Ipswich Town: Kayden Jackson on Premier League promotion

Standing on the pitch, surrounded by smiles, overjoyed fans and fellow players revelling in what they'd just achieved, Kayden Jackson takes it all in.

My opening question is one he probably never thought he'd be asked, much less have to answer. "You've just been promoted to the Premier League, how does that sound?"

Jackson shakes his head, lets out a chuckle of disbelief and replies: “It sounds surreal, to be honest.

"After everything we’ve been through the last five or six years, to be here, standing here today saying we’ve secured promotion to the Premier League is incredible.”

Kayden Jackson was a big money signing under short-lived boss Paul Hurst (Image: ITFC)
While elevation to the Premier League is huge for any player, for Jackson it's the culmination of a remarkable reversal of fortunes with Town.

He arrived at the club in the summer of 2018, a £1.6m big-money Paul Hurst signing from Accrington Stanley expected to score the goals to fire Town towards the top of the second tier.

Of course, that didn't work out. Hurst only lasted 15 games and rock-bottom Town were relegated to League One with a whimper under new boss Paul Lambert.

The 30-year-old is one of only three players at the club to remain from that nadir - the others being Janoi Donacien and Luke Woolfenden.

I ask him if that makes this extraordinary achievement even better.

Jackson is one of only three players at Town remaining for their relegation to League One (Image: � Copyright Stephen Waller)
“It makes it extra sweet, absolutely," Jackson - who at one point was banished to train with the under 23s by Lambert - agrees. 

"To have seen everything that went on, been a part of it and worked through it – I’m just thankful that I’m here now.

“You never know what’s going to happen in football. There’s been a lot of change and a lot of struggle over the years, but to be here today makes it all worth it.”

Town's rapid ascent has all come under boss Kieran McKenna, a man who has converted Jackson from a striker to an electrifying right winger. He's bagged three goals in 33 games this season, often being one of McKenna's trademark game-changing super subs.

“I think it’s obvious and clear to see," he replies, when asked what exactly McKenna brings to the Blues as boss.

"He brings an unbelievable work ethic, which is only matched by the players who play for him.

“What an unbelievable man, what an unbelievable person, what an unbelievable manager. He truly has it all.

“Unfortunately it’s a rarity in football, but he’s incredible - and he’s been incredible for me from day one.

“I always say that every day I work with him I’ll never take for granted because of how special he is as a manager and as a person.

“He’s been incredible for me.”

Kayden Jackson takes it all in on Saturday (Image: Ross Halls)
While McKenna has certainly been superb, the Town team he's put together are also a special bunch.

Much has been written about the way they play, their resilience, their hard work and camaraderie - but what, for Jackson, stands out?

“The focus and the humility," he tells me, after pausing to think. "Every day we come in and work twice as hard as the last day, and that’s such a rarity in football.

“I’ve been in and around good groups and successful groups, but no group as good as this and as together as this.

“If you told us we had a game Tuesday, we’d come in tomorrow and we’d prepare with the same focus, even on the back of scenes like today.

“That’s just how we are as players and how we are as people. We want to work hard for each other and the team and I think it’s showed over the last two seasons.”

The next step for this group will be the biggest yet - tackling the best league in the world.

As my final question I ask Jackson - who's out of contract this summer - if he's allowed himself to think about playing in the Premier League, and what the underdog Blues might be able to achieve in a division where mega-money talks.

Kayden Jackson says he wouldn't put anything past a Kieran McKenna side (Image: Ross Halls)
He says: “This season we had a confidence in each other and the group and we knew what we could achieve.

"Yes, it was going to be tough, it was going to be tricky – but we kept our heads down and focused. We knew what we were capable of as a team.

“So look, I wouldn’t put anything past a Kieran McKenna team – that’s how special he is.

“And I wouldn’t put anything past this group.”