Town boss Kieran McKenna says he doesn’t like to see a situation which causes discord among supporters and those who care about the club, but with his focus having been on readying his squad for the final eight games of the season, starting with Birmingham City’s visit on Monday, rather than the furore surrounding last week’s visit to Portman Road by Reform UK leader Nigel Farage.

Fans reacted angrily to the Clacton MP being filmed and photographed at Portman Road and then with the manner in which the club handled the issue.

Asked how the matter impacted him and his job, McKenna responded: “Of course, as manager and as all of us people who really care for the club, you don’t like to see a situation that’s caused discord amongst the supporters and people who care about the club.

“But other than that, honestly, there’s been lots of opinions and dialogue on it, and I think adding my opinion to that doesn’t benefit that much.

“I think in terms of the impact on my job, apart from the feeling that you don’t like to see discord, not greatly and my focus has just been here working with the players who haven’t been on international duty, trying to get ready for the last eight games and looking forward to the last eight games. 

“That’s where my focus has been, that’s where certainly the staff at the training ground and players have been focused and been looking forward to. 

“So that’s been our focus over the international break and we’re looking forward to getting to Portman Road on Monday, and I think that’s going to be a really good moment for everyone.

“The main contribution that I can make or the coaching staff or the players can make is getting ready for Monday, getting ready for the run-in, making sure we go out there on Monday and deliver a performance like we have many times that the supporters can get right behind and be proud of their team, as they are whenever we play in our identity and trust that that will give us a result that everyone can enjoy.

“So honestly, that’s where my focus is, and that’s where we’re trying to make the impact.”

Asked whether the players who have been at Portman Road have spoken about it to him with the squad understood to have been less than impressed, he added: “No, not really. We’ve had a group of players on international duty, a group of players who are injured, and their predominant focus is trying to get fit to help the team in the last eight games, and a group of players have been training and are eally just getting themselves ready for the last month of the season. 

“So, of course, when there’s any sort of situation around the club, whether it’s losing a game or a player coming or a player going, anything at all, you’ll always, as manager, gauge the mood of the players, speak to a few of your senior players, make sure the dressing room is in a good place and I’m really confident where the dressing room is at. 

“The boys are just really focused on what we have coming up, really looking forward to the run-in.

“We’re all looking forward to getting back together tomorrow, tomorrow will be the first day really that we’ve had the whole group back with the internationals and I’m really confident that that’s where the players’ mindset and sole focus is, and that’s going to be really exciting for us and I’m looking forward to having the whole group back tomorrow.”

Chairman and CEO Mark Ashton, who met with Farage during his visit to the club, has said he and McKenna speak virtually every day and was asked about that dialogue over the last 10 days.

“Pretty regular as it always is,” he added. “We speak about everything to do with the football club. 

“I’ve been keeping him informed this week, as I always do, of how training is going and how the players are who are returning from injury or from international duty.

“Of course, we spoke about the situation a little bit at the back end of last week and that’s it. Other than that, it’s been a sort of normal flow of communication and the regularity of that been as it usually has been.”

Did he make his thoughts clear on the matter and those of his squad? “I’ve spoken to Mark, but in all aspects, I don’t think my opinion on matters such as that are the most important thing here because there are always going to be different opinions.

“My focus is controlling what I can control and that’s the group and the players, and to a certain extent the environment around the training ground and the way that we work and the way we prepare for the games. That’s where my focus has been and that’s most of the information that will feed back to everyone else at the club.”

Was it difficult for the team to keep discussion of the issue out of the dressing room and avoid it becoming too much of a distraction? “I can’t and I don’t want to speak for every individual in the dressing room because that’s their own personal opinion. I can give an honest reflection on my feeling on the group and I don’t have concerns on that front.

“I’m with the group and with the boys every day and I feel them really motivated, really focused, really together and on the team and their individual goals towards the end of the season. I think you find that with footballers anyway.

“The players who have been here have either been training hard and massively focused towards getting ready for the end of the season. We’ve got players injured whose overwhelming focus has been trying to get back to help the team and we’ve had a fairly large group away on international duty focused on helping their country.

“Again, I can’t speak for every individual but I can speak for the feel of the group of boys that are here and I feel them without too much difficulty, really, really focused on what they have coming up.”

Are situations like this where the leadership group comes into its own? “I understand what you’re saying, and I’m not saying in this situation it needs that, but any time that there’s anything, maybe it’s losing a big game or players arriving and struggling, players leaving, anything that causes disruption to a dressing room, you’re always reliant on your leaders in there and as a manager you tend to gauge those players a little bit more for how the focus is and how the cohesion is in the group and things like that.

“I’ll do that any time there’s any sort of situation - and honestly, they come up quite often - and if there is anything in the dressing room that’s going to affect performance, then, of course, your senior players are important in pulling everyone in the right direction.

“I really trust the boys that we have in the dressing room who do that and I speak with those players any time over the course of the season.

“And I think that’s why the group has shown good resilience over the course of the year because when there has been a challenge on the pitch or off the pitch, the group has generally pulled together and come out strong. I really trust the group we have on that front.”

McKenna was asked whether he had any concerns about that there might be splits within the fanbase caused by the events of the last week.

“I think that bit’s hard for me to comment on,” he reflected. “If you ask me in terms of any concerns inside the training ground here with the staff, with the players, then honestly, I don’t. 

“I feel everyone is really together, really motivated and looking forward to the run-in, knowing that it’s a big challenge but a big opportunity in terms of how supporters feel and things like that, that’s not for me to say all we can control is what we put on to the pitch for them and control as much of that as we can.

“So again, my only focus is preparing the players as well as we can, going out there on Monday, being the next opportunity.

“We’ve got eight league games left, hopefully, by the time we get to QPR [on the final day] it’s still a really big game, but certainly the two we have coming up are fantastic games to look forward to, really important games for the club.

“The type of games that we want to be involved in and our home support always has been fantastic in my time here and the best way that we can bring that support behind the team and keep everyone noisy and pushing us is to deliver a really strong performance in the Ipswich identity that the supporters can be proud of.

“That’s all that I can control and the players can control at the moment, and I really believe that we’ll do that on Monday, and when we do that, I’m really confident that the supporters will be right there behind us.”

Photo: TWTD