Norwegian tops the list to take over from McKenna as fans digest the Northern Irishman’s move to step down

As Bodø/Glimt head coach Kjetil Knutsen today (Friday, June 12) emerged as the bookies’ favourite for the vacant Town manager’s job, after Kieran McKenna stepped down from the role on Wednesday, Super Blues fans are still digesting the Northern Irishman’s decision to leave the club.

There’s a mixture of sadness and regret at the move to leave Portman Road but an understanding behind his motives.

He’s acquired a prestigious lasting legacy as a man who guided the Town back to greatness with three promotions in four years.

He has walked away from the club ahead of its return to the Premier League citing that he wants to take a break from management.

The news came in the wake of talkSPORT reporting that McKenna was interested in the managerial vacancy at Fulham.

But it was later revealed that he was stepping back from his role at the club to spend more time with his family.

Make no mistake he has been a breath of fresh air both on and off the pitch.

His relationship with the press has been exemplary, calm and authoritative in every way, and his management of the team has been equally impressive from the time he walked into the club.

He built a talented team who set the football world alight with back to back promotions from League One to the Championship and the Premier League.

The 2025/26 season was his biggest challenge but he conquered it despite a slow start to finish second to league champions Coventry City.

Fans were looking forward to him guiding the Town through the Premiership season but that’s not to be following his shock decision.

But he goes with fond wishes from the club, and the fans, and ranks highly alongside Sir Alf Ramsey, Sir Bobby Robson and George Burley as one of the best managers at the club.

Meanwhile, the manager merry-go-round as to who takes over from McKenna goes on.

Whoever gets appointed has a particularly hard and tough act to follow but the club is in a strong position to maintain a challenge for Premier League survival.

Knutsen’s name began to appear among the frontrunners for the job yesterday (Thursday, June 11) afternoon, but this morning BetVictor priced the 57-year-old at evens, moving ahead of early favourite Gary O’Neil, who is down to 6/4.

Behind them, another Norwegian, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, is at 5/1, Brian Barry-Murphy at 6/1 and Rob Edwards, who departed Wolves yesterday and was among the bosses the Blues were eyeing two years ago when McKenna was tipped to move on, is at 10/1 alongside and former Blues loanee Liam Rosenior.

It’s Knutsen’s success in Europe which has caught most attention outside Norway, reaching the group stage of the 2021/22 Europa Conference League, then the semi-finals of the Europa League in 2024/25, where they were beaten by Spurs, becoming the first Norwegian side to progress to that stage of a European competition.

In 2025/26, Knutsen’s reputation was further enhanced when Glimt made it as far as the last 16 of the Champions League, having knocked out Inter Milan via a 5-2 aggregate victory.