What will tip the balance in our favour is that we are now a Premier League club. If we hadn't been promoted this year then I could easily see Kieran moving to pastures new.
TWTD forum is in a full on meltdown with loads of nonsense being written. De Zerbi apparently left because he had no say in the transfer business. I think he would be finding a similar thing at Chelsea, but much less so at Spurs. That way of running things doesn’t sound at all like McKenna’s cup of tea to me.
Phil Ham on the TWTD forum - in response to a thread about manager replacements - has gone from saying it looks likely McKenna is off to saying McKenna's turned them down (all in the space of a few hours). I'd trust Phil and Stuart Watson's sources and information over your every-day national newspaper journalist. I think this is going to be resolved, one way or the other, over the next few days rather than the next few weeks.
omg that’s just mental!! Chelsea is far too big for him at this stage in his career so I wouldn’t worry about that!
Chelsea want to go for a younger manager and McKenna’s strongly linked. It’d be quite the gamble, but we gambled on McKenna and it more than paid off. As much as I hate Chelsea, I’d understand him wanting to test himself at a club of that stature and in an European competition. On the other hand, I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets chewed up and spat out quickly there. Surely you pick your owner - why jump for a basket case club like Chelsea who have had five managers in the last couple of years?
If he goes to Chelsea or Man U he gets 6 months tops to succeed probably not much more at Brighton, stay at Ipswich and continue to build and finish what he started with the knowledge he will have the time and backing he needs. depends if he chases the money or the legacy.
I wouldn’t blame him if he did choose to move to either of those clubs. The opportunity might not come around again. Brighton though, that would be very sad.
Chelsea would be a strange one to me. Might be wrong but can’t see him going to a club where he has no say over transfers - just has to coach the players he is given. Of the 3, I still think Brighton is the most likely but still think he may stay with us as there will be no pressure from board / fans even if we do badly
Chelsea is indeed a basket case. Look at the string of managers they have had: a dizzying array of experienced and pretty successful managers - Mourinho, Grant, Scolari, Hiddink, Ancelotti, Benitez, Conte, Tuchel, Potter and now Pochettino. Why on earth would McKenna want to join that list? Poch, or is it Pooch, I like his nickname, was keen to leave. Something seriously wrong with the club.
McKenna's style of football, training and culture take a while to bed in and nurture. Wherever he goes, I think he'd be requesting that time needed in order to be successful. That pretty much rules out the likes of Man U and Chelsea, who hire and fire too frequently for him to believe there is the chance to build something at those clubs. Brighton may give him those assurances but I'd like to think that he knows what he's got at Ipswich, time, support and freedom to build the club the way he wants. What he is offered at Ipswich won't be found at too many other clubs.
He’s probably going to talk to Chelsea and hear them out. They have a talented, young squad and McKenna would be guaranteed his Hutchinson birthday request. Imagine what he could do with players of Cole Palmer’s ability. Would the players listen to him? It doesn’t seem as toxic as the players in the immediate post-Mourinho era. As we’ve said, the main sticking point with Chelsea is that they’re a basket case and they go through managers quicker than Spanish goes through a crate of San Miguel. Poch had a strong 2024 with Chelsea and they climbed up the table to 6th. And still he walked. If I was McKenna, I’d avoid Chelsea. Brighton are more appealing than them at the moment. The sticking point is Man United, but then I think they’d go for Poch over McKenna - who has a lot of credit in the game and has achieved great things here, but hasn’t managed a Premier League club before.
The Bookies have DeZerbi as hot favourite for the Chelsea job and Poch will be nailed on for the Man Utd job
Have to read into McKenna’s comments last night that there’s a good chance he will be off. “I know what we have achieved is not an ordinary thing, so there’s always going to be speculation. “But that’s not where my focus is tonight, it’s about what we’ve achieved last season, what we’ve achieved over the last couple of seasons, not just myself but everyone at the football club. “It’s been a wonderful couple of years and tonight’s about celebrating that. I know everyone’s looking forward to next season and I know the club’s going to be in a really, really good place going into that season.”
Teams like Chelsea pay over £100m for a single player - why would they worry about paying a few million to get rid of a Manager? They would probably offer your man at least £3m a year on a 2 year contract which a good agent would get stretched to 3 years - paid even if he got the sack. Why ever would anyone want to take a job where they were only guaranteed a measly £9m.
