View from the Visitors: Matt Holland on Rodri, Pep, McKenna, incredible City and thriving Ipswich

We spoke to Ipswich Town legend Matt Holland about this weekend’s clash with City at the Etihad.

Holland joined Ipswich in 1997 and captained George Burley’s men to promotion to the Premier League through the Play-Offs in 2000. He spent six years with the Tractor Boys, making over 300 appearances before departing in 2003. He became an ambassador in 2022 before joining the club’s board of directors ahead of this 2024/25 season.

How delighted are you to see Ipswich Town in the Premier League?

To say I’m delighted is an understatement. It’s been a long time coming. We went down in 2002 so 22 years later, we are back in the Premier League although we didn’t expect it would take this long. It’s been too long really. Much like City back in the day, many years ago, we spent some time in League One and found it a real struggle.

But the last two years have been nothing short of sensational. It’s been an amazing, incredible ride since the new ownership and the new manager came in.

I am thrilled and can’t wait for the game against City. It’s been a baptism of fire facing Liverpool on the opening day followed by the champions, City. It doesn’t get any more difficult. What a welcome to the Premier League!

What did you make of their promotion season?

It’s been incredible. Since the new ownership came in, there’s been investment on and off the pitch. To be successful you need a good team and you need to invest in players but you also need a good infrastructure and that was something that was perhaps not quite right. Since they have come in that has improved, there’s been money spent on the ground, on the training ground, on new pitches, new hospitality areas, everything really. Everything about the place has been better since they arrived.

And obviously the manager is a key part of that. Kieran McKenna has proven such a brilliant decision by the club to bring him in. They’ve been aware of him, aware of what he had done with coaching but it’s always a bit of a gamble when you give a manager his first go at it but he has been incredible. I can’t speak highly enough of him as a coach but also as a person. Often, in football, you have players who aren’t in the team and they have a problem with the manager but honestly, he hasn’t had that at all. He has the respect of everyone.

What are your hopes for the season?

I don’t think Kieran will set any targets. I don’t think he will say ‘we can achieve this, we can achieve that’. If you look at what happened last season, all three teams that got promoted went back down again. That just tells you how tough it is to compete in the top level in the Premier League. Particularly when we’ve gone from League One to the Premier League in two seasons. That’s a massive jump. Obviously, they will be massively helped by the players who have come into the building this summer. They will make a difference.

But, judging by where we have come from, if we stay up that will be a good achievement this season. It would put the building blocks in place to go again the following season.

Of course, when you played for Ipswich, you followed up promotion with a fifth-place finish under George Burley – what were your memories of that season?

It doesn’t happen very often when a team gets promoted and then has a season like that! Everyone knows how difficult it is when you get promoted and, in all honesty, we didn’t really know where we were at.  But we were a team that had been together for a few years. We had a few near misses and had been knocking on the door of the Premier League for quite some time. There weren’t many changes in that period – we’d sell a player and then we’d bring a couple of others in to improve the squad. But we always felt we were improving and pushing. But when you go up you never really know how you’re going to adapt.

In the first game, we lost 3-1 to Tottenham and it was a bit of a wake-up call. We thought ‘oh wow, this is going to be tough’. Then we faced Manchester United, who’d just won the Treble and their midfielders were Beckham, Keane, Scholes, Giggs. We drew 1-1 at home and that was the game where we thought ‘we can compete’. That gave us the confidence to have a good season and Marcus Stewart had an unbelievable campaign for us too. He scored 19 goals – second in the scoring charts that season behind Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink at Chelsea. It was one to remember.

Do you remember the three games against City that season?

The first League Cup game got called off for rain. Graham Poll was the referee and we were 1-0 up. I kept thinking ‘he can’t call it off, he can’t call it off’.  Then City equalised and he went ‘right everyone off’. It was an easy decision. Marcus Venus scored late on in the rearranged game to win it.

The away game at City in the Premier League, I set up Marcus Stewart up for a goal. He scored two that day. And Hermann Hreidarsson, my roommate, scored the winner.

Then the home game, Ipswich sent City down. Martijn Reuser and I scored in a 2-1 victory at Portman Road.  Joe Royle was City manager and he actually became Ipswich manager after George Burley left. I remember Joe had tried to sign me a few times when he was at City. He was brilliant, a great guy and a superb man manager.

Richard Wright was goalkeeper of that team, he’s now coach at Manchester City – do you still chat to him and how important was he for Ipswich?

Wrighty was brilliant for us! George Burley loved Wrighty.

Last season, I did commentary on City’s game at Brighton for PLP. So I came down early and met Wrighty for a coffee at the team hotel before the game. He’s loving it at City, loves working with Pep, can’t speak highly enough of him, the way he works and the way he treats people.

First away game of the season, away at Manchester City – the champions four seasons in a row – does it come any harder?

City are incredible, as good a team as you will ever see! They are brilliant, everything about them – the structure of the team, top players in every position, competition in every position, a wonderful manager. They are a joy to watch. It’s football on a level we perhaps have never seen before.

You can’t speak highly enough of City. You’ve got to have the right manager, the right players, the right blend, you have to put everything together. And they have everything!

What do you make of City under Pep Guardiola?

He finds answers to questions all the time. He’s always looking to adapt and improve – full-backs into midfield then centre-halves into midfield. The way they rotate, take the ball, keep the ball, the way they hunt the ball when they lose it, it’s such a high level – and it’s so detailed.

Often when he signs players, it takes them a bit of time to adjust because they need to adapt to how he wants them to play. They have to wait their turn to come in because he wants them to understand their roles fully before integrating them into the team. You have to admire it.

Could you have imagined, when you were playing, that City would be where they are now?

You wouldn’t have envisaged that, no. Life does work in cycles. And football is like that. But when you saw City back then, you could never have seen them doing what they have done.

Much like, Ipswich. If you’d have said before the new owners and new manager came in that we’d be back in the Premier League in such quick time, then I’d have said no chance. But now everything has changed and clicked.

Football shouldn’t surprise you but I would never have said it.

Which City players do you like?

I am a big Rodri fan. I do love the way he plays. Yes he is a holding midfielder, but look at the goals he scores, the way he’s a driving force, the way he holds the ball, the way he wins the ball back, he has everything. He is the glue that holds it all together. And he is surrounded by flair. That’s not saying he’s not talented himself – he clearly is – but he is the figurehead in the middle of the pitch that holds it all together. He'd be my favourite City player.

But you also can’t ignore the likes of Phil Foden and Kevin De Bruyne. De Bruyne is a genius. I was at the Euros this summer when Belgium beat Romania 2-0, his vision, his weight of pass, his ability on the ball was frightening, scarily good. John Stones is vital. Josko Gvardiol had a great season. Manuel Akanji too. What an incredible signing for the price they paid. They’re all at an elite level but Rodri is my favourite.

Final question – what’s your prediction?

City have great quality. They are the champions - and have been for four seasons. And their record at the Etihad is second to none.

Who knows though? Brentford went there and won two seasons ago. It’s happened before.  City could have a nightmare day and Ipswich could have a day when the keeper makes save and after save and we win 1-0.

Let’s wait and see!