Town boss Kieran McKenna says everyone at Portman Road will be keeping an eye on the World Cup, which gets under way in Qatar on Sunday, but with the main focus remaining the Blues’ League One promotion challenge.

While the Premier League and Championship have shut down for the duration of the tournament, League One will continue throughout.

“We’re looking forward to it as a club and personally, as a squad we’ll take time to watch some of the games and we’ll have it on at the training ground, of course,” McKenna said.

“We spend most of our hours in the day here, so we’ll make sure that we have a good TV area set up for staff and players to watch the games.

“It’s very different to have it on at this stage of the season and our focus will be on ourselves, but it will be nice to have those games on in the background.

“Of course, everyone will be keeping a special eye on England and wishing them all the best, but beyond that, everyone has their different affiliations and their favourite teams.

“It’s exciting when there’s a World Cup on, so apart from the very important day job we have here, it’ll be enjoyable being able to have a glance at the games as well.”

Will Wes Burns and Lee Evans be forced to watch the England-Wales match, which takes place a week on Tuesday, from a separate room?

“There’s not been too much discussion about that yet,” he laughed. “We’ve had a bit of a discussion about the World Cup and we’ll all watch the games. But I’m sure those two proud Welshmen will be supporting their nation as well.”

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