Blues manager Kieran McKenna says the welcome independent supporters group Blue Action are planning for the Town coach when it arrives at Portman Road ahead of Saturday’s potential promotion clincher against Exeter City will provide a big boost, as the club’s support has all season.

Blue Action are calling on fellow fans to join them in lining the streets of Sir Alf Ramsey Way and Constantine Road to welcome the coach to the ground.

“I think it’s great and we have to enjoy it,” McKenna said. “We’re really grateful that people are going to come to support us as we go into the stadium.

“We’ve had that in different ways anyway. I’ve said before, I don’t think there are too many League One teams who have the opportunity to get a bus to home games and get the support that we do going into the stadiums home and away.

“The reception when we’ve arrived at the stadium has been excellent and is a big boost to us.

“The fact that that’s going escalate tomorrow and there are going to be lots of people there to push us on is something that we need to enjoy, but the main thing is that we need to use it as fuel for the performance.

“That’s not going to win us the game if we don’t go and do our jobs. But knowing the passion and the support that we have is going to be a big boost, the noise levels in the stadium.

“We need to use that as a boost to our performance and make it difficult for Exeter but alongside all of that we need to be calm, be concentrated, be focused and go and do our jobs to a really high level because you need to do that to win any game in this league and that’s what we’ve focused on to get ourselves to that position and that’s what we need to continue to do.”

Those scenes and those at full-time following Tuesday’s 3-0 win at Barnsley will seem mild by comparison with the celebrations at the end of Saturday’s match should the Blues confirm their return to their Championship.

“I think we can't think too much about the end of the game,” McKenna continued. “Of course, we know if we win, then we're promoted. It would be a great time and a great achievement, but we can't think about the end of the game.

“We need to think about the start of the game and how we approach the game in the first moments, how we impose ourselves on the game, how we penetrate and try and score, how we remain tight defensively and respect their threats and don't give them too many opportunities and our mindset 100 per cent needs to be and is on the actual game.

“What comes after the game will come, but we know we've got a really big job to do against a competitive team, and that's where all of our focus is really.”

If McKenna does take Town back into the Championship, the Blues will be promoted for the first time since George Burley took them into the Premier League via the 4-2 play-off victory over Barnsley at Wembley in 2000.

Town finished fifth in the top flight the following season and qualified for the UEFA Cup but were relegated only a year later.

Since then, it’s been largely years of struggle for the Blues. Managers have come and gone without Town returning to the Premier League, although Joe Royle and Mick McCarthy both made the play-offs, before relegation to League One in 2018/19.

Asked what the secret is to succeeding - assuming Town take their final step towards promotion tomorrow - where others have failed, McKenna said: “There's no secret. Of course, I can't speak about any previous regimes, managers, ownerships or anything like that because I wasn't at the club.

“All I know is now is that there are a lot of people working here working really hard and working together.

“I've worked really hard with the coaching staff, with all the support staff behind the scenes and the players have worked really hard.

“[CEO] Mark Ashton is working really, really hard at developing all the other aspects of the club and managing all of the staff and building up the club.

“Off the pitch, the ownership has been fantastic and really supportive, and everyone is working really hard and pulling in the same direction.

“So I don't think there is any secret. There's a lot of hard work going into improving the team, which we have done.

“There’s been a lot of hard work going into improving the direction and spirit of the club, and there's certainly been an improvement.

“Everyone is just focused now on continuing that direction of travel and tomorrow is a big day in that and we're going to try and make it a successful one on and off the pitch.”

Photo: Matchday Images

Bazza8564 added 17:40 - Apr 28 Brilliant guy, but i think deep down he will be bursting with pride because he knows how much it means to us all. What I love most about KM is his absolute refusal to get emotionally charged and animated before games. He is focused, he focuses the players minds so well. But afterwards we see his joy, ive not been away since Derby but his face afterwards with us was just brilliant. Well done Blue Action for getting this together

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DifferentGravy added 19:25 - Apr 28 Cannot speak highly enough of the players, manager, staff, fans and club as a whole. Feels like a breath of fresh air and exciting times to be a supporter of ITFC. For me, the celebrating can wait until Town get the job done. Exeter wont be an easy game and the champagne will only pop if/when we get the three points. Concentration time! COYB
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SuperBlue69 added 22:08 - Apr 28 We are going up💙💙
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BurleysGloryDays added 09:26 - Apr 29 Agree Bazza, he's bursting with pride but continuing to be the leader we need him to be. Pure gold dust. In good time, he'll be lined up with Alf, Bobby and George.
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Robert_Garrett added 08:54 - May 1 Kieran McKenna is a Blue, he knows what to do. Give him a ten year contract with increments for getting into the Premier League and winning the FA Cup?
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