Is Kieran McKenna staying at Ipswich Town? Mark Ashton reacts as Crystal Palace circle | OneFootball

Ipswich Town chairman Mark Ashton is expecting manager Kieran McKenna to attract interest following the club's promotion to the Premier League.

It was a memorable day for Ipswich Town as they sealed an immediate return to the Premier League with a 2-0 win over Queens Park Rangers at Portman Road on Saturday.

With Millwall and Middlesbrough also in with a chance of automatic promotion, it looked set to be a nervous afternoon for Ipswich, but goals from George Hirst and Jaden Philogene gave them a two-goal lead after just nine minutes before Kasey McAteer added a third in the closing stages to secure second spot.

The Tractor Boys have now won promotion in three of the last four seasons under manager Kieran McKenna, and the 39-year-old's latest managerial achievement is unlikely to have gone unnoticed elsewhere.

After Ipswich's previous promotion to the Premier League in 2024, McKenna was linked with a host of top flight clubs, including Manchester United, Chelsea and Brighton & Hove Albion, but he committed his future to the Suffolk outfit by signing a new four-year contract.

It was claimed last month that McKenna was on Bournemouth's shortlist to replace Andoni Iraola, but while Marco Rose has since been appointed as the Spaniard's successor at the Vitality Stadium, the Tractor Boys could still face the threat of losing their highly-rated manager this summer.

Like Iraola, Crystal Palace's Oliver Glasner is another Premier League manager who will be leaving at the end of the season, and McKenna is said to be under consideration by the Eagles as they assess their options, although it remains to be seen whether they would be willing to meet his reported £8 million release clause.

Mark Ashton speaks out on Kieran McKenna's Ipswich Town future

As Ipswich continue to celebrate their promotion success, chairman Mark Ashton appeared on talkSPORT on Tuesday morning, and he was quizzed on McKenna's future.

While Ashton insisted that he was confident that McKenna would remain at Portman Road next season, with planning already underway for the upcoming campaign, he admitted that he expects the Northern Irishman to attract interest over the coming months.

"I think success brings challenges," Ashton said.

"When we got promoted last time, there was a hell of a lot of noise around our manager, and rightly so because of the back-to-back promotions, he did extremely well.

"He's done extremely well again.

"I think success will ultimately always bring that kind of noise, but we get on, we talk every day."

"We're under no illusions that there will be noise around the manager, players, staff and executives because that's what success brings, but we are well set to take this club forward."

When asked if McKenna will definitely still be in charge at the start of next season, Ashton replied: "In my mind, yes.

"I've got no reason to tell you anything different.

"I was with him last night at the end of season awards dinner.

"We are already starting to make plans, we worked on pre-season some weeks ago.

"I think everybody probably just needs to take a breath because we're all absolutely shattered, but we go into this again.

"Kieran has been fantastic, he deserves all the plaudits he gets and so do his staff, but we need to be ready to go again as soon as possible."

Kieran McKenna will face big Ipswich Town decision if Crystal Palace come calling

Ashton may be optimistic that Ipswich can keep hold of McKenna, but the fact that he was unable to definitively confirm that he would not be departing this summer will be alarming for supporters.

McKenna has remained incredibly loyal to the Tractor Boys in recent years, but his reputation could be damaged if his side were to struggle in the Premier League next season, which means he will have a big call to make if Crystal Palace were to make a formal approach.

Having won promotion in 2013, the Eagles are now a well-established top flight club, and they could potentially be in the Europa League next season if they win the Conference League, so McKenna could be tempted to make the move to Selhurst Park rather than remaining at Ipswich for what is likely to be another relegation battle.