MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) – Manchester United first team coach Kieran McKenna has been appointed manager of League One Ipswich Town, the club said on Thursday.
McKenna has signed a 3-1/2 year deal at Portman Road and becomes the 19th manager in the team’s history.
Ipswich, one of the top sides in England in the 1980s, are in 12th place in the third-tier and sacked manager Paul Cook earlier this month.
McKenna was brought to United by Jose Mourinho in 2016 and was part of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s coaching staff.
Norwegian Solskjaer was sacked as United boss last month and replaced by current interim manager Ralf Rangnick.
McKenna remained on the first team coaching staff under the German but is the second coach to leave United after Rangnick’s appointment. Michael Carrick left the club earlier this month.
Northern Irishman McKenna, 35, had his playing career cut short by injury and began coaching at Tottenham Hotspur’s academy and with their youth teams.
He was highly rated at United for his work in developing young players from the club’s academy for the first team set-up.
“Leaving a club like Manchester United was obviously a difficult decision, but I strongly believe in the opportunity to build something here,” McKenna said in an Ipswich statement https://www.itfc.co.uk/news/2021/december/kieran-mckenna-named-ipswich-town-manager.
“It feels like the right time, project and club to make my first step into first-team management.”
(Reporting by Simon Evans; Additional reporting by Mark Gleeson; Editing by Alison Williams and Ken Ferris)
