| The McKenna Effect 15:39 - Oct 26 with 3208 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 11:41 - Oct 28 with 228 views | Smoresy |
| 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) |
AI is a people pleaser. If you asserted the contrary then it would soon bend to your will and reassess the desirability of certain players.
Our L1 business included the very best individuals operating in that league at the time (misfits I guess in the sense that they were too good for their previous clubs). It included fringe PL squad players who we enticed with good Championship money and an exciting project (misfits I guess in that they weren't good enough for their PL clubs and hadn't yet been sold). And it included some Championship players, who were undervalued or underappreciated by their owners (the easiest fit).
In 23/24 we added PL misfits again in Tuanzebe and Williams, alongside highly rated players in the leagues below and highly rated loan options (a mixture of potential and obvious pedigree).
I'd push back a little on the misfits trope because I believe it undersells players, recruitment and funding to the extreme benefit of the manager. But I don't wish to push back too hard because McKenna deserves all his veneration. Some didn't improve under him in later years (Szmodics, Greaves, Akpom, to name quickly), some rose and dropped away during his time here (Hirst, Chappers), but the profound impact he had on the group in his first two seasons can't be overstated really. |  | | |
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