Following back-to-back promotions, the Blues claimed just 22 points in their first top flight season in 22 years and were relegated with four games to go.
Even with the departure of talisman [Liam Delap to Chelsea](https://www.eadt.co.uk/sport/25203411.ipswich-town-mark-ashton-liam-delap-relegation-release-clause/), Town still have a squad packed with proven top end Championship players with further room for growth. And there is also summer recruitment to come.
Already, ahead of the 2025/26 fixtures being announced at 12pm tomorrow, most bookies have Ipswich as favourites for promotion ahead of Southampton, Sheffield United, Birmingham, Middlesbrough, Coventry and Leicester.
Asked how confident he was that Town would be challenging at the top end of the table, McKenna replied: “I'm confident. That's the truth.
“But we know how relentless that division is as well. Every year there are upsets - teams who do better than expected, teams who do worse than expected. It's a 46-game season where everyone competes hard every week. It's one of the most competitive divisions in Europe.
"We know we're starting from scratch. In some ways we'll be in a better position than last time we were in the Championship. In other ways it'll be more difficult because we're now in a position of being one of the bigger clubs coming back to the division.
"We know that we can't take anything for granted as we're not going to get any head start or any favours. It's going to be hard work and smart work that's going to get us what we want.
"It's a new challenge. We know what we're going to face and I think we will be in a really good position to face it."
Ipswich players are due to start returning for pre-season across next next week before heading off for an Austrian training camp on July 14. Friendly matches will follow in Austria (Blau-Weiß Linz, Sat, July 19), Scotland (Aberdeen, Fri, July 25) and France (Auxerre, Sat, Aug 2) ahead of the big kick-off on the weekend of August 8-10.