Tractor Boys have secured promotion back to the Premier League after only a year away and will be aiming for a longer stay this time
Before securing promotion to the Premier League in 2024, Ipswich Town had not played in the top flight for 22 years. They were relegated at the end of the 2024-25 season but now they are back, just a season later.
How did they do it? And how good is manager Kieran McKenna?
A victory over Queens Park Rangers on the final day of the Championship season sealed automatic promotion for the Tractor Boys.
Ipswich scored two early goals to settle any sort of tension at Portman Road, George Hirst striking in the third minute before Jaden Philogene doubled the lead moments later. Kasey McAteer added a late third to confirm promotion and spark celebrations.
Their coach McKenna was formerly an assistant manager at Manchester United, serving under Jose Mourinho and then Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, before the club late in 2021 when he got the Ipswich job. The Tractor Boys were in League One at the time but he has now secured three promotions in his four full seasons at the club.
“It’s probably been the hardest one,” said McKenna of this return to the top flight. “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.”
McKenna is our king. 👑 pic.twitter.com/2aLegYdixO
— Ipswich Town (@IpswichTown) May 2, 2026
Ipswich’s victory was enough to secure second place, finishing a point ahead of rivals despite pressure from Millwall and Middlesbrough. Millwall won their final game, while Middlesbrough dropped points, allowing Ipswich to edge over the line. Coventry City had already been confirmed as champions.
At the end of the 2024-25 season Ipswich were relegated from the Premier League with just 22 points. McKenna finished the season with a 10.5 per cent win rate, the lowest of any manager in Premier League history.
On final day, Mckenna said that his side had been promoted too early, having secured back-to-back promotions from League One through the Championship to the top flight. How ready are they now to compete at the highest level?
A number of key players departed in the aftermath of last season’s drop, including Liam Delap who went to Chelsea, and Omari Hutchinson who joined Nottingham Forest, forcing McKenna to rebuild.
The campaign did not begin smoothly. Ipswich failed to win any games until September and were knocked out of the EFL Cup by league two side Bromley. But their form improved significantly through the autumn, and a strong run of results before and after Christmas put them in contention for automatic promotion.
“We started slow, which can happen, but we have steadily improved over the course of the year,” McKenna said. “It’s about how you finish.”
😍🆙@motionmappinguk pic.twitter.com/9FZOugKjlG
— Ipswich Town (@IpswichTown) May 2, 2026
Their consistency in the second half of the season proved decisive. They lost just once in their final 15 matches and turned their home ground Portman Road into a fortress, finishing the season with only one home defeat.
Following Delap’s exit, goals were also shared across the squad rather than relying on a single striker. Jack Clarke led the way with 16 league goals, while Philogene and Hirst contributed regularly, scoring 11 and 10 goals respectively.
All of last season’s newly promoted teams, including Ipswich, went straight back down but this season has been more positive. Sunderland are in fact closer to qualifying for Europe than going down, and Leeds United have all but secured safety on 43 points.
Ipswich are more experienced now and so is McKenna, and crucially they will have these teams to follow as a blueprint to ensure their stay in the top flight is not as short as it was last time.
