Town boss Kieran McKenna says he’s not given any thought to this week’s links with the management vacancy at Scottish Premiership champions Celtic.

McKenna is currently the bookies’ favourite to take over at Parkhead following Brendan Rodgers’s departure, a third Northern Irishman, Martin O’Neill, having taken over in the interim and understood to have backed the Blues manager to be the long-term successor.

Asked at his pre-match press conference whether the Celtic job would be one he would have to think about should the Glasgow giants come in for him, McKenna said: “It’s not something I’ve given any thought to, and where any part of my concentration is this week, to be honest.
 
“I know I’ve got a really special job here at a special club, a massive football club that I have and have built a great affinity to, and we’re in a really important season and a really important stage of the season. 
 
“We’ve got a big week coming up. Three big games starting on Saturday at QPR. So honestly, anything outside of that hasn’t touched my radar this week. My focus has been 100 per cent on the group here, helping the players get ready for the game.”

Quizzed on whether an approach has been made, he added: “I’ve not had any of those conversations or anything of the like. My focus, again, has just been purely here.”

Celtic is a club with which McKenna had an affinity growing up and he was asked what the Bhoys mean to him, whether they have a special place in his heart.
  
“My focus is honestly just on Ipswich,” he reiterated. “Of course, we all grow up as football supporters. I think people who are lucky enough to work in the game and have different affinities with different clubs. But as I said, I’m really privileged to be in the position I am. 
 
“I know the size, the significance and the history of this football club as well, and I think when you’re in the honoured position to manage this football club, there’s no time or no space to think or discuss any other football clubs, only doing your very, very best in the role that you’re in.”

Do you see yourself being at Town for many years? “I work here as if I’m going to be here forever and I have done since the first day I was here. We try and do everything for the long-term good of the football club.
 
“When I arrived, it was always going to be a long-term project. You hope that it’s going to be a long-term project you’ll be involved in, but for the club it was going to be a long-term project. We’re still very much in the middle of that. 
 
“You look outside and you can see a lot of cranes and work going on out there [on the new training ground]. And this probably represents every part of the football club. So I work as if I’m always going to be the Ipswich manager. 

“I know in reality I won't be. Maybe at some stage in the future I won’t be for whatever reason, but it never detracts from every day trying to do the right thing for the long-term of the club. And that’s where my focus is.”

It’s understood that the Blues would be due very significant compensation, £5 million, according to some reports north of the border, should they approach Town for McKenna, as well as presumably having to match the 39-year-old’s wages after he signed a very lucrative new contract in the summer of 2024, although with his salary having dropped following relegation.

Asked whether there is an understanding that if an offer came in from another club he would be able to talk to that interested party, McKenna said: “These things are usually contractual. I don't think there are many unofficial handshakes or anything like that.
 
“I think in every manager’s contract, there are contractual things. I couldn’t even tell you what mine are, to be honest. If I did know, I wouldn't tell you, but I don’t know what they are. It’s not my focus.”

Asked whether he was surprised that O’Neill returned to Celtic, McKenna added: “It’s not something that I followed greatly. I used to coach Martin’s nephew, which is my closest link to Martin O’Neill, Rory Fallon [not the former Town loanee], who was a very good footballer and no other big links there. So I’ve seen he got a good result last night. Other than that, it’s been trying to get ready for QPR.”

Pressed further on whether Celtic were a team he followed when young and whether he follows them now, McKenna said: “Again, as I said, of course, it’s a really big football club. 
 
“Growing up, again, we all have our affinities. I don’t think everyone has to go around and announce what they were, the clubs that we support, and the clubs that we follow. But, of course, it’s a really big football club. 
 
“But again, we’re in a really busy, really important stage of the season, going into international next week with three big games. So I haven’t watched a whole lot of football this week.

“I didn’t watch the Carabao Cup during the week or too much else, apart from all the QPR’s games this season, really.”

When it was put to him that many fans would be happy for him to stay at Town forever, McKenna joked: “Maybe not all of them!”

If a club came in form him would he turn them down, as it stands? “I think there’s been a fair few instances over the last few years, some public, some not public, and there’s been interest from different clubs, which happens when you go well.

“I think that I’ve shown that I’m really respectful and grateful to be the manager of this club, really committed to the project here, committed to the people here, and want to do really well for this club and try and build it up over the long term. I’d like to think that’s been pretty clear over the last few years.

“Again, I know I won’t be the manager here forever, for one reason or another, but I’m certainly fully focused on the staff at hand, both in the short-term and the medium and long as well.”

Does the speculation regarding Celtic suggest that Town are still on track, despite the current league position?
“I don’t think there’s a link between the two,” McKenna reflected. “The season is what it is at the moment. We knew it was a going to be a challenging season. We then had an even more difficult summer than we expected in terms of turnover, so we know it’s almost a brand new team that we’re trying to build with a talented group, but a new group to the club, in many instances to the league, and we’ve got a big challenge on our hands here.

“I know where we’re at in the project here, doing some things well, some big areas for improvement still, which is natural and where we’re at.

“I think that’s separate to any other situation and the scale of the challenge here means that I can’t afford to take my mind off of that or step down in concentration at any point.”

McKenna having spoken about the competitiveness of the Championship, it was put to him that the Scottish Premiership isn’t viewed quite the same way.

“It’s not a point that was making or considering, to be honest,” he said. “As I say, I’ve not considered anything outside of doing the best job here. Every division has its ways, has its bigger clubs, has its smaller clubs.

“It’s not an opinion, I think it’s pretty factual that in the Championship, the gap from the top to the bottom is really small and it’s one of the more competitive divisions in European football.

“But there are other really good divisions, other really good clubs all over the world. My focus is just on the here and now.”

McKenna says he doesn’t have time to pay too much attention to other leagues full stop.

“I’ve not got too much time to watch Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga, Scottish Premier League, Pro League, any other leagues at the moment,” he continued.

“We’re in a 46-game season here and we’ve got a lot of games, so 95 per cent of my football watching at the moment is in the Championship, so I wouldn’t care to give too many opinions on any other leagues at the moment.”

Photo: TWTD