Kieran McKenna began his coaching journey on crutches. He was aged just 22, and coming to terms with the premature end of his playing career after a second major hip operation when Tottenham academy bosses invited him to join them.
Just for a taste of it. To see if he liked the idea. Turned out he liked it a lot. Turned out he was pretty good at it, too, just as those who extended the invitation knew he would be, and McKenna set about plotting a route to the top.
The early steps involved a sports science degree at Loughborough University, coaching the students in non-League and Nottingham Forest’s Under 9s in the evenings and spending summers coaching in North America.