Town striker Kayden Jackson is poised to make his first senior start since March in tomorrow night’s Carabao Cup first round clash with Colchester at Portman Road and admits: “It will be a big moment for me.”
Jackson, now in his fifth season as a Blue after his £1 million-plus move from Accrington in the summer of 2018, is eager to impress manager Kieran McKenna, under whose influence he believes his game has greatly improved.
The pacy front man, who has so far netted 21 goals in 120 appearances in all competitions, was cruelly injured in the goalless home draw with Portsmouth last season when he pulled up with a hamstring problem and missed the final eight games of the campaign as Town’s play-off challenge fizzled out.
Jackson, 28, said: "When the injury came it was the worst possible time because I was feeling the best I had ever felt in an Ipswich shirt.
"Finally, I had the trust and the backing from my manager and it was going really well, so I want to get back out there again and show people what I can do.”
The Bradford-born player, who has become one of the longest-serving at the club and even signed a new contract in May to extend his stay by a further two years, made little progress under former managers Paul Cook and Paul Lambert.
He added: "It hadn’t been going well under the previous gaffers so I was keen to sign and get on with it. I’d had the injury, which required surgery, then the rehabilitation and it was a tricky one to see which route we were going to go down with the rehab. That was all factored into the contract and I just wanted to get back to full fitness.
"Who’d have thought we would have been saying I was one of the longest-serving players? I’ve heard it all, I’ve seen it all and I’ve read it all, so now I’m just hoping we can go on to have a successful season.
"There is more stability at the club and you can’t under-estimate the value of having a full pre-season together, especially with the way the boss likes to work, which is so intense and thorough.
"Everyone being tuned in from the first to the last moment of pre-season has been massive for us and should be a huge help now that we have started the season proper.”
Jackson, a second-half substitute in both Town’s league games this term, is excited at the prospect of being more involved in the current campaign and clearly believes the club is going places.
He said: "It is like the start of a brand new era — this is the Ipswich Town that I thought I was signing for back in 2018. The size of the club, everything is now working how it should be on all fronts.
"You can see it round the ground, what Mark Ashton and the owners who have invested in the club want to do. This is how Ipswich Town should be run.
"The fans can see it and are getting behind it and as players we want to be coming into training and know everything is going in the right direction. Finally it now seems to be running well on all fronts so it’s up to us as players to do our bit on the pitch.”
Jackson is particularly delighted about the rapport between him and McKenna, adding: "It’s incredible and I don’t take it for granted. Every day I am working with him I know for a fact that in however many years to come — one, two or three — he’ll be in the Premier League, so getting to work under someone of his calibre is massive for me.
"I come in every day eager and keen to learn from him. I’m just glad that I have been able to build a good relationship with him and that we have the trust in each other that we do.
"The boss has improved my game since he’s been here and it’s there for everyone to see. He has brought my confidence back 100 per cent. In the past here I was a shadow of the player I have become and the one who was successful at Accrington.
"He has helped me enormously and there is plenty more I can learn from him and show out on the pitch.
"He has worked with some of the best players and coaches in the game and you can see it. The detail, how thorough he is with everything, and then on the flip side he’s a good person and easy to get on with.
"There’s no one he won’t chat with and he’ll put his arm round lads when they need it, while he’ll still tell you if you’re doing something wrong and how to put it right.
"That’s probably the only part of the job that I felt he might struggle with, the man management side of it, because he hadn’t had to do it before, but he has been absolutely unbelievable about it and definitely one of the best I’ve worked with.
"All the lads feel the same and you can see it from how hard everyone is working for him from one game to the next.”
Jackson believes he could do a job for the team in any of the attacking roles. "Yes, there’s plenty of fluidity in there and everybody knows their own, and even each other’s, role within the side,” he said. "I like to think that whatever position he put me in I would be able to go out there and do a good job for him.”
He also praised fellow striker Tyreece John-Jules, who is on a season-long loan from Arsenal and likely to feature tomorrow.
"I’ve really enjoyed working with Ty in training and in the short time we have worked together on the pitch it seems to have clicked,” he added. "That was also the case throughout pre-season when I was obviously playing catch-up after my injury.
"I’ve been really impressed with him. Sometimes it can be difficult for young lads coming in from Premier League clubs, especially one the size of Arsenal, because they are expected to make an impact straight away, day to day and in games.
"He’s dealt with that expectation really well and everything he has done has been incredibly sharp, and I’m looking forward to seeing more of him in action.”