Tomorrow marks the first anniversary of Kieran McKenna’s appointment as Town manager and Kayden Jackson has hailed his achievements over the past 12 months in transforming the club’s fortunes.

A year ago today the Blues were knocked out of the FA Cup in a second-round replay defeat at League Two side Barrow, but there was no dwelling on the disappointment as McKenna was unveiled in a matter of hours after leaving his position as first-team coach at Manchester United to launch his management career at Portman Road.

At that stage of the league campaign Town were sitting 12th in the table with 28 points from 22 games played, whereas now they are in pole position with 45 points from only 21 games, which represents a magnificent turnaround spearheaded by the 36-year-old Ulsterman.

Jackson, 28, recalled: “The defeat at Barrow was one of a few too many difficult moments for us. That’s football, that’s life; there are many people in far less fortunate positions than footballers and we just had to get our heads down.

“The boss always says you are going to have highs and lows along the way but it’s about maintaining that level of focus whether you win or lose a game. Thankfully, the boss came in at a perfect time after that game at Barrow and was able to give everyone a lift, myself included.

“I had a really good chat with him after that and it probably brought me from one of my lowest lows to having a real sense of positivity and a sense of purpose again. It was definitely good timing and it has been one helluva year, while we also know we can be much better still.”

Asked if McKenna brought a more professional outlook to the role of manager, Jackson replied: “Without a shadow of doubt, yes, 100 per cent. You can see why he has come from where he has come from. Everything about the way he goes about his work, and the support staff as well, is something I had never experienced before.

“We’ve had good managers, people who had worked at a good level and been successful, but it definitely feels different now. No stone unturned in the pursuit of becoming a really good team and whenever the levels drop, which is very rare to be honest, it’s not for long.

“In the year under the present manager we’ve maintained the highest of standards on a day-to-day basis and going into match days as well. When the levels drop he soon lets you know and he doesn’t stand for it for very long.

“It’s testament to the lads that we’ve managed to keep the standards so high for so long, while also keeping the work rate high at all times, even at times like this where the weather is poor and the pitches are becoming more challenging.

“We are sticking to our principles, we are trying to play the right way both on and off the ball and it’s definitely a big part of the reason we are where we are.”

Jackson echoed the sentiments of his colleagues, who have raved about McKenna’s level of preparation from one game to the next, adding: “The detail is incredible. But not only that, it’s the way the boss and his staff get the messages across to us as well. Anybody could go through the detail, but it’s about how it is delivered.

“There are no grey areas and if anything crops up that the lads are unsure about, within minutes, even seconds, it is eradicated and everyone is focused and knows their roles within the team.

“I think that’s why we can tinker the system a little bit more than we have done in the past. There are players playing out of position — I’ve played in roles I had never played in the past — but the detail they deliver and the messages they get across mean there are no excuses for having a poor game.

“I can’t come out and say I didn’t have my best game because I was playing in this position or that position, because going into the game we all knew what we were doing.”

Asked if players are granted much one-on-one time with the manager, Jackson continued: “We are and also with the other staff there is a lot of one-on-one time, not just going over clips and stuff like that but also discussing how we are feeling mentally going into games and just giving us that boost when needed.

“You know, it’s tough to get a run in the team as an attacking player. Everyone that has come in has done well all throughout the season when there have been injuries and stuff like that.

“The manager is always on to us to go into every game feeling confident and he always lets us know how he sees the game being played out and how he sees our roles in the team. It has been a really good year for me, a year that I have thoroughly enjoyed, but I know going forward that I can learn even more from him.”

The former Accrington Stanley striker has netted two League One goals this season from his 19 appearances, only eight of which were as a member of the starting line-up, and he turned his attention to McKenna’s tendency to rotate his attacking players, often to the surprise of supporters and following a good win.

Jackson added: “It can be frustrating, the rotation, and it’s true that players want to play in every game. In my view, if you don’t have the desire to play every game you shouldn’t be playing football, especially at the level we are at now.

“If we had lads who are just happy to sit on the bench, or not be involved at all, we wouldn’t be where we are in the league and we wouldn’t have the standards that we do have.

“I want to play every game as well, but physically I don’t think that would be possible. The work rate that we put in as a forward line — we often don’t play more than 60 or 65 minutes, depending on the style of the game and how a game goes — means I’m just happy, when called upon, to go out there and work hard to try to help the team win and move forward.”

Jackson is in his fifth season as a Town player, initially arriving when the club was still in the Championship having been signed by manager Paul Hurst, whose reign was short-lived. Both subsequent bosses, Paul Lambert and Paul Cook, regularly overlooked him, and there was even a time when he was banished to train with the development squad.

It’s a different scenario under McKenna, who has consistently stated how appreciative he is of what Jackson has to offer, and the fact that he has featured in 19 of Town’s 21 league games in the current campaign underlines that fact.

On the subject of being more involved than at any other stage of his Blues career, Jackson said: “It definitely feels like it has been a long time coming. Of course, I’d have liked it to have happened sooner and have the feeling I have at the moment, but there have been some spells where I’ve really enjoyed playing, regardless of what’s been going on in the background.

“As a footballer, you just want to be playing and contributing with a smile on your face. Unfortunately, we’ve had quite a few disappointments in that time, but it’s important to keep that behind us now and not reflect too much on it; just live in the moment and, at the end of the day, we’ve got a really good team at the moment with a really good staff around us.

“It’s about enjoying that and going out every match day to give our all and create something very positive. We all want to be celebrating together at the end of the season and if we stick together as a team, as a club, fans included, we’ll get there in the end.”

Town have been top of League One in other seasons, only for the promotion challenge to fizzle out, but Jackson emphasised: “It feels different, 100 per cent. We might be top of the table but we’ll work as hard as if we were in a relegation fight.

“The work doesn’t stop because we’re sitting in such a good position. There is still a long way to go. In the past, I wouldn’t say we’ve just been content to start the season well, but we’ve got our eye on the ball this time and it definitely feels different.

“We’ll do what we can as a team, as a group, as a club, to maintain this and keep improving. I think that’s what we possibly lacked in the past as well. Of course, we’ll need a bit of luck along the way, because we’ve had injuries alongside the good spells and stuff like that.

“At this moment in time we have a few lads out, with some of them having quite serious injuries as well, but we’ve managed to maintain the standards that we’ve set this season and keep pushing ourselves on as a team. We’re looking good and hopefully we can maintain that over the course of the season.”

Photo: Matchday Images

Linkboy13 added 19:09 - Dec 15 Great attitude and work rate presses very well but we need to do it all over the pitch just like the top teams in the premier league. In my opinion we have the best squad in the league but sometimes we look like we are in third gear and wonder why we concede not long after taking the lead.
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