Former Ipswich Town boss Paul Lambert praised Kieran McKenna for securing back-to-back promotions, but labelled the Premier League as ‘overrated’ ahead of the club’s return after 22 years away.

The Blues’ 2-0 win against Huddersfield Town last Saturday secured a second-place finish in the Championship, ensuring that they’d move straight to the top flight of English football after just one season back in the second tier.

Lambert admitted that McKenna has done a ‘fabulous job’ to guide them all the way up from League One in such a short space of time, comparing it to his stint with arch-rivals Norwich City.

READ MORE: The story of Town's promotion season in pictures

However, he also warned that next season might not be as enjoyable for them, claiming that teams only want to be in the Premier League for the financial reasons.

“Ipswich Town are a completely different club to the one I left in 2021,” he said via Betway. “They’ve got different ownership and I think there’s only one player left from my time there.

“Paul Cook took over after me, and then Kieran McKenna had to change the whole dressing room, and that's what he's done.

East Anglian Daily Times: The Blues celebrated promotion with a bus parade on Monday afternoonThe Blues celebrated promotion with a bus parade on Monday afternoon (Image: PA)

“The lads have done pretty similar to what I did at Norwich in going for back-to-back promotions, and Kieran's done a fabulous job, so big credit to him.

“Ipswich is a great club with a great fanbase behind them.

"However, I think that the Premier League, for me, is overrated. Without a doubt it's overrated. Teams want to be in it for the money and that’s been proven."

On a personal level, Lambert is yet to return to management after leaving Ipswich back in 2021, and he revealed that he’s in no rush to do so.

“I've been asked to go back into management a few times, in England as well as in other countries. I’ve just got back from doing some coaching in Australia with Dortmund, meeting different people.

“I’ve been asked to go back in, but I think most of the offers have been firefighting. I’ve made the decision that I don’t want to do that sort of thing, so I’ll wait and see.

“I’m enjoying myself at the moment, I've been all over Europe looking at different teams and watching training, meeting different managers and coaches.

“In regards to returning to the Football League, you can never say never. I've had a few offers to go back to England but I said no.

“It wasn’t what interested me at the time. If something is right, I'll go back in.”