Town boss Kieran McKenna’s new Town contract is now expected to be confirmed on Wednesday due to hold-ups relating to the paperwork.

It’s understood the deal is agreed and it was anticipated that the 38-year-old’s new terms would be rubberstamped this afternoon and then announced soon afterwards. However, red tape understood to relate to legal aspects of the contract has delayed confirmation.

The Blues boss has been at Portman Road today with a photo of him playing football on the pitch this morning with his son having circulated on social media.

The Town manager’s future has been the subject of feverish speculation for the last 10 days with Brighton initially looking his likely destination before Chelsea and Manchester United also held talks with his representatives.

As reported on Wednesday, despite speaking to McKenna’s people, Leicester’s Enzo Maresca was always Chelsea’s top target and the Italian is now understood to be close to being appointed at Stamford Bridge.

The Red Devils, who beat Manchester City 2-1 in the FA Cup final at Wembley on Saturday, are set to hold an end-of-season review which mean their management situation - with Erik ten Hag currently still in charge - not likely to be settled for a little while yet.

Early last week, prior to Chelsea making their interest known, Brighton are understood to have thought the Blues boss was ready to join them.

As no progress was made in the following days and as the situation developed, we understand the Seagulls set a deadline of this Wednesday for the Northern Irishman to commit to a move to Sussex.

But, as was the case with Crystal Palace when they showed interest in February, a switch which it has now emerged came closer than appeared at the time, McKenna ultimately preferred to remain at Portman Road.

While the speculation regarding the other clubs continued apace, the Blues pulled out all the stops to try to keep hold of their manager with TWTD revealing on Friday that Ed Schwartz, the CEO of ORG, the US investment firm which manages funds on behalf of the Arizona Public Safety Personnel Retirement System (PSPRS), the club’s majority owner, flying over from the States to hold talks with CEO Mark Ashton and McKenna.

Those talks were evidently a success and once the new contract is confirmed, Town fans will be assured that they will have their talismanic boss still in charge when they make their return to the Premier League after 22 years away in August.

Meanwhile, Chelsea are reported to have taken the one-year option to extend former Blues loanee Omari Hutchinson’s contract to the summer of 2026.

The move was widely expected in order to either tie him to the West Londoners or secure as big a fee as possible should the 20-year-old be sold.

Town are very keen to bring the Jamaica international back to Portman Road either on loan or permanently for next season, while Bundesliga side Stuttgart are also interested but are unlikely to be the only other suitor with a number of Europe’s bigger clubs having taken notice of Hutchinson’s highly successful spell with the Blues.

Meanwhile, skipper Sam Morsy and central defender Elkan Baggott have been left out of the Egypt and Indonesia squads respectively for their June internationals.

Photo: TWTD

therein61 added 18:38 - May 28 I think Omari's coming back as well as this great news what a man Ashton is!!!!!!
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_clive_baker_ added 18:41 - May 28 TWTD leading the way with the town news yet again while other local media sources remain silent. Well done and thank you.
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SWBlue22 added 18:41 - May 28 I do hope that it’s shortly followed by the signing of Omari.how great would that be.
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churchmans added 18:43 - May 28 I keep having to tell myself 'we are premiere leauge' What a great feeling! I got to say it again 'WE ARE IN THE PREMIER LEAUGE!'
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churchmans added 18:45 - May 28 Some of the names I'm hearing are Morgan whittaker Emile smith-rowe Joel matip Sammy smodicz Joel piroe Cyrcenso summerville
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churchmans added 18:46 - May 28 The last I just made up lol
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runningout added 18:53 - May 28 Calm down please
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BurleysGloryDays added 19:00 - May 28 Glorious!! Best signing of the summer by default! Wonderful news for everyone! It might take a few years to establish as a Prem club. KMK is the closest thing to risk-free investment there is. A special moment for the club
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Bluearmy_81 added 19:00 - May 28 Will be interesting to see what the new buyout clause is. 6 million in the Prem is neither here nor there, it needs to be at least 30 million now…
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Gforce added 19:01 - May 28 @ Churchmans......Here's hoping there is some truth to those names you mentioned,don't think we could afford all five though !
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ArnieM added 19:02 - May 28 “Calm down?…calm down.”.??….bollox to that lol,, WOOOOAHHAHHAHHH , BACK O THE NET, COYBS, WE ARE PREMIER LEAGUE …. COMAAAAAAAAARN TOWN !!! …need to go lie down now , phew!
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Linkboy13 added 19:22 - May 28 Going to be an exciting pre season with up to six new players coming in. Fans will not be happy seeing their favourites departing but that's the reality of football im afraid. Don't think the likes of Morgan Whittaker will be up to Premier league level i think the club will be a bit more ambitious than that
2

Stato added 19:23 - May 28 I've never put zKM on the same pedestal as the statue builders but hi is the best manager we could have for next season without any doubt. I also bet he was far more interested in the size of the ear chest as opposed to the size of his own contract. This is a real confidence boost for the club that even natural sceptics like me canny deny
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EssexBloo added 19:45 - May 28 I’ve heard the red tape issue is surrounding the agreed swap deal with Pep in 2026.
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Suffolkboy added 20:40 - May 28 It’ll be excellent to learn everything is actually sewn up ,but even better that we can then hear the story from the man himself . Whatever machinations have gone on ,whatever discussions and negotiations have taken place ( and such are to be expected) , it’s good to know Suffolk, ITFC and all genuinely do have a place in KM’s heart — and his acumen and skills will take us on further . COYB

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OliveR16 added 20:41 - May 28 He's a young manager with no Premier League experience - will he be any good? No, wait a minute . . . . YEY!
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BuckieBlue added 20:57 - May 28 100% great news for most of us on here-normal service at the helm resumed for next season. For those, though, who see things between KMcK and the fans now being a bit tarnished I hope they can see that an ambitious-only human to be so- young manager has CHOSEN (assuming other offers were on the cards) us and that that speaks volumes for his attitude to Town. We need all to be pulling together for the challenging season ahead.

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Phil1969 added 21:00 - May 28 Obviously like all supporters I will be pleased when this is done. But I’ve lost a bit of respect for Kieran clearly contracts mean fcuk all, Palace were close Brighton were close forget Man U Chelsea they weren’t happening. Yes we have been dragged up to the Prem it’s not been one man that’s achieved that. So Kieran show a a bit more loyalty for us it’s a lifetime!
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Royal_Blue added 21:00 - May 28 Hopefully announced at Suffolk Show tomorrow, Town tent will be bouncing.
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Karlosfandangal added 21:06 - May 28 KMK going to Brighton….. big surprise there if it was indeed it was that close….. Brighton are a mid table side not really going anywhere until they spend some money. Ipswich are going to progress now not in 5 years or so like Brighton
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Lord_Mac added 21:14 - May 28 Imagine what might have happened to our Premiership ambitions if he had gone to Palace? I hope we can have some stability now and not have our manager hawking himself around every five minutes (or his agent doing it for him). He’s spent 15 years learning how to coach, now all of a sudden everything has to done instantly. He might actually do himself more good by showing some stability.

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Europablue added 21:21 - May 28 BuckieBlue Things would only have been tarnished if he actually left. If anything, him choosing to stay puts him higher in my estimations.
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Europablue added 21:22 - May 28 I didn't even mention the possibility of KM leaving to my little boy. As far as he knows nothing happened!
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Writtleblue added 21:55 - May 28 It was only a few weeks ago he said he loved the club and was proud to be here, don't know why we doubted him.
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Berchules added 22:00 - May 28 Really think Phil1969 you need to get real. KM turned CP down. It was obvious he was going to be at the top of the tree for any vacancy & I would suggest he spoke to all concerned out of common decency whilst at the same time keeping Mark Ashton informed. The judgements by some on here I find Really offensive, how many of us have been good enough at our jobs to be head hunted which is exactly what we did in getting KM.

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