Kier, oh dear
UNITED MUCKED UP OVER McKENNA
MAYBE Kieran McKenna could see into the future.
And he didn’t feel like his own should still be with Manchester United.
Which is understandable, considering he left United within a month of ‘Wreck It Ralf’ Rangnick arriving as caretaker boss at the end of 2021.
And we all know what happened next.
Perhaps the more likely explanation is that United bosses just didn’t have the wit to see the value in McKenna’s credentials – and allowed him to leave.
Those in power at United at the time thought it a good idea to replace McKenna on the first team coaching staff with a bloke called Chris Armas, whose most significant contribution during his time with the fallen giants was to be nicknamed ‘Ted Lasso’ by the first-team squad.
Ironic, really, that a group of players unable to do their own jobs well should be taking the mickey out of someone for being a comedy figure on the training ground.
I digress, but the fact remains United had the next top coach in English football right under their noses, and allowed him to go work somewhere else.
That place was Ipswich Town, who are now heading back to the Premier League for the first time in more than two decades thanks to the brilliance of McKenna. It used to be said that all those players and managers who left United went into decline.
But McKenna is living proof that this theory deserves to be thrown into the dustbin. When McKenna (left) joined Ipswich five days before Christmas 2021, the club were languishing in League One.
And it has taken the Northern Irishman less than three seasons to lead them into the promised land.
He has done it with a combination of swashbuckling and adventurous football, the sort that use to be seen at Old Trafford. At least United will spend next season getting a first-hand look at what they could still have.
Who he lines up against in the United dugout remains to be seen, as United will not secure Champions League qualification, meaning Erik ten Hag will not, in all likelihood, keep his job as boss.
Before last night’s trip to Crystal Palace, United had been usurped in the table by a Chelsea team supposedly having a season to forget under Mauricio Pochettino.
But McKenna won’t care less about what is happening at the madhouse he escaped from.
His focus will be to keep on establishing himself as one of the best coaches in the game – and making United look like idiots.
Because since leaving, he has done at Ipswich what Rangnick, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ten Hag have all failed to do at United.
He has made those players under his leadership better ones.
And what price would new United investor Sir Jim Ratcliffe be willing to pay to have someone capable of doing this right now at Old Trafford?