Ipswich Town Nears Gary O’Neil Appointment as Head Coach

Ipswich Town are closing on Gary O’Neil as their next head coach, with the club expecting to confirm the 43-year-old as Kieran McKenna’s successor in the coming days.

Local outlets the East Anglian Daily Times and Ipswich Star report that personal terms with O’Neil are close to being agreed. An official approach to BlueCo, the ownership group that controls Strasbourg, is set to follow, and Ipswich are not anticipating late complications in sealing the deal.

The search to replace McKenna has been anything but low-key. Former Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was among those seriously considered for the Portman Road job, underlining the scale of Ipswich’s ambitions after their recent rise.

O’Neil, though, has steadily built a reputation as one of the sharpest young coaches in the game.

He first stepped into the Premier League spotlight with Bournemouth in the 2022/23 season, inheriting a side widely tipped for relegation and steering them to safety. His work on the south coast drew praise for its pragmatism and clarity, only for Bournemouth to replace him with Andoni Iraola at the end of the campaign.

Wolves moved quickly to give him another chance in the top flight. His spell at Molineux ended with his sacking in December 2024, yet his stock did not collapse with it. It was later claimed that Wolves held talks over bringing him back in November 2025, only for O’Neil to withdraw from that process himself.

He chose a different route, heading to France and Strasbourg. That gamble has paid off.

In just six months at the Stade de la Meinau, O’Neil guided Strasbourg to the semi-finals of the UEFA Conference League and an eighth-place finish in Ligue 1, a run that sharpened interest from clubs back across the Channel.

Ipswich now intend to make him the man to lead their next phase, and he is expected to arrive with a familiar inner circle. Tim Jenkins and Neil Critchley, who have worked alongside him at Strasbourg, are set to form the core of his backroom staff at Portman Road.

A coach who has already fought relegation, handled Premier League scrutiny and thrived in Europe is on the brink of taking charge of one of English football’s most upwardly mobile clubs. The question now is not whether Ipswich will get their man, but how far O’Neil can take them once he walks through the door.