Ipswich Town Considers Solskjaer as McKenna's Successor

Ipswich Town’s first summer back among the elite was never supposed to start like this. Promotion secured, momentum roaring, Portman Road bouncing – and then the architect of it all walks away.

Kieran McKenna’s decision to step down just weeks after dragging the club from League One to the Premier League has ripped open a vacancy that demands a heavyweight response. Ipswich’s hierarchy appear to know it. According to reports, they are weighing up a bold, headline move: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

From Old Trafford glare to Portman Road project?

The Norwegian has been largely out of sight since leaving Besiktas last summer, but not out of mind. England, and the Premier League in particular, still tugs at him. This, for Solskjaer, would be a chance to reshape his story on these shores – away from the unforgiving glare of Old Trafford, yet still under the sharp lights of the top flight.

He spent three years in charge of Manchester United, the high point a second-place finish in the 2020–21 season that briefly suggested a genuine title push. It didn’t last. The scrutiny did. When he left in 2021, he stepped away, then re-emerged only briefly in Turkey.

Now, Ipswich offers something different: not a fallen giant chasing ghosts, but a club charging upwards, hungry and united, with a fanbase that has rediscovered its voice.

A poignant link: McKenna and the mentor

The connection between club and candidate runs deeper than convenience. McKenna, the man whose departure stunned supporters, served as Solskjaer’s assistant at Manchester United. Their time together at Old Trafford forged a direct coaching lineage between the man who has just walked away and the one being lined up to replace him.

For Ipswich fans, that thread is hard to ignore. The manager who masterminded back-to-back promotions learned part of his trade alongside the man now in the frame. It gives the potential appointment a sense of continuity in the midst of upheaval.

McKenna’s exit still stings. At 40, and with his stock soaring, he chose to leave despite guiding Ipswich from the “depths of League One”, as he put it, to the “promised land” of the top division. Links to Fulham swirled, but he has insisted his decision is driven by a need to recharge, not by another job already in his pocket.

“I feel this is the right time for me to step aside,” he said in his farewell statement. “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.” Pride, optimism – and a sizeable void.

O’Neil in the frame as Ipswich cast the net

Solskjaer may grab the headlines, but he is not the only name in the Ipswich boardroom. Gary O’Neil, currently in charge at Strasbourg, is also under serious consideration.

O’Neil’s reputation has grown quickly. His work at Bournemouth and Wolves marked him out as a sharp, adaptable operator, capable of steadying troubled sides and coaxing more out of limited resources. That matters to a newly promoted club facing one of the most brutal leagues in world football.

There is another strand pulling him towards Suffolk: his existing relationship with Ipswich chief executive Mark Ashton from their time together at Bristol City. That familiarity can shorten the bedding-in period at a club that cannot afford to waste a single week of this summer.

Strasbourg, though, are not rolling over. O’Neil only arrived in France in January, and the French side are reportedly keen to keep him. The question is whether the pull of a Premier League dugout – and the chance to lead one of English football’s most compelling recent stories – proves too strong.

A club riding a wave – and desperate not to fall off it

Ipswich have done something extraordinary. Under McKenna, they became the first club since Southampton in 2012 to secure back-to-back promotions from the third tier to the Premier League. That is not a fluke. It is the product of a squad that knows how to win, a dressing room built on belief, and a manager who pushed all the right buttons.

The board’s task now is clear: appoint someone who can keep that wave rolling rather than wipe it out. This is not a rescue job. It is a continuation job – and that makes the choice more delicate, not less.

Solskjaer would walk into a club with energy, unity and a clear upward curve, not a fractured giant chasing its shadow. For him, it would be a major opportunity to show he can build and sustain success without the baggage that comes with Manchester United. There were even whispers last season that United briefly considered bringing him back, before opting for Michael Carrick as they sought a new direction. That door closed. Ipswich’s may now be opening.

Whether it is Solskjaer, O’Neil or a left-field candidate who ultimately strides out at Portman Road, one thing is non-negotiable: they inherit a squad that has already proved it can handle pressure and expectation. The next manager’s job is to show that, on the biggest stage of all, this rise was not the end of the story, but the start of something far more ambitious.