Kayden Jackson admits he could hardly believe it when Town were drawn to play against his former team, Accrington Stanley, in the FA Cup this weekend — although he had been warned it was on the cards by ‘psychic’ relatives.
The striker, who made the switch to Portman Road back in August last year, remembers his reaction when the clubs were paired together by one-time Town target Ruud Gullit and Paul Ince during the third round draw live on television.
Jackson, 24, laughed: "I just thought to myself ‘Typical’. I was looking for Liverpool at Anfield or similar but it seems it was written in the stars. I even had a lot of family members speaking to me about it before the draw and suggesting it would be Accrington away.
"Obviously, I’m looking forward to going back. I had some really good times there last season and I’ll always have really fond memories of my time as an Accrington player.
"My move to Barnsley never really worked out but it gave me an opportunity to join Accrington, which was an opportunity to go and play football.
"That is the most important thing for a player and it really worked out well for me. I’ll always be thankful to them and I’ll always be in touch with the people there who gave me the opportunity.
"I’ve heard from a few of the lads up there and the gaffer [John Coleman] sent me a text on the day of the draw saying ‘Typical’ but he used different words!
"He’s a really good guy, a bit different to what I’ve had in the past but someone I’ll always be a big fan of. I really enjoyed my time with him up there.”
Jackson only spent one season with Stanley but he helped them win the League Two title with 16 goals, while strike partner Billy Kee claimed a further 26 and is a player for whom the Town player has a lot of respect.
"Billy was massive for me to be fair,” Jackson continued. "He’s the type of player who soaks up the physical nature of the game and he helped me to get on with my work on the side of it.
"I worked really well with him and we had a really good partnership. I wish him all the best in the future, but after Saturday.
"Could he step up to Championship level? I’m sure he is good enough. He’s definitely got the ability, plus the know-how you need at this level, he’s played a lot of games and scored a lot of goals, so I don’t see any reason why not.”
While boss Paul Lambert insists he will not field a weakened team — a favourite tactic of former manager Mick McCarthy — Jackson’s view is that a run in the world’s oldest knockout tournament could be just what Town need as they battle against the very real threat of being relegated to League One.
"Winning games is what we need to be doing, whether it’s in the league or the cup,” he added. "If we could win a few, which we’ve lacked this season, it would give us the winning feeling that we’ve missed.
"There’s nothing better as a habit than winning games and we need something like that to spark a bit of positivity.
"As a competition it has been special to me since I was a young kid. When you see games like Havant and Waterlooville against Liverpool at Anfield, stuff like that, it’s something you always aspire to be part of.
"I’m looking forward to it and hopefully we can have a good cup run this year. If we win cup games it will help our league form.”