I was Manchester United’s hidden weapon as a coach, and now I may be their manager

What’s it like to work with Kieran McKenna? The MEN interviewed two people who know the exciting coach to find out.

Loughborough University football players were celebrating after winning a game.

They entered the locker room in high spirits and began to take showers, but a passionate Kieran McKenna trailed behind one of the players and followed him into the inner sanctum.

McKenna couldn’t wait to meet with the athlete and provide criticism. He wanted to talk about something he’d noticed, so he stood beside him in the shower, completely naked, while the recipient of his message nodded and listened intently.

“It was a Tuesday night, we’d won, and Kieran was standing next to the guy in the shower, coaching him,” says Professor Chris Cushion to the Manchester Evening News.

“He said something like,’maybe next time, drop off a little bit’. The lad was washing his hair and saying, ‘That’s really helpful, thanks boss. That merely demonstrates his zeal and desire.

“Kieran felt impelled to provide the player that information, which could have waited, but he went clothed into the shower to advise him how to better the next time. To be fair, the players never ordered him to naff off; they always felt it was quite helpful and grateful.”

McKenna graduated from Loughborough almost ten years ago. This season, he led Ipswich Town to their second successive promotion to the Premier League, cementing his status as one of the game’s most entertaining and tactically brilliant young coaches.

McKenna, former United coach Eric Ramsay, and Matt Prestridge, who coached Sheffield United’s Premier League first team, were among the Loughborough coaching graduates.

“We had a crew that was very dedicated to coaching and mastering their craft. They’ve all gone on to excellent careers in football,” adds Cushion, who continues to work at the famed sports-focused university.

“Seeing them succeed as coaches and make a difference in the game makes you very pleased. I’ve been coaching for 30 years, and even then, you could see Kieran’s talent and knew he’d go far if given the opportunity. “He stood out.”

McKenna studied sports science at Loughborough and went on to work as a coach after being forced to resign as a player at the age of 22 owing to injuries.

“He was a very talented midfielder and unfortunate with his hip injury,” said Cushion. “He was a professional at Tottenham, and they really loved him. Their admiration for him was so strong that he knew there would always be a job for him after he graduated from university, and he jumped right into coaching.”

After graduating from university with first-class honours and returning to Tottenham, the opportunity to join Manchester United emerged, and McKenna was named as the club’s Under-18 manager before being elevated by Jose Mourinho to the first-team coaching staff.

Following Mourinho’s departure, he was retained by Solskjaer and worked with interim manager Ralf Rangnick until accepting his first managerial position at Ipswich.

Since leaving United, McKenna has led Ipswich from the bottom of League One to promotion to the Championship and the Premier League in two and a half seasons.

The Tractor Boys’ climb has been extraordinary, and McKenna, who will be the Premier League’s youngest manager next season at 38, deserves all the credit.

His performance with Ipswich has earned him a reputation as one of football’s top coaching prospects, but Cushion has known about his talent since the beginning.

“He was a student of the game, very invested in understanding it and tactical ways of playing,” says Cushion. “He’d devise strategies, consider counter-measures, and construct team structures.

“Even then, he was very tactical, and I believe you can see that in the way Ipswich play now, which is really organized with and without the ball. The way he talks about his style of play in interviews, I have no doubt that he has things under control, and the players realize that.

“He was very interested in his own development, always looking for ways to improve, and he had a genuine passion for the game, an infectious excitement that was almost obsessive.

“There were times after a game when he’d be with a player and he’d be intense, trying to help people improve, but it was always well welcomed.

“You can imagine some might advise you to go; they didn’t with Kieran. He had it all: interpersonal skills, relationships with the players, and a systemic mindset. You may say he would succeed. I’m just glad he had the opportunities and took them with both hands.”

Why was McKenna’s talent so clear in Loughborough?

“He always paid attention to detail, and we did a lot of tactical work at university.

“We heavily focused on the tactical side of the game and forced the squad and student coaches to think about it, to the point where when Eric Ramsay was coaching at Swansea, I spoke with him and he told me we did more tactical work at Loughborough.”

“But, obviously, Kieran has gone on to work with great managers and developed on that, but you can see it in how Ipswich set up; there is a clear game plan in and out of possession, and I can already envision the sessions, the preparation, the video, and everything occurring with him.

“I supervised his dissertation, and he worked on a project to better understand his own coaching behaviour. He conducted a thorough quantitative self-analysis and met with players and coaches.

“Kirean had reflective conversations about his coaching and was genuinely always interested in what he was like as a coach, trying to evolve and study how to get better.”

When asked if such level of self-awareness is common, Cushion answers, “About 20% of coaches have that level of self-awareness – many think they do but don’t.”

McKenna left a lasting influence on the players he coached at Loughborough, including Rory Fallon, who is now the manager of Wythenshawe Town in Manchester.

“Kieran initially started coaching the second team,” Fallon tells the MEN. “Because there are so many fantastic footballers at Loughborough, you have to submit in your CV and attend pre-season, but I just showed up for fresher trials and started in the second team.

“When I was on the second team, we played the first squad in a friendly and utterly dominated them. They couldn’t get the ball from us because Kieran’s coaching was so effective.

“He fostered a positive team environment, and within a few months, I was promoted to the first team, followed by Kirean. He simply altered the team from then on.”

Fallon spent time in the Manchester City and Aston Villa academies when he was younger and received a football scholarship at Loughborough, where he met McKenna.

He had a successful non-league playing career, gaining promotions with FC United of Manchester and Trafford FC, but the coaching he received at university was special.

“I’d been at professional clubs as a kid, being coached by good coaches all the way through, but Kieran was just different,” Fallon explains. “He’d pick up on minor things, and he was very effective at focusing on people and helping them improve.

“There were occasions when I’d be in a foul mood during a training session, and he’d be able to pick up on it, demonstrating that he really knew people, which I’d never seen before.

“His sessions were extremely well prepared, and his ability to communicate with the players was exceptional. It was just his excitement for football; it was incredible. Although he was a little older than us, he was a friend off the pitch and hung around with the guys.

“However, when it came to practice or games, you respected him. We used to practice around 7 a.m., and I recall missing a number of sessions and being pulled aside for a word. He said it wasn’t acceptable and that if I did it again, I’d be kicked off the team, so he had both sides.”

McKenna clearly has an intensity that complements his man-management abilities. “He’d build up a good relationship with people and be able to get his point across,” said Fallon.

“He may say this himself, but I believe he understood his route was to become a top coach, and you could see it happening; everyone at the institution knew as well.

“I could really feel it; he was still very young, but you could tell he was going to be successful because he had something about him that set him apart from every other coach.

“I did say at the time that I felt he’d be a Premier League manager, which is easy to say casually, but it was a true belief. I thought he had the potential to reach the top.”

Cushion has been following McKenna since his graduation from Loughborough and recalls a time at United when his coaching was questioned.

Solskjaer was fired in November 2021 after a disastrous run of results, and the focus shone on the Norwegian’s coaching staff in the weeks leading up to his removal.

There were charges that McKenna was out of his depth and unqualified to coach at United, which has aged like sour milk given his success at Ipswich.

“I found it interesting,” Cushion admits. “Manchester United have had their problems throughout the years, and people have talked about their coaching, notably under Solskjaer, but when you look at it, I don’t think coaching is the issue. There are deeper difficulties within the club.

“People would claim the team isn’t coached, and I’d think, ‘Well, you’ve never met Kieran,’ if they said that. I would suppose that whatever he did with the guys served a purpose.

“It’s not just about playing five a side and keeping the ball; everything will have a purpose and will be about organization and game planning. At the time, I chuckled to myself when people suggested the team wasn’t being coached, and I thought, “Just meet Kieran.” That was not the problem.

“When he moved from Tottenham, I had friends who are United fans, and they were like, ‘Who is this bloke?’ I would tell them, ‘You don’t have to worry about him; he is incredibly brilliant at what he does.

“Jose Mourinho isn’t a mug; you don’t give chances to people who can’t do it. When he moved into those positions, you thought, “This guy is going places.”

Solskjaer stated last year that he ‘learned from McKenna’ during his time as United manager, and was particularly impressed with his defensive tactical expertise.

During Solskjaer’s reign, McKenna would hold unit meetings with players and review footage, and his coaching focus was on when United did not have possession.

McKenna, a lifelong Manchester United fan, immensely enjoyed his time with the club and taught some of the world’s top players, including Paul Pogba, Raphael Varane, and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Now he’ll need all of his experience to keep Ipswich in the Premier League next season. “Securing back-to-back promotions was an outstanding achievement, but it goes to show what a well-coached, well-organised team can do,” says Cushion.

“I am a Norwich fan, which makes it hard for me since I want Kieran to succeed. But I watch Championship and League One football and think, “I have no idea what this team is trying to do.”

“Whereas the top six in the Championship are organised and know what they’re trying to do, and that makes a huge difference. Ipswich have recruited effectively, have good players and staff, and are full of confidence, which is justified. “The challenge will be next season, correct?”

McKenna’s first managerial experience was at Ipswich, but it hasn’t stopped him from being linked with replacing Erik ten Hag, who might be fired following the FA Cup final.

Becoming United manager would be a major step up, but Cushion believes McKenna is up for it.

“I’m not sure where his objectives are, and you’d have to ask him, but he is an ambitious guy. You can think that bigger clubs will look at how well he has done with Ipswich, and whether they survive in the Premier League will be determined by recruitment.

“My heart says maybe they could do a Brentford and have enough, I see a lot of similarities between them, as they are well organised, bought well and established themselves.”

Fallon, who was taught by McKenna at Loughborough and now supports United, says: “I believe he has the potential to be a terrific fit for United. Look at how he has that Ipswich team playing; they play an appealing style, and I don’t think he will change that.

“The only thing is that he just has two years of managerial experience, so taking on the United position is a massive ask for anyone, but I believe he has all of the qualifications.

“I’m looking at the other candidates right now and thinking, why not? He’s previously worked at the club, progressed through the U18s, and worked with Mourinho and Solskjaer, so I believe that’s vital, understanding United, which he does.”

Maybe McKenna will make a fairytale comeback to United in the future. He is unquestionably a rising star coach.