Kieran McKenna was watching from the stands as Manchester United won the FA Youth Cup last night.

The Ipswich Town boss, who joined the Blues from Old Trafford in December, was sat in the directors box as the Red Devils beat Nottingham Forest to lift the trophy for the first time in 11 years.

A crowd of more than 67,000 watched the game, with McKenna at Old Trafford along with the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson, Michael Carrick, Bruno Fernandes, Sam Allardyce, David de Gea, Nicky Butt and Ryan Giggs.

McKenna assisted both Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Old Trafford, before opting to take the top job at Portman Road.

Links between Town and United have already been forged, with the Blues hosting two young players at Playford Road before the end of last season.

Charlie Savage and Will Fish both trained with the Ipswich first team as part of a long-standing work experience scheme operated by United, with further spells possible for hand-picked United youngsters.

Discussing the pair, who didn’t feature in the Youth Cup game, McKenna said recently: "It's a project that Man United have done for a little while now. I think it's a really good project. It gives players in that type of bracket some experience before they go out on loan at some stage in the near future. It gets them used to a few of the things that entails.

"It was good for the boys to come down here from their point of view and it was good for us to have them competing and training in our group. I think it's a really important relationship for us to keep developing."

Asked if either player could return to Ipswich on loan, McKenna added: "I think they are part of a very big group of boys who could come on loan. I won't go into the two players individually, but I know them both well. They are both very young and early in their careers.

"I think it's not our decision, it's their decision and the club's decision on what their next steps will be in their careers. We'll leave that for now to the boys themselves and to Manchester United."

Meanwhile, McKenna’s close friend and former United colleague, Carrick, is the favourite for the vacancy at Lincoln City.

Carrick stepped in as caretaker following Solskjaer’s United sacking, before departing soon after.

Michael Appleton’s exit means there is an opening at Sincil Bank, with Carrick heading a betting list also including former Ipswich midfielder Mark Kennedy.