Ipswich Town Close to Appointing Gary O’Neil as Head Coach
Ipswich Town are closing on the appointment of Gary O’Neil as their new head coach, with the club expecting to confirm Kieran McKenna’s replacement in the coming days.
Local outlets the East Anglian Daily Times and Ipswich Star report that personal terms with the 43-year-old are close to being agreed. An official approach to BlueCo, owners of Strasbourg, is due to follow, and Ipswich are not anticipating any late complications in getting the deal over the line.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had also been under consideration for the Portman Road job, but the club’s search has now homed in on O’Neil, whose coaching reputation has grown steadily across the Premier League and Europe.
A coach forged in survival fights and European nights
O’Neil’s managerial profile has been shaped by sharp, high-pressure spells. He first stepped into the Premier League spotlight with Bournemouth in the 2022/23 season, steadying a side widely tipped for relegation and guiding the Cherries to safety. That achievement did not spare him; he was replaced by Andoni Iraola at the end of the campaign.
Wolves came next. O’Neil’s time at Molineux ended when he was sacked in December 2024, yet his work there clearly left a mark. It is claimed Wolves held talks about bringing him back in November 2025, only for O’Neil to withdraw from the process himself.
His latest chapter, at Strasbourg, has added a different dimension to his CV. In just six months in France he took the club to the semi-finals of the UEFA Conference League and secured an eighth-place finish in Ligue 1, a run that has caught attention well beyond Alsace.
Backroom team already taking shape
Ipswich are not just targeting O’Neil. He is expected to bring trusted lieutenants Tim Jenkins and Neil Critchley with him from Strasbourg, a move that would give the new manager an immediate sense of continuity and familiarity at the Stade de la Meinau’s English counterpart, Portman Road.
If Ipswich complete the appointment as confidently as they expect to, they will be handing the keys of their project to a coach who has already lived several footballing lives: relegation battles, sackings, European semi-finals. The next test is clear enough—can that experience be turned into sustained progress in Suffolk?
