Town boss Kieran McKenna has spoken about the players’ leadership group which represents the wider dressing room to the club's coaching staff.

The squad nominate members of the group to work alongside skipper Sam Morsy conveying the players’ thoughts on mainly off-field matters.

“I won’t name the players, if that’s OK, because I think that’s private between the players,” McKenna said.

“It’s something that the players vote for. It’s a set-up that I like, we implemented it last season where we got the players to vote for four players to join Samy in a leadership group. Samy’s a terrific captain and we all can see drives standards on the pitch, in the game and in training.

“But I believe and like to have a little bit of a broader leadership base and have some people there to support him so that the captain isn’t handling every single thing in the dressing room and has the support of others around him.

“The players selected four players from the squad who they think would represent the dressing room well and that’s run really, really well.

“It’s something that I sit in pretty irregularly but other than that the leadership group will meet with [assistant manager] Martyn Pert and [first-team coach] Lee Grant and discuss everything around the squad, more on off the pitch issues or areas where we think we can progress and they’ll come back to me with anything I need to know.

“And other than that, they manage it really, really well and it’s something that I feel lucky to have, having such good senior professionals.

“They’re doing a really good job of managing lots of things around the dressing room and the staff support that really well, and it’s a good and important part of the culture that we’ve built.”

He added: “We’ve got, I guess you could say, 29 senior players in the dressing room now, all from different parts of the country, different ages, different backgrounds, some living a long way from home, some living here with families, 11 starting at a weekend and lots of people not starting on a weekend.

“So they need all different types of support and that can come from the staff but they also need support and leadership from within the dressing room, which is why it’s important to have a variety of leaders within the dressing room and we feel we’ve certainly got that.”

Quizzed on what gets discussed in the meetings, the Blues boss continued: “More off the pitch things. Anything form scheduling to what the calendar looks like at the moment, to infrastructure around the building, anything that can be improved.

“They can always request anything that they think would be an addition to the playing group to food on the menus, to travel, to any issues with different players, to any feedback they’d like to give to the staff on the training programmes. Everything really.

“Anything to do with team selection or tactical things or football things, my door’s always open to speak to Samy or any of the players but I think there are so many other things around it that contribute to making a happy and motivated group and it’s things like that that are managed really well between the leadership group and the coaching staff and I can make my contributions as and when they’re needed.”

Photo: TWTD

cooper4england added 02:43 - Sep 29 Amazing. This is more than football.. This is management genius in creating an environment where employees feel heard.
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Len_Brennan added 04:01 - Sep 29 Even when KMcK does finally leave us, to move on to a top 8 Premier League club, we will continue to reap the benefits of his knowledge & thinking, through the initiatives & structures he has already out in place here. He has been an exceptional appointment & the standards he has set here over the last 18 months have been transformational.
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MK1 added 05:21 - Sep 29 This guy is going to leave a legacy at this club that we will all benefit from for many, many years to come. He is exactly the right person we needed at the exact time we needed him. Everything about ITFC just seems good news these days. Such a refreshing change.
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Suffolkboy added 06:47 - Sep 29 A burden shared is always a burden halved ; KM is absolute ‘gold dust ‘ but has worked himself so hard over the many non—playing years to become the best coach and Manager he can to match his personal outlook and ambition in life. He epitomises the standards and ethics he asks of others ,and we are seeing the rewards — but so are ALL the staff at ITFC . We should hope he has bought in 100% to the enticing and exciting prospect of re- building and regenerating ,and sees a true future in Blue ! COYB

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IpswichT62OldBoy added 07:54 - Sep 29 TWTD is like joining a management Ted Talk, very inspiring, I am always learning from K McK.
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Ipswichbusiness added 08:14 - Sep 29 KMc is a very good manager. Hopefully. We can keep him as we kept Booby Robson, although times have changed.
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