Town boss Kieran McKenna has spoken about his plans for his first pre-season at the club.

The Blues squad are due back at Playford Road on June 20th to prepare for the 2022/23 campaign.

Pre-season friendlies are close to being announced with two expected to be played at Portman Road, while there will be no pre-season tour with the squad instead spending a week at Loughborough University.

“We feel the Loughborough experience will be really beneficial to the group," McKenna told iFollow Ipswich.

“At the time of arranging our pre-season plans, there were issues in the world with Covid and travelling in Europe, so we wanted to be secure and know that we had somewhere where there would be no issues with travelling.

“Loughborough is also a place with excellent facilities and will be a great place to spend a week with the group.

“We will spend a lot of time with the players on the pitch but also off the pitch. There will be double sessions and lots of work, but we will also be able to get to know the lads better.

“It offers an extended period of time away from home where we can enjoy each other's company. It's something we are looking forward to.

“In terms of fixtures, we want to get a range of experiences from our games. We want a challenge in and around our level but also some games that stretch us against the likes of Premier League and upper-end Championship sides.

“We want a variety of home and away games with some at Portman Road so the supporters can come and get a feel for the team we are building ahead of the season.

“Pre-season is a time of year that I particularly enjoy and on a personal basis I am looking forward to it.

“It's the time of year that gives you a chance to practise things and work on new things, perhaps experiment to a degree both in attack and defence.

“It's also an opportunity to work on the team from a physical point of view, which you might not get so much in the season.

“And it's also a chance to work with the team from a mental point of view. We want to develop the spirit and mentality in the side and apply a focus so that we can be successful over what will be a long campaign.

“We'll have six or seven weeks working together and I think everyone is looking forward to it.”

Photo: TWTD

Ebantiass added 16:03 - May 25 Sounds good and nice to see the gaffa talking about getting the team to gel as we will hopefully have some new players in the front door by then. Wet spam utd Brighton and maybe Notts forest i would like us to see pre-season.
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BotesdaleBlue added 16:25 - May 25 Was it McCarthy who used to say he hated pre-season? In contrast, it's really good to hear McKenna speak so positively about this key time for our beloved football club. Roll on 2022/23. COYB
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Stato added 18:02 - May 25 Please make the final pre season friendly a home game against one of those teams from around our level. Away to West Ham again for that final match doesn't seem like a smart move
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SpiritOfJohn added 20:03 - May 25 Don't forget to practice corners 😉
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KiwiBlue2 added 01:51 - May 26 A Premier League side at home for the final game would be good, or, talking about Championship sides why not try to get Norwich down to Portman Road. That could certainly generate some interest.... coyb
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JewellintheTown added 05:45 - May 26 McKenna said an "Upper end Championship side", KiwiBlue2, so rules a Norwich game out.
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slade1 added 07:02 - May 26 To be honest a 'friendly' against Norwich would be the last thing we want for pre season. Even in a friendly, there would be too much passion and too many tackles going in with the risk of injuries before the season starts
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tractorboybig added 09:31 - May 26 unfortunately if it was narich they would tonk us....best avoided
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OliveR16 added 10:27 - May 26 We could play Colchester. Kind of like an old boys testimonial.
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