⁠Kieran McKenna passionately defends Ipswich Town over thing rivals are making a big deal of | OneFootball

Ipswich Town have received comments from rival managers about their summer spending in recent weeks

Kieran McKenna has defended Ipswich Town’s spending amid criticism from rival Championship clubs.

A number of managers in the division have recently made remarks about the cost of the Tractor Boys’ squad, which was assembled for around £126 million.

It’s been a whirlwind couple of years for the Suffolk outfit, who earned back-to-back promotions from League One to the top flight under McKenna before suffering relegation last season.

During that time, Ipswich have been able to make signings like Sindre Walle Egeli, who broke the club’s record transfer fee in a deal worth a reported £17.5 million.

Kasey McAteer was also signed for £12 million, with Azor Matusiwa arriving at a cost of £7.8 million in what was a busy summer of spending for the club.

Kieran McKenna defends Ipswich Town’s spending

McKenna has defended Ipswich’s spending by highlighting their previous success in gaining promotion in 2024 without making big money moves for players.

He believes that the quality of players available to sign for Championship players is very high, and that clubs can compete without needing to spend big on summer signings.

"I haven't really thought about it much, to be honest," said McKenna, via the East Anglian Daily Times.

"I don't think it has a lot of impact.

"Look, I think we got promoted from the Championship with a higher spend of less than one and a half million [on any one player].

"So I don't think anyone can be the team who wants to cry that it's impossible to do well in this division without spending transfer fees - because it is.

"The volume of good players you can get in the Championship is really high.

"There are so many players you can get on loan, so many free agents you can pick up.

"So the gap between the squads and the quality of the players across the level is really, really close.

"More close than any division in world football probably."

Kieran McKenna backs Ipswich Town’s transfer model

McKenna has also pointed to their investment in young players, and the money earned from their sales, as well as the possible deals they could earn in the future by developing them into high value assets.

"Generally, our model, since we started in League One, was to try and invest in high potential young players," he continued.

"When we invested in Leif Davis for a million pounds in League One that was a big story.

"We could sell him now for probably 20-30 times that.

"Our two biggest signings last summer (Omari Hutchinson and Liam Delap) were subsequently sold for club record fees that combined to £70-80 million this summer.

"And if we wanted to sell any of the current players that we've invested in then I think there'd be a pretty good cash return."

Ipswich have made a mixed start to life back in the Championship, with the team struggling for the kind of consistency they showed during their promotion campaign in 2023/24.

McKenna’s side have earned 13 points from their opening eight fixtures, leaving them ninth in the table going into the current international break.

Meanwhile, the likes of Paul Heckingbottom, John Mousinho, Gerhard Struber and Liam Manning have all made comments about the club’s recent transfer deals.

Ipswich Town have come far if their spending is gaining this much attention

Heckingbottom pointed to the £40 million worth of players coming off the bench in Preston North End’s clash against Ipswich, while Mousinho highlighted their spending to compliment his side for being competitive in their 2-1 loss at Portman Road.

Struber mentioned the £200 million cost of their squad, and Manning attempted to put pressure on his bitter rivals prior to the East Anglian derby by referring to their spending.

However, Ipswich were in League One as recently as 2023, so it only serves to show how successful their model has been that they are now earning the ire of their rivals.

They’ve been able to build up the club with big player sales in order to afford these deals, and Championship rivals should really have no issue with that.