Even if you aren't an avid Championship follower, having a glance at the league standings reveals something unusual. It is not usual customers and yo-yo clubs like Leeds United or Norwich City up top but Preston and Ipswich Town.
And Ipswich Town are where 37-year-old Man United's former assistant coach Kieran McKenna is enjoying himself.
McKenna was a coaching staff member under Jose Mourinho and then Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Shortly after leaving Man United in December 2021, he got an appointment at Ipswich, in League One at the time.
What is Ipswich Town, in the first place?
They are a historic club that was a major power from the 1970s until the early 1980s, winning the FA Cup in 1978 and UEFA Cup in 1981 and, prior to that, the First Division in 1962 (current Premier League).
However, the last few decades have been rough. Following the relegation from the Premier League in 2002, they spent 17 years in the Championship, fully embracing the 'unflushables' tag. That ended in 2019 when they finally dropped a tier below.
Here's also a bit of trivia about Ipswich Town: Ed Sheeran is the club's superfan and one of the club's sponsors — the logo of his tour has graced the shirt for three years in a row.
That's what McKenna stepped into for his first managerial gig — a historic but struggling team roaming the third division.
In his first full season in charge, McKenna guided the Tractor Boys (the club's nickname) to promotion and, after five games in the Championship this season, keeps his club in the direct Premier League promotion spot.
McKenna's style of play is *surprise-surprise* about playing out from the back, dominating possession, and pressing high. One extra feature is overlapping centre-backs: when playing three at the back, the right-sided centre-back zips up to take part in the build-up.
After five games this season, the Tractor Boys have had the most shots (93) and shots on target (31) and have the second-best xG (9.6) in the Championship.
Ipswich also don't mind being more direct sending crosses and/or cutting in from the flanks.
One more familiar face for Man United fans at Ipswich Town is Brandon Williams. The 23-year-old fullback is on loan and has already scored a goal — unfortunately, it was an own goal. But the jury is still out.
Here is what some Ipswich or Championship fans are saying about the team's turnaround in a comments section on The Athletic.
Dan B: "McKenna has been different class for us. Defeats will naturally happen at some point but we will bounce back as we look mentally far stronger under him and far fitter than ever before. The club is back on the up."
Ben V: "You could see the progression when he took over last year. I think them and Sheff Wed will be the top two this year."
***
Recently, McKenna extended his deal until 2027. You have to wonder if he remains at Portman Road Stadium following a rapid rise although things can take a nasty turn in football very quickly.
Elsewhere in the Championship, there is also Michael Carrick. He almost did the impossible job last season by guiding bottom-table Middlesbrough back to the Premier League but it couldn't be worse this campaign — they're dead last, 24th out of 24 teams.
Their underlying numbers aren't that bad with expected goals standing at 7.3 while they've actually only scored three. Part of the reason for the slump is that they failed to replace Chuba Akpom and Cameron Archer who gave them 39 goals combined last season.
Hopefully, Middlesbrough give Carrick time to sort it out and if anything, they had a bad start last season, as well.
