The Ipswich manager, Kieran McKenna, hailed his side’s “amazing achievement” as they celebrated promotion with a bus parade around the town. Premier League football awaits the club for the first time in 22 years after confirming promotion with a 2-0 win over Huddersfield thanks to goals from Wes Burns and Omari Hutchinson.
The Tractor Boys completed stunning back-to-back promotions on Saturday as they became the first team since Southampton in 2011 and 2012 to win successive promotions to the top flight from League One.
Ipswich celebrated their Premier League return with an open top bus tour around the town on Monday, which even drove past McKenna’s house, and he admitted he was pleased to finish the season well.
Speaking on board the bus, McKenna told Sky Sports: “It’s an incredible turnout, amazing seeing so much joy. Everyone deserves it, the whole town deserves it, the players … for how hard they’ve worked. And the supporters, who’ve followed so loyally for years and have been waiting for a day like this.
“We just set out to be as good as we could possibly be. The closer you get to the end you know you’re within reach of an amazing achievement and we’re so glad we were able to finish off well.”
Promotion marks a remarkable turnaround for the club, who were languishing in 11th place in the third tier when McKenna took over in December 2021. The following season he guided the team to automatic promotion, picking up 98 points to finish narrowly behind League One title winners Plymouth.
Ipswich enjoyed another promotion this year after finishing second on their return to the Championship, one point behind champions Leicester and six points clear of third-placed Leeds.
McKenna already has one eye on next season in the Premier League and described it as a “massive job”. He added: “Next season will be the challenge. We kept an incredible level of consistency from League One to the Championship in all aspects really and we’re going to have to do it again. It’s a massive job. We will try to keep the best things from what we have and the most important things that have helped us get here and to try to bring them to a completely different level.”
A fine pedigree of managers have enjoyed success at Ipswich, including Sir Alf Ramsey, Sir Bobby Robson and George Burley, but McKenna believes there is a “long way to go” before he joins them. “There’s a fantastic history, with some amazing managers who brought this club to the very highest level of European football,” he said. “We know we’ve progressed a lot in a short space of time but we have a long way to go to be in that sort of company. We’re so proud of what we’ve done but hopefully there’s good days ahead for the club as well. It’s something to cherish.”