KIERAN McKENNA’S ‘INCREDIBLE’ progress from a stats analyst to a Premier League manager over the course of a decade was up for discussion on today’s Football Family, the podcast for subscribers to The 42.
“He was the head of performance of the academy at Spurs,” said Shane Keegan, the former Galway United and Cobh Ramblers manager. “That’s his first full time role as a coach, and he has gone from that to being a Premier League manager. That is absolutely incredible.
“I’d say there are geeks behind laptops all over England saying, ‘That’s me – if you got me out from behind this laptop, I’d be able to do that as well!’
“But I’m just intrigued to see how it works out for him, I really hope it goes well.”
Keegan made the point that McKenna’s opportunities were less plentiful because of a lack of a stellar playing career – denied to him through injury. The 38-year-old from Fermanagh now leads Ipswich Town into the Premier League following back-to-back promotions.
“Look, it’s very, very easy for a former professional footballer with a good profile to essentially bullshit his way into a high level managerial job,” Keegan said.
“It is impossible to bullshit your way from the bottom to the top. Absolutely impossible. The only way he has managed to achieve what he achieved is to be an outstanding, fantastic coach and manager. So there’s no question marks.
“If you’re going on quality of player alone, they (Ipswich) should be going straight back down.
“That is the reality. He’s supposedly in for Sammie Szmodics. I think that would be a big, big help in terms of them trying to stay up.
“But he’s a guy who’s overachieved in almost every role today, so he’s perfectly capable of doing it again this year.”
Also on today’s podcast, the lads discuss Lee Carsley’s appointment as interim England manager, reflect on some of the biggest Premier League transfers of the summer and ponder a weekend of missed opportunities in the League of Ireland title race.
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