Ipswich could now hire the next Kieran McKenna

Ipswich Town had their world rocked when it was revealed that Kieran McKenna had decided to walk away from his job as their head coach before their return to the Premier League.

The former Manchester United coach led the club back to the top-flight by finishing second in the Championship last season, earning automatic promotion to the big time.

Ipswich were relegated under McKenna in the 2024/25 campaign, going down alongside Leicester City and Southampton, and they were the only one of those three teams to come straight back up.

Now, they will have to go into the Premier League without the manager who got them there in the first place, and they have yet to confirm his replacement.

One of the managers who is reportedly in the running to land the job is Strasbourg head coach Gary O’Neil, who is said to be the frontrunner for the role.

Why Ipswich should avoid hiring Gary O’Neil

The Tractor Boys should avoid hiring the former Norwich City midfielder as their next head coach because the underlying data behind his previous spells in the Premier League does not paint a pretty picture.

He kept Bournemouth and Wolves in the Premier League in his first seasons at both clubs, which seems impressive on paper, yet they both opted to sack him before he could complete a second campaign.

The quality at his disposal at both of those clubs seemed to help his teams over the line in the top-flight, as they both overperformed their Expected data, which is further evidenced by the fact that his successors both achieved higher finishes in the division after replacing him.

O’Neil was then sacked by Wolves after losing 11 of his 16 matches at the start of the 2024/25 campaign, a run of form that was overdue based on the poor data behind his previous teams.

That is why the Tractor Boys should avoid a move for the English coach, who may not be able to set the team up effectively in the top-flight, and aim to appoint another manager instead.

The manager Ipswich should appoint instead of Gary O’Neil

With experience in the Premier League being something that the club are looking at, hence their interest in O’Neil, it makes sense that they are also reportedly keen on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

The Norwegian boss, who worked with McKenna at Manchester United, has plenty of experience in the Premier League as both a player and a manager at Old Trafford.

Solskjaer took charge of the Red Devils in the 2018/19 campaign, initially as a caretaker, and stayed in place until 12 matches into the 2021/22 season.

He finished in the top three in both of his full seasons in charge of the Red Devils and it took until the 2025/26 campaign for them to return to a top three spot after sacking him in 2021.

Solskjaer was described as “underappreciated” by Harry Maguire and as an “outstanding human” by Cristiano Ronaldo, who played for him in the 2021/22 season.

The 54-year-old head coach clearly had the respect of senior players in the squad, and Ipswich could benefit from having a presence like that in the dugout as they aim to battle relegation, as the players will need to buy-in to the manager and fight in every match.

Solskjaer also finished fourth in his only season with more than one league game managed with Besiktas, and led Molde to successive second-placed finishes in 2018 and 2017 before his spell in charge of Manchester United.

He is a coach who is used to delivering wins on a regular basis and would not settle for just fighting relegation, which could give Ipswich an edge in the same way that Sunderland had with Regis Le Bris, as they went on to push for Europe.

Instead of being satisfied with 17th, the Norwegian boss could push the team on to survive and then aim higher in the Premier League, which is why he could be a much better appointment than O’Neil and the club’s new McKenna.