(Image: Ipswich Town)
Northern Ireland’s Kieran McKenna celebrated with singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran after Ipswich Town sealed their promotion to the Premier League on Saturday.
Video footage shared on the club’s official social media channels captured Sheeran performing with the victorious team following their emphatic 3-0 win over QPR.
The 35-year-old’s anthem ‘A-team’ rang out in the dressing room, as players, coaching staff, McKenna and Sheeran gathered in a circle to celebrate their return to English football’s elite tier.
Sheeran, a lifelong Ipswich Town fan who bought a minority stake in the club in 2024, was spotted with his arm around Tractors boss McKenna, holding a pint and grinning from ear to ear. When his song started playing, he turned to the squad and asked: “Will you sing it with me?”
McKenna has guided the Suffolk outfit back to the Premier League at the first time of asking, clinching automatic promotion with a match-winning display.
Strikes from George Hirst and Jaden Philogene inside the first nine minutes handed the hosts a comfortable lead, before Kasey McAteer netted a third in the closing stages to ignite wild scenes.
The Tractor Boys required three points in the Sky Bet Championship clash against mid-table QPR to guarantee automatic promotion, with both Millwall and Middlesbrough hot on their heels.
The Lions defeated Oxford while Boro could only secure a draw at Wrexham, leaving Ipswich to claim second spot by just one point. “It’s hard to enjoy to be honest,” McKenna admitted.
“You just really want it for everyone else, the lads who haven’t had it in the group and for the supporters and your family, it means so much.
“I really enjoyed winning 3-0. I’m really proud of my family for again the support they give me, really proud of the staff and the group.”
McKenna acknowledged the difficulty of the journey: “It’s not been easy for that group of players but they’ve really stuck at it and you can’t ever understand how hard it is to get into the Premier League. It’s a great achievement.”
Reflecting on their remarkable rise, he said: “What was done before will never be repeated, it was special to do it, back-to-back from League One with basically the same group I don’t think it will be repeated again.”
He continued: “This one has been more difficult in some ways. This has been a completely different challenge and has been a big challenge, so I know how hard we’ve had to work at it and I know it could have gone in a completely different direction, so I’m really proud that we’ve kept it together and got it over the line.”