It's been a minute since my last blog and to be honest I hadn't planned on another until a rather enlightening conversation with an old friend.

A non-Ipswich Town supporting friend who had coached and scouted youth football in Spain and Germany. He asked on my excitement levels for the forthcoming season at which I bemoaned the loss of our manager and with it all hope.

There then followed a long conversation that had me pondering, which fed this blog.

Football supporters have a habit of turning successful managers into legends before their story is complete.

Perhaps that is understandable. Success is rare. Hope is precious and when someone comes along and transforms your football club, it is natural to want to believe they are the answer to every question.

Ipswich supporters have spent the last few years watching Kieran McKenna perform what many would describe as a minor miracle. From League One to the Premier League in successive seasons is an achievement that deserves enormous respect.

Yet, now that the dust has settled on his departure, I find myself wondering whether the debate around McKenna has focused on the wrong question.

The question isn't whether he was a good manager of which he clearly was. The question is whether he was a coach or a builder because they are not the same thing.

A coach improves what already exists, he develops players, creates systems, improves fitness, confidence and organisation. He makes individuals and teams perform beyond what their talent alone might suggest.

McKenna undoubtedly excelled in this area. Players improved under him, the football was modern and attractive and the club developed a clear identity.

There was a sense that everyone understood what Ipswich were trying to achieve.

For a football club emerging from years of stagnation, that was transformative.

The coach asks: "How do I make this group better?" and McKenna's answer to that question was exceptional.

A builder operates on a different level. A builder is not merely concerned with next Saturday, he creates structures capable of surviving him, he recruits not simply for today but for three years' time. He adapts when circumstances change and evolves when opponents work him out.

He creates a football club capable of functioning whether he is present or not.

The builder asks: "What will this club look like after I am gone?" which is a far more difficult challenge.

History is full of brilliant coaches. It contains far fewer builders. Sir Alex Ferguson built, Arsène Wenger built, Sir Alf Ramsey built, Sir Bobby Robson built.

Their greatest achievement was not improving a team, it was creating something capable of enduring.

Which brings us back to Ipswich. One of the reasons I am less emotional about McKenna's departure following my conversation with an impartial observer than some supporters is because, in truth, it felt increasingly inevitable.

The speculation never entirely disappeared. There were opportunities explored before. There were moments when it felt as though Ipswich were part of a broader career trajectory rather than a final destination.

That is not necessarily a criticism, football is a profession and managers are ambitious.

Most people would make similar decisions in their own careers.

The issue is not that McKenna left. The issue is that he left before answering the most important question of all.

Could he build a Premier League football club? Promotion answered one question, survival would have answered another.

Getting promoted and staying promoted are entirely different jobs. The first rewards momentum, the second rewards resilience. The first rewards innovation, the second rewards pragmatism.

The first is about creating belief, the second is about surviving reality.

At times last season Ipswich looked tired and predictable. At times we appeared almost over-coached, as though every movement had been carefully rehearsed but spontaneity had been lost.

That may be unfair though as it may simply reflect the gulf in quality between the Premier League and the Championship.

Yet, it is difficult to ignore the fact that the next phase would have been the most challenging of McKenna's career.

Not promotion. Not rebuilding. Not exceeding expectations, simply staying there, year after year.

That is where builders separate themselves from coaches. There is another possibility, one that many supporters quietly suspect but rarely say aloud.

What if McKenna recognised that his reputation might never be higher than it is today?

Football can be ruthless. A young manager who achieves back-to-back promotions becomes football's next great hope.

The same manager suffering two difficult Premier League seasons suddenly becomes a different story.

Fairly or unfairly, reputations matter. The temptation to leave at the top of the curve must be enormous. Again, this is not criticism, it is simply reality.

Every profession contains people who know when their market value has peaked.

The question supporters are left asking is whether McKenna departed because he saw a better opportunity, or because he doubted his ability to complete the next stage of the project. Only he knows the answer.

Which is why Gary O'Neil has started to fascinate me. He arrives with far less fanfare. He is not football's fashionable young genius. Nobody is linking him to Europe's elite clubs. There are no endless debates about revolutionary tactical systems.

What he does possess is something else. Experience of difficult environments, experience with limited resources and the experience of fighting for every point.

In short, experience of building. His challenge is not to repeat McKenna's promotions. That story has already been written. His challenge is to answer the question McKenna left behind.

Can Ipswich become an established Premier League football club? If the answer is yes, then O'Neil may ultimately prove every bit as important to the club's history.

None of this diminishes what McKenna achieved, Ipswich Town are unquestionably stronger today than when he arrived and for that alone he has earned and deserves our eternal gratitude.

But perhaps the time has come to stop treating him as either a saint or a villain.

He was neither. He was an outstanding coach for us. Whether he was also a builder is something we will never know. And perhaps that is why his departure feels so unusual.

Most managers leave after failing, others leave after succeeding, McKenna leaves after creating a question.

The next few years will determine whether Ipswich's recent rise was the work of one exceptional coach, or the foundations of something much larger.

Gary O'Neil now has the opportunity to provide the answer.

ChingShady added 11:31 - Aug 13 Great blog, loved how you conveyed it for simple folk like myself. Personally I always felt KM would leave and this would be a stepping stone in his career. No matter how much it hurt when I first saw the announcement of his departure, if you were in his shoes, understanding the climate of football management and how success is perceived. He left knowing his stock is at it's highest, and I wouldn't be surprised if we see him in top 10 EPL job announced this coming year. He did the best for us, and he could leave without an uproar or tarnishing his reputation with us fans. It was calculated and I do not blame him. I wish him all the success in the future, but he ain't getting a statue or a stand named after him in my books, but he should never need to pay for a meal or a pint in Suffolk as time goes on. Forever grateful for what KM did for us.

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