Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna is keen for his side to get their season off to a good start tomorrow.

A crowd of more than 26,000 will watch the Blues kick-off the 2022/23 campaign, their fourth in a row at League One level, against Bolton Wanderers at Portman Road - and there's a real feeling of positivity in the air.

“Everyone who loves football gets excited for the first day," said McKenna.

"Last season we had some fantastic home turnouts and atmospheres, some really good home performances and we’re hungry for more of that.

“We want to build on our form at Portman Road and make it a really fantastic place to come and watch an exciting team who play attractive football and win a lot of games.

“Hopefully we get that started this weekend."

On Bolton, who did the double over Town to finish ninth last season, McKenna said: “I am sure they are going to be one of the dominant teams

“Second half of last season their points-per-game was right up there in the league. I think they’re very well coached, have a good style of play, a good philosophy, good players and have recruited very well.

“It’s got an extra dimension to it being the first game. It will be about which team can settle and find their rhythm the fastest."

Town failed to win their opening eight games of last season following a drastic summer overhaul by previous boss Paul Cook. Preparations have been a lot calmer this time around, with McKenna keeping all his key men and adding the majority of his six new signings early in the transfer window.

“I don’t there is anything I would change from our pre-season programme - it’s all gone as smoothly as possible," said McKenna, who tested his players with tough friendly fixtures against the likes of Arsenal, West Ham and Crystal Palace.

“You can only control what you can control. We would have liked to have had everyone in by the first day of pre-season and had a full six weeks with the whole group, but that’s not always in your hands. I think the club has done very well to move as quickly as they can.

“We’ve had a good base of the squad together from the start. With the addition of the players we’ve brought in on top of the players who laid down a good foundation last season it gives the squad a really healthy look.

“Getting off to a good start would be a big boost to everyone. It would maintain the positive momentum that we have inside and around the football club.

“But it doesn’t guarantee anything if you get a good start. I think in the previous seasons that the club has been in League One they’ve had really good starts and fallen away.

“There is no secret recipe. Rotherham had a really good first half of last season and then dipped in the second half. The other year Blackpool went up after a really good late run.

“It’s about having the right foundations in place, having the right culture and ethos in your group, that is going to allow you to be successful over 46 games.

“There’s always a random element in football, but over the course of a season you probably end up where you deserve to end up.

“The focus has been around putting building blocks in place for a 46-game campaign."

He continued: “I think there were lessons learnt last season in terms of the requirements to be successful in this league.



“There are some things that are similar to the level I was working at before (Manchester United) and there are some things that are definitely different. I’ve learnt more about the different teams, the refereeing, the flow of the games, the pitches in the winter and level in general.

“Tactically there are certain things you can get away with that I don’t think you can get away with in the Premier League.

“The early signings of Dominic Ball, Freddie Ladapo and Greg Leigh add some good physical attributes to us. On top of that we looked at players who will fit our attacking style of play. We managed to sign Tyreece John-Jules, Marcus Harness and Leif Davis who tick a lot of the 'young, hungry, athletic and technical' boxes."

Ipswich have been made the bookies' second favourites for promotion behind Sheffield Wednesday and been tipped by several pundits.


“We have to respect everyone," said McKenna. "There are seven teams who finished above us last season who are still in the league (MK Dons, Sheffield Wednesday, Wycombe, Plymouth, Oxford, Bolton and Portsmouth). And there are three teams who have come down from the division above (Barnsley, Peterborough and Derby), one of them only coming down because they had a severe points deduction (Derby).

“Then there are other big clubs in the league, like Charlton, who finished below us too.

“I’m not interested in worrying about one team or another team. I know it’s a very strong division, I know there are a lot of good teams, but we need to focus on ourselves, pick up as many wins as we can and then see where we’re at in the later stages of the season."

Asked about the pressure on the club to succeed this season, the Blues boss added: “It doesn’t come into my thinking too much to be honest. I know there’s expectation and that’s good because it means that people are positive about some of the things they saw in the second half of last season and the things we’ve done in the off-season.

“Expectation, pressure, having a big support, added external interest... as I’ve said before, that doesn’t help you win football games.

“So it’s not really critical to my thinking. I just prepare the team as well as I can for each game. We’ll just enjoy the journey as we go along.

“Obviously we all want success, we all want to bring this club forward, but it’s important we enjoy the journey as well.

“Myself and the team will go into this season with a positive mindset and enjoy all the challenges ahead."