Kieran McKenna Leads Ipswich Town Football Back to the Premier League
Ipswich Town Football are back in the Premier League after beating QPR, with two early goals and a late third goal doing the job before the final whistle. The return comes one year after relegation and after a season in which Ipswich had been expected to make an immediate move back up.
By the end, fans had lined the pitch perimeter before the whistle and then flooded on after the match. The celebrations spilled into sprayed champagne, children scoring on the pitch and selfies with Ed Sheeran.
McKenna and the return
Kieran McKenna said, “It’s probably been the hardest one” after securing the club’s third promotion in four full seasons at Ipswich. He added, “I know how hard we’ve had to work to turn it around. As a club, we had such a climb and a steep fall. We’ve had to rebuild this team under difficult circumstances and we deserve to be where we are today.”
His assessment fit the season Ipswich actually had. McKenna said the side started slow before improving steadily over the course of the year, and he summed up the closing push in plain terms: “It’s about how you finish.”
QPR, Hull and the chase
QPR were the final obstacle, and Ipswich cleared it with enough control to celebrate before the match was over. The two early goals set the pace, the late third goal sealed promotion, and the reaction around the ground quickly moved from expectation to release.
The result also completed an immediate return after last year’s relegation, a sharp reversal for a club that had been title favourites in the Championship. That made the finish more than a simple bounce-back; it ended a season where Ipswich had to match that billing under pressure and finish the job when it mattered most.
Championship endgame
Elsewhere, Hull beat Norwich 2-1 to earn a playoff place, with Oli McBurnie scoring in either half and Sergej Jakirovic calling the achievement “unbelievable.” Sheffield Wednesday beat West Brom 2-1 to record their first Championship home win of the season and wipe out their 18-point deduction, while Arise Capital Partners completed the acquisition of the club and David Storch addressed fans before kick-off.
Southampton finished fourth with a 3-1 win against Preston at Deepdale and stretched their unbeaten run to 19 Championship matches. Taylor Harwood-Bellis opened the scoring in the 12th minute, Ross Stewart doubled the lead after 47 minutes, Lewis Dobbin pulled one back on the hour after a Daniel Peretz error, and Cyle Larin added the third in stoppage time. Leicester also ended with a 1-0 win at Blackburn, as Stephy Mavididi scored late and Gary Rowett said he wants to stay on as manager next season.
