McKenna: To Maintain Our Place in the League Would Be an Incredible Achievement Friday, 16th Aug 2024 17:18 Blues manager Kieran McKenna believes it would be an incredible achievement for Town to maintain their place in the Premier League this season given their rise from League One in only two seasons. McKenna, speaking ahead of Saturday’s big opening day clash with Liverpool at Portman Road, was asked whether the target for the season is simply to avoid relegation or whether he has his sights set higher. “Our mindset really is this,” he explained. “We know that for any newly promoted team, I think in the dynamic of modern football in England and Premier League football, any newly promoted team to maintain your position in the league will be a really good achievement. “For a team coming from where we’ve come from, to maintain our place in the league this time next season would be an incredible achievement, there’s no doubt about that. That’s the reality of it. “Beyond that, all of our conversations with the players are around our process and how we get better. “We spoke about it this week with the players. When we were in League One, we never really spoke about promotions, we didn’t speak about points totals, positions. “When we went to the Championship last season, if we’d have done that and we had have set a target, realistically, the optimistic players in the room probably would have said sixth and if we get the play-offs that would be a brilliant season and let’s aim for that. That would have been everyone’s target. “We don’t work like that, we don’t believe in putting a ceiling on what we can achieve, we don’t believe in putting a number on it. We know, of course, the ultimate goal at the end of the season for all the newly promoted teams and probably three or four other teams is to make sure they’re still in the division next year. “But, for us, beyond that, it’s just about every session, every game, preparing as well as we can, maximum effort, trying to impose ourselves on every game, fully committed to the challenge and see where that takes us and we certainly won’t put any ceiling or any number on that.” McKenna knows as well as anyone that last season’s promoted Championship sides, Burnley, Sheffield United and Luton, were all relegated. “Look, that's the scale of the challenge,” reflected. “The reality is the gap between the Premier League and the divisions below is getting bigger. “Last year was the first time in a very long time that has happened, so you can't always read too much into one trend, but the reality is it's the best league in the world and the jump from the Championship is really big. “When you're coming in as a club who have been in League One two years ago, the jump is even bigger on all aspects. We're not going to look to compare ourselves to anyone, we're not going to look to compare ourselves to other teams who are newly-promoted this year or last year. “We're on our own journey, we know what we've done to make that journey successful so far and we'll look to continue the very best things that we've had in the club. “That's our culture, our environment, the way that we work day-to-day, the way that we train and prepare for games, the way that we improve players, the way that the club connects with the supporters base, the way that the supporters get right behind the team in every game no matter how the game is going, the way the supporters stick with the team no matter how results are going. “Those are the things that we'll focus on and that we'll put our energy into. From there, we'll see how many points we collect. “Of course, everyone's going to have us down as one of the teams to be at the bottom of the league, that's the perception on the outside. We'll focus internally on doing all the right things and trust that will give us the best outcome that we can possibly get.” Does he believe there is greater pressure on him in the Premier League? “No, I don't to be honest. I understand but probably the other way. I felt more pressure in League One because the natural habitat for this football club isn't League One, it's a club that's won European trophies, but it's a really hard division and a really difficult division to get out of. “Looking back now, it will seem like a natural progression for us to get out of League One but there's still some very good football clubs in there now from when we were in it and if we hadn't achieved that within the first year or two of the ownership coming there's no guarantee that we can keep the momentum that we had. “So I think probably the biggest challenge was that first one, it was the first promotion for the club in 23 years, it had spent four years in League One without really getting anywhere near promotion. So that felt like a pressure to get the club back to the Championship, first and foremost. “Last season, it felt like from most people's perception to just continue to improve and grow the football club to establish itself in the Championship again would be a good season but to achieve promotion was a fantastic thing. “And again, this season, to be in the Premier League is a fantastic achievement and I know we're going to give it our absolute best and there's no other pressure that anyone can put on us other than what we put on ourselves. “We hold ourselves to the highest account of how we work every day, how we prepare for every game and we prepare ourselves to the highest account for the effort that we put in to be as competitive as we can in every game. “But beyond that, we know the scale of the jump. Of course, the club have made some investment this year in all aspects with the stadium and the squad, but those things are natural and are needed. “We know we're still going to be coming in from a much lower starting point on all aspects than other teams, and we know it's going to take an incredible effort to be competitive in every game, and that's the only pressure that we'll put on ourselves. “Beyond that, as long as the supporters are knowing that and feeling that, we know that they'll stick right behind us and I know that at the end of the season will be really proud of the efforts that we've put in. I think we'll give ourselves a great chance to have a good season.” On the size of the step-up Town are about to make, he added: “It's a very big one, I've said that before. The step from League Two to League One and from League One to the Championship is incrementally bigger, but this jump isn't an incremental jump, it's bigger than that. “So it is a really big jump, I think from a physical level it's a really big jump, the athleticism in the league gets higher and higher every year. “And that's the challenge that we're looking to rise to, both with the players that are here and how hard we worked in pre-season and how we've tried to add to our programme to deal with that physical step-up, “But also with the recruitment that we have made and that we're going to have to continue to make in the next couple of weeks to add those qualities to compete at the level. “But beyond that, of course, the fact that I've worked in the league before and experienced it will be a benefit, but I certainly won't rest on that. “The league changes and develops every year, the game evolves so quickly, the top teams evolve really quickly and I need to continue to do so as do all the players, whether that's myself or maybe the few players who we have who have played in the Premier League before, you can never rest on that experience. “The league improves every year, the tactical elements, the flow and structure of the games change every year and we'll go into it with fresh eyes and look to take on a challenge, learn from every game. “One thing I am confident of is that we’ll improve as the season goes on, not just by the fact that we’re going to have made a lot of changes to the squad in the last few weeks and maybe in the next few weeks, but also by the fact that’s a big of our culture. “We’ve got a lot of people going into it for the first time and if we keep the right mindset we’ll improve all the time, we’ll learn our lessons, hopefully, this week and I’m sure the group will continue to progress right through the season.”
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