Ipswich: now for the hard bit

“Pleasin’, most pleasin …” an Ipswich fan messaged me on their automatic promotion, mimicking their greatest manager Alf Ramsay’s difficulty with ‘g’s and use of ‘most’ instead of ‘very.’

When I say “greatest manager”, Ipswich have a few to pick from, e.g. Bobby Robson and now Kieron McKenna.

However the hard bit is staying up.

Most promoted clubs don’t and all three that came up last season look like going straight back.

Ipswich must secure McKenna but in The Times yesterday Tony Cascarino argued he would be the right fit for Liverpool and Manchester United.

Brighton are said to be sniffing and you cannot rule out others at home and abroad.

Aside from that Mckenna, or whoever, needs to be shrewd in the market. McKenna has remained loyal to the team that was promoted from Division One but the technical gap may now be too great.

Some clubs take the loan route. However clubs might insist on the loan player playing and they tend to be on big money. Buying expensively may not work out if you are relegated or fall foul of the sustainability rules.

Of course they could decide to roll with the punches and take relegation and the money. The problem here is they might lose the momentum of two promotions as well as McKenna.