McKenna: A Fantastic Start Tuesday, 18th Jun 2024 09:40 Boss Kieran McKenna hailed the Blues’ opening to their first Premier League campaign in 22 years “a fantastic start” with Liverpool visiting on the opening day before a trip to face champions Manchester City the following weekend. The Reds, Town’s final opponents in their last stint in the top flight between 2000 and 2002, visit for a 12.30pm kick-off on Saturday 17th August with the game being shown live by TNT Sports. The Blues’ first ever visit to the Etihad Stadium follows the next Saturday. “It’s a fantastic start,” McKenna told Sky Sports News from fixtures release reception held for sponsors at Portman Road. “Everyone’s going to be so excited, two of the biggest clubs in world football. A home start against Liverpool, it brings it all to life and it’s an amazing start for us. “We’re delighted to have a home game first. We know the atmosphere that has been created over the last couple of years in the stadium and we know that will carry on even more so this year. “So it’s great to have a home start, to have one of the best teams in the league, for sure, is a big challenge. “Of course, they’ve a new manager [Arne Slot] and things like that but we’re certainly not going to underestimate the scale of the challenges that we’re going to have all season, and certainly Liverpool will be that on the first day. “But at the same time, it’s great to have a home start, the atmosphere’s going to be fantastic, the players will be as ready as they possibly can be and it’s a game we’ll really look forward to.” CEO Mark Ashton added: “It’s suddenly got very real, very quickly! I think it’s great, not only for the club but for the town and the wider county and the fanbase to be at home for the first game and against one of the biggest football clubs in the world. “Kieran’s right, we won’t underestimate the size of the challenge but we’re just eager to get under way.” Quizzed on how preparations are going, McKenna said: “We know we’ve done some amazing work at the football club over the last couple of years and we’ve had a really consistent group that have come up through two divisions and we have to carry on the best elements of what we’ve done over the last couple of years. “We also know we need to improve in every department and recruitment is one of those and the club’s working really hard to add to the squad to give the group of players who have been with us more help and we’re going to need that. “It’s been a busy summer, it continues to be a busy summer, we’re going to have to work really hard and the club is working very hard in every department and it’s going to be about building on the foundations that we’ve laid in place over the last couple of years, but we’re know we’re going to have to go to a different level in all departments.” Regarding the work that’s currently ongoing at the club, Ashton continued: “The recruitment’s just part of it, both on and off the pitch. There’s an incredible amount of work to do to get the stadium ready, the training ground ready, the upgrades ready for the Premier League. “And then on the pitch it’s a busy summer ahead. Kieran and I are working together tirelessly on player recruitment and making sure we can be the best version of ourselves. It’s incredibly busy and the challenge is that we have to be ready.” Asked about the financial value of promotion, Ashton said: “You’re talking into the hundreds of millions, the revenues increase substantially, but so do the costs. “I think equally importantly, the economic impact that promotion to the Premier League has on the town and the county, I think is really important. “We’ve been away 22 years and this is a big footballing town, it’s a big footballing county, there’s huge tradition and history at this football club and I think we’re very proud to be back in the Premier League and we want to be the best versions of ourselves competing in there.” McKenna says he can’t wait to get started working with the players: “We’ll have a good pre-season, for sure. We have to use any advantages that we get. The Championship season finishes a little bit earlier so we have a couple of weeks head start in our recovery, so we’ll be back in before most of the Premier League teams. “Of course, we’ll have the majority of the group from last season together early, we’ll try and get as much of our recruitment done early as we possibly can to have a really good pre-season. “We have to make the most of the seven weeks that we will have training together and know that other clubs have more players at international tournaments, more players throughout the world over the summer and we’ll try and utilise that as best we can. “It’s going to be a really important pre-season, the fixture list gives you real clarity on what the challenge is in the first couple of games and things that we’re really going to have to emphasise in pre-season. “We just can’t wait to get stuck into that work now, the players will be back soon, they’re already working hard and we’ll prepare as well as any team possibly can.” The latest betting odds from Bet Victor have Ipswich Town at 4/5 for the drop, 100/1 to finish top four and 1500/1 to win the league.
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