History On Ipswich Town's Side After Back-To-Back Promotions

Ipswich Town celebrates promotion to the Premier League after the Sky Bet Championship match at ... [+] Portman Road, Ipswich. Picture date: Saturday May 4, 2024. (Photo by Zac Goodwin/PA Images via Getty Images)

In the first senior manager’s job of his career, Kieran McKenna has done something nobody else has managed this decade.

His Ipswich Town side have won back-to-back promotions from League One to the Premier League.

Despite competing against teams with Premier League parachute payments, Ipswich’s momentum helped them beat the odds to finish second in the Championship, securing promotion with a 2-0 win against Huddersfield Town on the final day of the season.

Ipswich did that with a large part of their squad from the previous season including Ipswich-born Harry Clarke and Luke Woolfenden in defense, left back Leif Davis, who has an incredible 18 assists this season, and strikers Conor Chaplin and Nathan Broadhead. Davis has been the provider for more than half of Chaplin’s 13 goals this season.

This was strengthened with loan signings and a few smart additions, including former Manchester United prospect Axel Tuanzebe, who joined on a free transfer in September. While Leeds United and Leicester City spent around $40 million on new players, Transfermarkt’s estimates suggest Ipswich spent around $5 million.

At the start of the season, OPTA had predicted Ipswich would finish 18th.

Can they beat the odds again and survive in the Premier League?

Since the creation of the Premier League, only three sides have managed back-to-back promotions from England’s third tier to the top flight.

The most recent side to achieve this was Southampton in 2011/12 under manager Nigel Adkins, who was controversially sacked in January 2013 despite Southampton being 15th in the Premier League and unbeaten since before Christmas. His replacement, Mauricio Pochettino took the club to 8th in the league the following season.

The top scorer for the Saints in their first Premier League season, Ricky Lambert joined Southampton when they were in League One and before that played in the lower leagues, even working part-time in factories to make ends meet, but following success at Southampton, Lambert went on to play for Liverpool and England.

One year earlier, Ipswich’s local rivals Norwich City in 2010/11 were also promoted back to the Premier League straight after coming up from League One. Norwich didn’t bring in any star names to bolster their promoted side, but finished 12th with lower league journeyman striker Grant Holt scoring 15 goals in his first season in the Premier League.

The other side to manage back-to-back promotions to the Premier League was Watford in the late 1990’s although they only lasted in the top flight for one season, finishing bottom of the league with 24 points.

Norwich were out of the top flight for six seasons before their double promotion, and only spent one season in League One, while Southampton spent seven years out, with two of those in the third tier. Ipswich, on the other hand, were last in the Premier League in 2002 and spent four seasons in League One.

Momentum helped Norwich and Southampton finish in mid-table in their first Premier League seasons since back-to-back promotions. But with the gulf between the Premier League and the Championship arguably wider than ever, Ipswich Town will be odds-on favorites for relegation next season.

Premier League Profitability and Sustainability rules will limit how much Ipswich can invest, and with key players this season such as Omari Hutchinson and Jeremy Sarmiento only on loan at Portman Road, the club will have to spend just to stand still. McKenna has hinted that they will look at the possibility of keeping hold of Hutchinson and the other loan players.

The Tractor Boys will have to replicate that successful use of the loan market. They will also need to find bargains like Luton Town’s Ross Barkley to help them level-up their squad.

Keeping McKenna is crucial. The 37-year-old, who was on Manchester United’s coaching staff before taking the hotseat at Ipswich, is attracting plenty of attention from other clubs.

McKenna has produced miracles to get Ipswich into the Premier League, if he can keep them up, that would be possibly even more impressive.