What Kieran McKenna said about Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as Ipswich to make manager decision

Kieran McKenna is a big admirer of his former colleague Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who could replace him as Ipswich Town manager.

The 40-year-old stepped down from his role at Portman Road last week, in a move that came as a huge shock just weeks after his team had secured automatic promotion to the Premier League.

The Northern Irishman wants to spent more time with his family and will take a break from management for the time being.

Solskjaer has emerged as the current favourite to replace McKenna at Ipswich, and is reportedly high up the list for decision-makers.

And should they need a reference, they need look no further than their former manager himself.

McKenna worked for three and a half years as an assistant manager at Man United, with much of that time spent under Solskjaer.

What Kieran McKenna has said about Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

McKenna did spend time with the Tottenham academy as a young player and featured for Northern Ireland's youth teams, but retired in 2009 at the age of 22 after a significant injury.

Immediately, he began to work on his coaching, joining Nottingham Forest in 2010 and later managing Tottenham's Under-18s in 2014.

In 2016, the Northern Irishman was hired by Man United as a scout, and later the manager of their U18s, before he was appointed as assistant manager in 2018.

Initially to Jose Mourinho, McKenna went on to spend the vast majority of his time at Old Trafford under Solskjaer.

When the Norwegian was sacked in 2021, McKenna left just a month later to take on the Ipswich job.

"Ole is a great manager to work with, whether it's the staff or the coaches, especially because he has fantastic human qualities and he believes in his players,”he said, speaking in 2020.

"He enables them to express themselves and thrive in their roles. I think he's someone who has a really strong connection and fit with the club, but he's also modern in his thinking and wants to implement new ideas and move the club forward. So, at the moment, it's a pleasure to be a part of that."

McKenna explains Solskjaer influence

When McKenna arrived, Ipswich were in League One and floundering under Paul Cook.

The Tractor Boys had not experienced Premier League football Since 2002, and had not even really come close to making their return.

McKenna changed all of that. In his first full season, they were promoted automatically from League One, and they repeated the feat in their first Championship campaign.

Relegation was tough to take last season, but they will now go back into the Premier League, thanks to the Northern Irishman.

And that may well be under one of his allies in Solskjaer. "Greatest memory of working from him is just how level he managed to stay with his staff," he told Justin Allen in 2025.

"There's not many bigger pressure cookers than that club [Man United] and being the manager of that club, and especially when you're so front-facing as he is and a big name and person in the history of the club.

"Whether we were on good runs or not so good runs, or not win on the weekend, he was really consistent in terms of how he'd come in, treat staff, always kept a positive attitude. Always supported the players and his staff and that's something I took a lot from and try to stick to myself in the difficult moments."