Ipswich Town Considers Solskjaer as McKenna's Successor

Ipswich Town’s fairytale rise has hit its first jolt of turbulence. Kieran McKenna, the architect of back‑to‑back promotions, is gone. The club is back in the Premier League, Portman Road is buzzing again – and now the hierarchy are weighing up one of the most intriguing managerial appointments of the summer.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is firmly on their radar.

The former Manchester United manager, out of work since leaving Besiktas last summer, is being considered by Ipswich as they plan for life in the top flight, according to BBC reports. For Solskjaer, it would be a return to English football and a chance to redefine his reputation away from Old Trafford’s glare. For Ipswich, it would be a bold, headline‑grabbing move at a pivotal moment.

There is a clear thread running through this story. McKenna served as Solskjaer’s assistant at United, working closely with him during the three-year spell that culminated in a second‑place Premier League finish in 2020–21. Now the student has left Portman Road at the peak of his powers, and the teacher is being lined up as a possible heir. It is football’s version of a passing of the baton.

McKenna’s exit still stings. He had just hauled Ipswich from the depths of League One back to the Premier League, making them the first club since Southampton in 2012 to surge from the third tier to the top flight with consecutive promotions. Supporters had every reason to believe he would lead them into that first season back among the elite.

Instead, at 40, he has chosen to step away.

“I feel this is the right time for me to step aside. I do so with great pride at the incredible progress we have made and with huge hope and optimism for the future of the club,” McKenna said in his parting statement. He has been heavily linked with other roles, including Fulham, but has been clear that his decision is driven by a need to recharge rather than a dash to another dugout.

His departure leaves a gaping void. Not just in the technical area, but in the identity he built: a front‑foot, fearless side that handled pressure as if it were oxygen.

Now Ipswich must decide who is best placed to carry that momentum into the most unforgiving league in the world.

Solskjaer brings pedigree and profile. He knows the Premier League, knows the scrutiny, knows what it takes to manage a big occasion. After leaving United in 2021, he took time out before a short spell in Turkey with Besiktas, and has largely kept a low profile since. There were whispers last season that he was briefly considered for a return to Old Trafford, but United ultimately turned to Michael Carrick as they looked for a different direction.

Ipswich would be a different kind of project. Less glare, more graft. A club on the rise rather than one wrestling with its past. A squad that has already proved it can handle high‑pressure games and promotion races, now being asked to adapt that resilience to survival fights and trips to the Etihad.

Yet Solskjaer is not the only name on the list.

Gary O’Neil, currently in charge at Strasbourg, is also under serious consideration. His managerial stock has climbed sharply after impressive work at Bournemouth and Wolves, where he earned a reputation as a sharp tactician and a calm operator in chaotic circumstances. There is another link here: O’Neil already has a working relationship with Ipswich chief executive Mark Ashton from their time together at Bristol City.

That familiarity matters. Ipswich’s decision‑makers know they cannot afford to misstep. The club has surged forward over the last few seasons; the next appointment has to sustain that surge, not smother it.

Strasbourg, for their part, are keen to keep O’Neil. He only arrived in France in January and has barely had time to imprint his ideas fully. But the pull of a Premier League return, and the chance to lead one of English football’s most compelling comeback stories, could be hard to ignore.

This is the tension Ipswich now live with. Do they lean into the romantic narrative of Solskjaer – the former United manager reconnecting with a protégé’s old club, seeking to prove himself away from the Old Trafford microscope? Or do they turn to O’Neil, the rising English coach with recent Premier League experience and an existing bond with the man running the club?

What is not in doubt is the scale of the opportunity.

Ipswich are back in the big time with a squad that knows how to win, a fanbase that has rediscovered its voice, and a platform that many managers would covet. Whoever walks into Portman Road next will not be starting from scratch. They will inherit a team hardened by the grind of League One, sharpened by a relentless Championship campaign, and unafraid of big moments.

The next manager will define whether this surge ends as a brief, thrilling cameo in the Premier League – or the start of a new Ipswich era.