'better position' - boro rival boss tells of championship promotion confidence

Kieran McKenna has sent an early warning to Middlesbrough and other Championship promotion hopefuls - as he insists he believes his Ipswich Town side will be able to mount a serious

challenge next season. Ipswich will return to the Championship next season after their relegation from the Premier League. It follows two years of glory for McKenna at Portman Road in which

Michael Carrick’s former Manchester United coaching colleague enjoyed back to back promotions. With Ipswich’s positive momentum over, they return to the Championship with the benefit of

parachute payments to boost their finances, but needed to rebuild positive momentum after winning only four league games this term. As Boro hope to disrupt the advantages for clubs with

parachute payments next term, McKenna is feeling hopeful looking ahead to next season. The Tractor Boys said: "I am confident, that's the truth, but we know how relentless that

division is as well. Every year, there are upsets where teams do better than expected and teams that do worse than expected. It is a 46-game season where everyone competes every week, so

there is nothing for granted. "We know we are starting from scratch and we know, in some ways, we will be in a better position than the last time we were in the Championship - and also

in some ways, more difficult as you are now in a position of being one of the bigger clubs. "It is just a new challenge. We know what we are going to face and we also know we can't

take anything for granted. We are not going to get any head-start or favours. It is going to be hard work and smart work that gets us what we want." One thing that could be a factor at

Ipswich is squad turnover. They signed 16 players over the course of last term, with 17 leaving (12 of which were permanent exits). More changes will be expected this summer, with striker

Liam Delap already given permission to discuss a summer move. While that will ultimately further revenue for the club, they;ll still need to ensure they recruit well to replace such stars

this summer. "It has been spoken about plenty how quickly the club went through the leagues as we did with almost the same group of players," McKenna said. “It meant that the

turnover of players this season made it almost impossible and a really big challenge to turnover a squad that quickly. "There are a lot of players who will be in their second season and

much stronger for it. Going into the summer with more good players in the building and more good staff in the building, a year to develop our processes, I think they are things that will

lead us into a much better place next year."