Ipswich Town are set to appoint Gary O’Neil as their new manager. Stuart Watson looks at what his first tasks will be.
Gary O’Neil will become the 20th permanent manager in the club’s 90-year professional history. Supporters will need to really feel their pride and excitement in being given such an opportunity, rather than being left with a sense this is just the next step in their career.
There are big boots to fill. Some will have doubts. If O’Neil is able to effectively portray that he ‘gets us’ from the get go, his challenging task will become a lot easier.
Respectful nods to the club’s cherished history and the importance of its place in the community will go a long way. A calm, considered and confident tone is required to assure those jittery about this next chapter that a steady hand is on the tiller.
Getting their coaching staff in place will be one of the very first jobs.
Who, if any, of Kieran McKenna’s team will stay on? That’s Martyn Pert (assistant manager), Charlie Turnbull, Sone Aluko and Junior Stanislas (first team coaches), Mark Hudson (set piece coach) and Rene Gilmartin (goalkeeper coach).
O’Neil coached Stanislas towards the end of his career at Bournemouth, so there’s a relationship there. His loyal assistant has always been Tim Jenkins, while Shaun Derry, Ian Burchnall and Neil Critchley – all former EFL bosses – have worked alongside him at various junctures, too. Burchnall, it should be noted, has just been named the new assistant manager at Bristol City.
Back-to-back promotions led to a first Premier League season in 22 years. Even with a £100m+ transfer spend, the gap proved too big to breach in 2024/25.
Chairman Mark Ashton insists the club is in a much better place to take on the sizeable challenge this time thanks to collective lessons learnt, a new multi-million pound training ground, significantly expanded recruitment team and the backing of ambitious American owners ready to supply another transfer war chest.
Sunderland’s seventh-place finish as a newly-promoted club could act as inspiration. New financial rules and nine clubs competing in Europe may also help the Blues bridge the gap.
Siege mentality or dare to dream? It will be interesting to see if O’Neil states a clear mission for this campaign.
How will O’Neil approach said mission?
What are the non-negotiables when it comes to playing principles? Will he look to build a team/squad to fit a preferred system/style, or will he adapt to get the best out of what he’s got? Possession or counter attack? How much importance will be placed on set pieces?
We should get an early feel for where the Blues boss sits on the pragmatist to purist scale.
The retained list is out, with the likes of Conor Chaplin, Ashley Young and Conor Townsend all having left the club.
Still, if O’Neil wants to bring plenty in, then he’s going to need to move plenty more on to create room within the 25-man limit.
How hard does he push to convince Wes Burns to stay? Will he give returning loanees like Sammie Szmodics, Chiedozie Ogbene and Harry Clarke a fresh start or set out early on that it’s time for pastures new?
I imagine all will be welcomed back with the promise of a clean slate in the early stages of pre-season. Those aren’t decisions that need to be rushed.
Time is much more of the essence here.
Yes, the transfer dominoes might not start falling until later than usual due to the World Cup, but Ipswich need to start putting in the ground work when it comes to targets.
O’Neil will need to quickly assess the squad and identify whether he wants to spread the budget over several signings or concentrate it on a handful of significant upgrades.
He’ll then have to give a list of names he has in mind to the hierarchy and also go through the ones the club’s recruitment team have come up with themselves. There must quickly be alignment on key player attributes.
Then it will come down to how effectively the vision can be sold to prospective new recruits.
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