Town boss Kieran McKenna says the challenge is now to build a team that the club’s supporters can enjoy watching and be proud of following a “difficult” transfer window in which the squad underwent greater change than had been anticipated.

The Blues signed 11 players over the summer with 14 moving on, among them players who had been key men in the back-to-back promotion seasons, such as skipper Sam Morsy, Conor Chaplin, Luke Woolfenden and Cameron Burgess.

Reflecting on the balance of the squad as it now stands with the window having shut just over a week ago, McKenna said: “It’s not far away, to be honest. There can always be maybe one or two little situations.

“But when you look at it, we’ve got three senior goalkeepers, nine really good defenders, five people who can play different positions, but if you say ballpark, five players in midfield, who we think can really help us, and nine forwards for usually in our system four positions.

“I think we’ve got good cover, we’ve got good competition, we have good quality, we’re also not too deep for the game schedule, not quite as it is at the moment, but when you start to look at the Championship through November and December and you see how quickly the games start to come, you really do need that depth, especially if you want to be one of the top teams in the division.

“I think we’ve finished the window and started this next step with a good balance to the squad and, hopefully, a lot of the tools that we’re going to need.”

McKenna has previously admitted it was a tough window and says it was one which didn’t go to plan given the larger number of players moving on, which required adapting to fit the situation.

“I think that’s fair,” he continued. “It’s been very difficult. Last summer was really difficult as well. We were going from a club that had jumped two divisions on a row to the Premier League and the challenges of attracting players, the contractual situations, the transfer fees, everything, the challenge of that was huge. That was part of the reason a lot of players arrived late in the window.

“We’ve had a couple of challenging summers since the couple of promotions we’ve had, there’s no doubt. This one was probably more difficult because it wasn’t just players in, but players out, important players out and different situations that were emotionally challenging as well, that made it a really difficult summer.

“And there’s been more turnover than we expected at the start of the window and it’s a long summer. In terms of the transfer window, it really runs from when the season ends until four games into the next season.

“It’s been a long summer but I think it is what it is, we are where we are. We’ve got, I believe, a really strong squad now, we’ve got a group that really want to be here and we’ve got some really good people at the club who have got the opportunity now to grow into their roles here.

“Of course, how we do over the weeks and months ahead will, in the end, determine the reflection on how the summer has been. There’s no doubt it’s been difficult but I still have confidence that we can come out of it stronger as a team and stronger as a club.”

McKenna says the squad knows that the fans now have to take a whole new set of players to their hearts.

“It’s something that the group, the players are aware of,” he said. “It’s a challenge, there’s no doubt about it. The group that was here, supporters fell in love with them while we were winning in League One, really.

“However, there was also a period when a lot of those players arrived when they were losing regularly in League One and no one was very happy, but playing at a level where a lot of them had a really high level.

“And over time, and it didn’t happen straight away, it didn’t even happen in the first season for most of those players or in the first few months for myself, but that team grew and developed and built those bonds with each other and the with the supporters and had a fantastic journey.

“This challenge is now completely different. It’s a new group of players arriving, some who arrived last year in what in the end was an unsurmountable challenge to compete at Premier League level and are now trying to find their footing back in this division again and find a footing at the club. And also a large group of players, who have literally just arrived.

“We know the challenge of that and I can say it again, the supporters getting behind them and showing them the support, the love, the push can have a big, big part to play in that.

“We also know that the onus is on us and we have to put in performances and show the passion, especially the passion and the attitude that supporters will get right behind.

“But that’s the next challenge - us building a team that the supporters really enjoy watching and are proud of. And for the players to really find and hit their best level and show again the passion and the attitude that every supporter loves and play a part in winning and exciting Ipswich team.

“We know what that feeling’s like, we’ve been through that, it’s a fantastic place to play football. A lot of the players here haven’t felt that yet but I really want that for them, everyone really wants that for them and, hopefully, we can work towards that in the coming time.

“I know no one wants to talk about time or patience and we’re probably not going to be given much of that this year in terms of the general sentiment, but I know we’re going into, even into Friday night, the previous games, debuts every week, players who haven’t played together before, players who haven’t played for the club.

“The reality is, I don’t think we’ll be at our maximum potential on Friday night. How quickly we can get there remains to be seen, but I can assure the supporters that we can’t work any harder towards that. And that’s not just staff, that’s players working really, really hard to do it as well.

“Everyone here wants to be successful for themselves and for the club and that’s what we’re going to fight for in the time we have coming up.”

Photo: TWTD

armchaircritic59 added 18:13 - Sep 11 I think it's an absolute imperative that we get promoted at the end of the season. How we do it, I'm not too bothered as long as we do it, though I'd much prefer avoiding the play offs, and we should given the squad we now have. So now it's over to KM and the players to deliver, we can't afford two backward steps in consecutive seasons. The owners have been great so far, might not be a great idea to test their patience to the limit. As ever we will wait and see. I'm not going to pass any initial first judgements till 10 games are played.

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TimmyH added 18:44 - Sep 11 hhhmmmmm...I know I'll get down voted for this, I understand what McK is saying but too many faces have come in and gone out over the last 2 summer transfer windows in my opinion particularly this one. It just feels that the metaphorical goal posts have been moved a tad away from promotion which is key.
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flykickingbybgunn added 18:45 - Sep 11 The team is new. We have to give them time to get use to each other. Our part is to support them.
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OliveR16 added 20:00 - Sep 11 flykickingbybgunn - you seem to be confusing the purpose of preseason with the necessities of the middle of September. There is no time, just fixtures. Time is not ours to give. The management team need to get on with it before tomorrow evening.
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