Town chairman and CEO Mark Ashton says the Blues will look at all markets as they search for the replacement for manager Kieran McKenna, who departed after four-and-a-half very successful years on Wednesday.

McKenna was a very typical Ashton appointment when he was brought in from Manchester United’s staff in December 2021, previous bosses he had recruited at his previous clubs having been in a similar mould.

“If you look at my history of recruiting managers, I’m proud that I give them British managers their first opportunity,” he told TalkSPORT. “Whether that’s Aidy Boothroyd, whether that’s Brendan Rodgers [both at Watford], whether that’s Kieran McKenna. They all went on to be very successful in their own right.

“Is it impossible to do that this time round? It’s not impossible, but it’s far more difficult. To give Kieran his opportunity in League One and he can build, Brendan had his opportunity in the Championship and could build, Aidy the same.

“Giving a manager their first job in the Premier League is not impossible, but it is difficult. Some would say it’s more risky.

“The likes of Brentford have just done it extremely well [with ex-Town loanee Keith Andrews], but they are an established Premier League club and have the infrastructure and the readiness for that.

“We’ll look at all markets. It’s interesting already the quantum of names that have come in. They’re very varied and we’re working through those now.”

Ashton kept his cards close to his chest when quizzed on some of the names being mentioned with ex-Wolves and Bournemouth boss Gary O’Neil, now at Strasbourg, back heading most bookies’ odds at 2/1 ahead of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who is at 9/4.

This morning’s favourite, Bodø/Glimt head coach Kjetil Knutsen, is now at 3/1, Cardiff’s Brian Barry-Murphy, who would fit the McKenna/Boothroyd/Rodgers mould, is at 5/1 and Liam Rosenior at 6/1.

“Listen, I chuckle,” the Blues chairman added. “It’s really difficult because I have to stay away from the noise. When I appointed Kieran, I’ve still got the emails and the letters from supporters and stakeholders who said, ’no, no, no, he’s not right for us. This is Ipswich, we need this, we need that, we need the other’.

“He went on to do OK, so I can understand all of the names why they’re being linked. There will be those that you won’t expect to be linked and we will just work through them.”

Reflecting on McKenna’s decision to leave, a move which came as a big surprise, Ashton admitted: “It’s been a challenging few weeks, if I’m honest. Kieran came and spoke to me not long after the end of the season and said, ’look, we’ve had five, the best part of five incredible years together, three promotions and I feel like I might need a break, it might be the time for me just to step back for a period’.

“And really the conversation started from there. I do see what it’s taken out of him, because this job is tough, particularly when we’ve been working at the pace we have, and I said, ’look, I said to him, if you genuinely feel like that just go away and think about it’.

“He did and we continued dialogue consistently and it just became apparent that he was genuinely ready to step back for a period and take a break, and it’s moved from there.”

He added: “When you spend so much time with someone over such a period, I have a real trust in Kieran. I felt he was being really honest and really genuine with me and he needed to take some time and breathe to come back again at a later date.

“And it felt right, it was sincere. There’s a lot of noise around any player or manager that’s successful, interest from other people, but he was very clear with me that that’s not what he wanted to do, he genuinely wanted to step back for a period.”

Ashton confirmed that the Blues are protected should another club try to appoint McKenna with Town having been due £8 million if another team had sought to poach him. It’s believed that the Blues would now receive compensation should another club employ him in the next year.

“When I spoke to Kieran, our relationship has been built on trust, but it’s also difficult when there is so much external noise around him or other people being linked with other clubs,” Ashton continued.

“But you also get a feel when you’re the person talking to them and you’re looking in their eyes, I think you get a sense of trust.

“And I was very clear from the start of our conversations that if this is a route you want to take, then ultimately we’ll support you.

“But from a commercial and a business perspective, our rights have to be protected and we can’t do anything other than that, we can’t move from that position.

“And that was documented. It was belt and braces, as you would expect, because this is a strange and interesting industry at times.”

Ashton says he has no expectation of McKenna taking another job in the short term: “If it was in future weeks, I would be surprised. He’s been clear with me, he’s said it to our supporters that he wants to take a break.

“I’m not Kieran, do I see that being a matter of weeks? No, I don’t. But I can only control what I can control and protect the position of our football club, which we’ve done.”

Ashton also dismissed the suggestion that the club’s plans for the new season might have been behind McKenna’s exit, revealing the ownership will add to the funds available with promotion to the Premier already worth a minimum of £240 million to the Blues.

“No, I don’t think so because we were very clear to him what we would spend. We have the Premier League money, we also have investors recapitalising into the club again to make sure that we have a war chest to be competitive and do everything that we can to stay in the division.

“We all learnt the lessons from the last time having been out of the division for over 20 years.

“And whilst this is going to be as difficult as it was last time, we are, I think, more prepared in recruitment, analysis, performance, medical, training ground. I think the squad’s more akin to the Premier League this time, [although] we’ll still have to recruit substantially.

“I never felt that, that was never in our discussion. We talked, going into the end of the season about what would be available, how would we make funds, facilities, everything available to go again more effectively than last time, so that was never part of our discussion.

“The discussion was always about how he felt and what he felt he needed to do at this moment in time.”

Photo: TownTV