| The McKenna Effect on 21:01 - Oct 26 with 1720 views | jas0999 |
Yet … didn’t do great in the PL. nine straight home defeats.
Not saying he wasn’t excellent for us … but … time to move on. KM has. | | | |
| The McKenna Effect on 22:04 - Oct 26 with 1547 views | jasondozzell |
| The McKenna Effect on 15:53 - Oct 26 by FrimleyBlue |
When I think of the KM era, i think of The Mighty Ducks. A bunch of misfits, that fitted together.
You go back to the partnerships, Luongo Morsy, Chappers Burns, Burgess, Wolfenden
Phases of play Luongo, Broadhead Davis.
The 'usual' goals, Wes to chappers. Davis to chappers, etc
It wasn't a team of stars, but the passions and desire to fulfil dreams is what got the club promoted and promoted again.
It's not a wonder most haven't gone on to do much, they don't have the rest of the side with them. At leicester Chappers and wes aren't playing the way they used to together for example
Morsy is simply Morsy, was never amazing as a footballer, but good enough to keep a side ticking over and an important cog.. he's not go those around him completing the puzzle.
I think it was a mixture of right club right time for most of that squad and a manager who simply wanted to play exciting football. |
Agree with the general sentiment of this but can't let 'Morsy was never amazing as a footballer' go!
A bit more athleticism and he would have had a PL career. Brilliant football brain and such a clever player. Understood his role to perfection. Unbelievable engine. And technically very good, much better than he was given credit for.
Football isn't a complicated game. Clough would have loved him!
I don't think I've ever seen anyone else with such ability to make a 50/50 ball 75/25 in his favour every time.
Great driving with the ball. His little turn and drive was signature move.
He had great timing too.
A privilege to watch for those seasons.
I think his style unfairly meant he was seen as a clogger somehow. Anything but. One of the highest IQ footballers I've seen in a Town shirt. |  | | |
| The McKenna Effect on 22:07 - Oct 26 with 1534 views | jasondozzell |
| The McKenna Effect on 21:01 - Oct 26 by jas0999 |
Yet … didn’t do great in the PL. nine straight home defeats.
Not saying he wasn’t excellent for us … but … time to move on. KM has. |
'didn't do great in the PL'. Just total nonsense in my opinion with no recognition of the context and how we played that season.
Proud of how we went about things. I think he got everything out of that squad.
If we'd finished 7th in 23/24 and 5th in 24/25 people would have been raving about it. Everyone lost the plot precisely because of what KM achieved. | | | |
| The McKenna Effect on 08:33 - Oct 28 with 867 views | SamWhiteUK |
| The McKenna Effect on 16:21 - Oct 26 by FrimleyBlue |
"That is the perfect application of the "band of misfits" trope in real-world football. The incredible rise of Ipswich Town F.C. from floundering in League One to consecutive promotions into the Premier League is widely celebrated precisely because Kieran McKenna achieved it using a squad heavily built on cast-offs, underdogs, and players who had stalled elsewhere"
By taking individuals who had been written off, benched, or undervalued by previous clubs and building a hyper-collaborative tactical system around them, McKenna created the ultimate modern "band of misfits." They weren't a collection of expensive superstars; they were a group who understood their roles completely, shared a collective chip on their shoulders, and played with a unified spirit
(Checking my thoughts with AI) |
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| The McKenna Effect on 10:25 - Oct 28 with 676 views | Nthsuffolkblue |
I get what you are saying and broadly agree with you. He built a team that was more than the sum of its parts.
However, you can't simply ignore Hutchinson and Delap who gave us that glimmer of hope for half a season in the Premier League. You have also the players still here, especially Davis who is a regular Premier League defender.
Hladky presumably that is through injury. He was signed by a Championship side as back up to the now-England keeper and never really played for them. He could have had Premier League appearances for them and who knows how he would have done? But I think it is fair to say he was at his level in the Championship. Did McKenna improve him to that level? Probably, yes. He joined us as a League 2/Scottish Premier League keeper.
Clarke - that is the Championship where he was a squad player for McKenna. He made 7 Premier League appearances for us and really wasn't at that level.
Woolfenden didn't get much chance at Coventry but I think it is clear the Championship is his level.
Edmundson has played for Boro in the Championship as much as he played for us in it and only made 1 Premier League appearance.
Burgess and Tuanzebe as you say it is injury the issue. I do think we generally did well to keep players fit but Tuanzebe had issues while with us too.
Morsy always was that and was out of his depth as the main man in our midfield in the Premier League. We can thank Cook for us having him while in League 1.
Luongo was always a solid Championship player for most of his career and was out of his depth in the Premier League. He is now 34 and struggling for fitness but still at a solid Championship club.
Burns looked fantastic before we signed him and the way we played him was instrumental to our rise. McKenna definitely got the best out of him. If he is struggling at Leicester I assume that is fitness now that he is into his 30s. He had his issues with fitness with us.
Broadhead was a good Championship player and still is at Wrexham. He struggled for us in the Premier League. He was rarely a game changer for us but often a very handy option to come off the bench.
Chaplin I think you can safely say he has gone backwards. We gave him a lot of Premier League appearances but that was a level too far for him. His Championship season with us was the best of his career but he had done nearly as well for Barnsley before he joined us.
Hirst has also gone backwards but many felt he wasn't good enough in the Championship for us. McKenna did well to negotiate the successful Championship season without having a goalscoring striker but he definitely played to our strengths so that we didn't need to rely on it.
Delap looked very good for Chelsea when he first went there but it all went wrong. He is struggling in a struggling Forest side but I wouldn't write him off yet. I suspect he will be more Conor Wickham than Darren Bent but I think he will have a very decent career in the top two divisions ahead of him.
I would say Moore played a good part for us in the Championship as well and has continued to play at that level.
Marcus Harness played a big part and continued to perform in the Championship after he left (although he has since dropped down to League 1 and appears not to have played this season so far).
Jack Taylor did too and is still in our squad. It will be interesting to see what happens next for him but I would expect him to play at Championship level somewhere.
Overall, I would say all of those key players were at the right level in the Championship. For McKenna to mould them into a team and play to their strengths to get us up was an achievement but it was not using players who were significantly below that level.
The thing we were spoiled with is that he played effective attractive football. We continue to be spoiled in that O'Neil is continuing to play that style. It should never be forgotten that football is meant to be entertainment. [Post edited 28 Oct 10:26]
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| The McKenna Effect on 10:30 - Oct 28 with 656 views | Nthsuffolkblue |
| The McKenna Effect on 16:03 - Oct 26 by FrimleyBlue |
It'll never be a fair comparison to make unless we end up in league 1 and then we'll know, but then he'd be the one that got us there so probably not lol. |
The unfairness is in he squads at their disposal. It will never be possible to compare the two because McKenna has never been given the squads O'Neil has managed in the Premier League. O'Neil will never have the squads McKenna had to manage in the Championship either.
The truth is that right now O'Neil has proven to be a successful manager at a higher level than McKenna. It will be very interesting to see how McKenna does if he is ever given the chances that O'Neil has been given at that level. I think he will prove more successful than O'Neil if he is. However, I hope O'Neil goes on to be more successful than he has been in the past with us! | |
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| The McKenna Effect on 10:35 - Oct 28 with 640 views | ITFC_Essex |
| The McKenna Effect on 10:25 - Oct 28 by Nthsuffolkblue |
I get what you are saying and broadly agree with you. He built a team that was more than the sum of its parts.
However, you can't simply ignore Hutchinson and Delap who gave us that glimmer of hope for half a season in the Premier League. You have also the players still here, especially Davis who is a regular Premier League defender.
Hladky presumably that is through injury. He was signed by a Championship side as back up to the now-England keeper and never really played for them. He could have had Premier League appearances for them and who knows how he would have done? But I think it is fair to say he was at his level in the Championship. Did McKenna improve him to that level? Probably, yes. He joined us as a League 2/Scottish Premier League keeper.
Clarke - that is the Championship where he was a squad player for McKenna. He made 7 Premier League appearances for us and really wasn't at that level.
Woolfenden didn't get much chance at Coventry but I think it is clear the Championship is his level.
Edmundson has played for Boro in the Championship as much as he played for us in it and only made 1 Premier League appearance.
Burgess and Tuanzebe as you say it is injury the issue. I do think we generally did well to keep players fit but Tuanzebe had issues while with us too.
Morsy always was that and was out of his depth as the main man in our midfield in the Premier League. We can thank Cook for us having him while in League 1.
Luongo was always a solid Championship player for most of his career and was out of his depth in the Premier League. He is now 34 and struggling for fitness but still at a solid Championship club.
Burns looked fantastic before we signed him and the way we played him was instrumental to our rise. McKenna definitely got the best out of him. If he is struggling at Leicester I assume that is fitness now that he is into his 30s. He had his issues with fitness with us.
Broadhead was a good Championship player and still is at Wrexham. He struggled for us in the Premier League. He was rarely a game changer for us but often a very handy option to come off the bench.
Chaplin I think you can safely say he has gone backwards. We gave him a lot of Premier League appearances but that was a level too far for him. His Championship season with us was the best of his career but he had done nearly as well for Barnsley before he joined us.
Hirst has also gone backwards but many felt he wasn't good enough in the Championship for us. McKenna did well to negotiate the successful Championship season without having a goalscoring striker but he definitely played to our strengths so that we didn't need to rely on it.
Delap looked very good for Chelsea when he first went there but it all went wrong. He is struggling in a struggling Forest side but I wouldn't write him off yet. I suspect he will be more Conor Wickham than Darren Bent but I think he will have a very decent career in the top two divisions ahead of him.
I would say Moore played a good part for us in the Championship as well and has continued to play at that level.
Marcus Harness played a big part and continued to perform in the Championship after he left (although he has since dropped down to League 1 and appears not to have played this season so far).
Jack Taylor did too and is still in our squad. It will be interesting to see what happens next for him but I would expect him to play at Championship level somewhere.
Overall, I would say all of those key players were at the right level in the Championship. For McKenna to mould them into a team and play to their strengths to get us up was an achievement but it was not using players who were significantly below that level.
The thing we were spoiled with is that he played effective attractive football. We continue to be spoiled in that O'Neil is continuing to play that style. It should never be forgotten that football is meant to be entertainment. [Post edited 28 Oct 10:26]
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I think you also have to consider that a side with Hladky, Walton, Burgess, Edmondson, Woolfenden, Burns, Morsy, and Chaplin were languishing in League One, prior to the McKenna effect, and they all bar Hladky ended up playing in the Premier League just three years later.
He is an exceptionally coach, sure the money helped, but he even had the likes of Kayden Jackson (a Paul Hurst signing!) looking the business in the Championship. Mick McCarthy got a lot out of nothing here, but McKenna took a lot of nothing and made them modern club legends.
We are not likely to ever see that again. | |
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| The McKenna Effect on 10:38 - Oct 28 with 625 views | Nthsuffolkblue |
| The McKenna Effect on 10:35 - Oct 28 by ITFC_Essex |
I think you also have to consider that a side with Hladky, Walton, Burgess, Edmondson, Woolfenden, Burns, Morsy, and Chaplin were languishing in League One, prior to the McKenna effect, and they all bar Hladky ended up playing in the Premier League just three years later.
He is an exceptionally coach, sure the money helped, but he even had the likes of Kayden Jackson (a Paul Hurst signing!) looking the business in the Championship. Mick McCarthy got a lot out of nothing here, but McKenna took a lot of nothing and made them modern club legends.
We are not likely to ever see that again. |
Yes, absolutely. That is probably the best way to look at it. Far more experienced managers than him failed miserably with the same tools at their disposal except for the beginnings of the improvements off the field. He and the impact of Gamechanger and all they are doing have been remarkable for us.
For what it's worth I see O'Neil as the continuation of that and not a competition for who is better. | |
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| The McKenna Effect on 10:46 - Oct 28 with 589 views | ITFC_Essex |
| The McKenna Effect on 10:38 - Oct 28 by Nthsuffolkblue |
Yes, absolutely. That is probably the best way to look at it. Far more experienced managers than him failed miserably with the same tools at their disposal except for the beginnings of the improvements off the field. He and the impact of Gamechanger and all they are doing have been remarkable for us.
For what it's worth I see O'Neil as the continuation of that and not a competition for who is better. |
As I said earlier in the thread, it's not a fair comparison either way. The job McKenna inherited was a club closing in on it's fourth season in the 3rd tier. O'Neil has come into a club thats spent three seasons either at the top of the Championship, or the bottom of the Premier League, heading into its 4th year of bobbing between the top two divisions. It's a totally different job/task. If O'Neil keeps us up he wouldn't necessarily be a better manager than McKenna either, the game here changed over the summer (pun intended) and he's working with a different set of tools than McKenna has at this level.
I am optimistic like everyone is, and I agree, at least we play good football still and haven't tried to classic-Burnley or Stoke our way to safety. | |
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