Simon Jordan is a fan of Kieran McKenna but has his reservations about the Ipswich Town boss replacing Roy Hodgson at Premier League strugglers Crystal Palace.
With Monday’s latest collapse still fresh in the mind – Crystal Palace throwing away a 1-0 lead at home to Chelsea – the pressure on Roy Hodgson ramped up ever further, dissatisfaction growing on the terraces as an unhappy fanbase made their feelings clear with a series of banners and a chorus of jeers.
The Eagles have lost 11 of their last 16 Premier League games now. And while Hodgson’s second spell in charge was always likely to come to an end in 2024 – the former England boss is closer to 80 than he is to 70 after all – the veteran tactician’s departure could yet be pushed forward from the summer to the spring.
Crystal Palace want Kieran McKenna from Ipswich Town
The Guardian reports that Steve Parish, Palace’s chairman, has already spoken to Kieran McKenna’s representatives. But a fine track record in the Championship is no guarantee of success in the division above – see Nathan Jones, sacked by Southampton almost a year ago exactly – and while Parish’s Selhurst Park predecessor is an admirer, he is not convinced that McKenna is the right man at the right time.
“There is a risk attached to it. McKenna has done really well, they’re still in touching distance (of the automatic promotion positions),” Simon Jordan, who spent a decade at the helm of Selhurst Park until 2010, tells talkSPORT (14 February, 11am).
“There’s a thought that you’d don’t always jump at the first opportunity just because its the Premier Legue. Paul Ince (who struggled at Blackburn Rovers) is an example of that.
“There’s a risk attached to it. A big risk for Crystal Palace. You don’t take risks unless you’re going to support the manager and give him the resources. They tried that before with Frank de Boer and they pivoted pretty quickly.
“If your platform is good, you can take risks. Brighton with Roberto De Zerbi, (Graham) Potter had built a platform. I’m not sure Palace’s platform is as secure and as solid as other football clubs.
“You’ve got a club which as not recruited particularly well in recent times and is heavily reliant on two players. If you put an experienced manager on top of it, you might be adding even more challenges.
“(But) I like him. I think he’s a very sensible lad, well steeped in a good set of principles and he has certainly made an effect on Ipswich.”
Roy Hodgson facing Palace exit
McKenna, nearly 40 years Hodgson’s junior, is only two-and-a-half years into his first senior managerial role, having cut his coaching teeth behind the scenes at Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United.
McKenna guided Ipswich Town out of League One last season with successive promotions still a very real possibility, despite a recent dip in form which has allowed Southampton and Leeds United to overtake them at the top of the Championship table.
HITC Football understands that former Nottingham Forest and Swansea City boss Steve Cooper is another name on Parish’s radar. Cooper is a long-time target of the South London outfit.
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