The best piece of business we could do this summer. Make no mistake about it, the American owners and Mark Ashton have been brilliant for this club. They have laid the foundations for long term success and financial stability. Having said that, I believe McKenna is the vital ingredient. Some fans on Twitter were saying we don’t need McKenna or he isn’t vital. I think that opinion is absolute rubbish. There is not another manager who would have achieved back-to-back promotions with 90+ points totals with this group of players. McKenna has us playing exceptional football and has been vital in our recruitment, in-game management, and building a great atmosphere and mentality. Next season is going to be a struggle. The levels of financial disparity in the Premier League is disgusting. The big clubs are entrenched in their positions. With McKenna in charge, I’m more confident we can stay up. Had he been poached, we wouldn’t have appointed someone better and we probably would have gone down with a whimper. At least we can relax a bit this summer now!
Now we wait for an official announcement. The same people who said he was expected not to sign now say he is expected to sign. Expected is a nod in the right direction but means nothing without confirmation.
there’s also a candid picture of him and his son on the Portman Road turf. It’s all gone very bunny boiler!
The whole media circus has packed up and left Town so we can now be left to focus on the more important task in hand preparing ourselves for the new season
I’m still waiting for the club to confirm it. Until he puts pen to paper, I’m not going to get over excited
Apparently he does want to come back. A loan with a clause to buy at £25m if we stay up sounds like a decent deal to do.
I think we should try and loan him back, too much of a commitment to spend that much on one player in the current set up
Apparently the announcement is expected anytime today. There were photos of Town TV cameras outside the ground yesterday, as well as the photo of McKenna and his lad out on the pitch. I imagine it’ll be more than a standard statement, considering the speculation over the last couple of weeks. Probably some video interview with both McKenna and Ashton. The contract is reportedly going to make McKenna the sixth or seventh highest paid manager in England. It’s a lot, but it’s the price we have to pay to help persuade one of the highest rated managers to commit to us. Hopefully there’s a higher compensation figure included and an appropriate salary cut if we do get relegated. I also think there might be a “gentleman’s agreement” in place if Man United come back in for McKenna in a year or so. Each Premier League club gets a £5 million odd rebate this season, because parachute payments are not applying to Leicester or Southampton. That extra bonus has essentially been used on McKenna this year. Money well spent. I don’t believe it’s all to do with salary for McKenna. He is ambitious and clearly wants to be managing in the Premier League for years to come. He might have used his leverage to get commitments on transfer spend in the summer. I think it’s clear to most supporters that we can’t do a Sheffield United or Luton this season - and not spend money - otherwise we’ll likely go straight back down. Getting Hutchinson back on loan would be a statement. I think we’ll look to invest in five or six players in positions of need and get some much-needed Premier League experience in the squad.
Luton and Sheff Utd spent around £30m each, which is not a lot if you want to attract quality players. Burnley on the other hand spent close to £100m. There has to be a fine balancing act with transfers, especially for a club like ours who haven't been in the prem for 20 odd years, and are expecting to go straight back down. I reckon we'll spend around the 40-50m mark, with 6/7 signings. The club won't want to spoil the camaraderie, but surely McK knows that we will get stuffed regularly without quality additions
Worth noting that Sheffield United sold both Sander Berge and Iliman Ndiaye for a combined £35 million odd, not to mention their other outgoings. I think you're right with the £50 million figure, possibly a bit more - but I highly doubt we'd be close to £100 million. I think we'll sign a couple of experienced free transfers that can add to the squad quality and depth. I fully expect us to break our current transfer record of £4.5 million - likely more than once.
Where is this announcement? Announcement yesterday. Announcement today. No announcement. This means they haven’t yet reached an agreement on terms. They may well do, they may not, but the journalists have jumped the gun again. Until that contract is signed, another opportunity might come in for McKenna and scupper it.
It’s really not a good look for the club all this. And taking a lot of everyone’s valuable energy when they should be focussed on preparing the stadium and winning football games.
