Promotion veteran Simon Milton, who MCed this afternoon’s party in Christchurch Park, says the club is just getting better and better having secured their return to the Premier League at the first attempt.

Milton, 62, was a member of the 1991/92 squad which carried off the old Second Division title to claim a place in the inaugural Premier League season.

Following his retirement, the £5,000 signing from Bury Town spent many years working at Portman Road and Playford Road in a variety of roles and is now a club ambassador, in addition to being the director of the Futurestars charity.

“It’s just incredible, honestly,” Milton said, reflecting on 30,000 people lining the streets and filling the park to salute Kieran McKenna’s squad. “I’ve been at this club a long time, I’ve been involved in promotions myself. I was involved in 2000 when we won at Wembley as part of the staff.

“And the last three promotions in the last four years have just been incredible. You look at what it takes to get a club running properly and we’ve got what it takes.

“You can get it so wrong, you can look at clubs who may have the right financial structure, but they haven’t got the right management team, they haven’t got the right manager, they haven’t got the right players, but this club has just got better and better and better. Being a part of it and being a part of today is an absolute privilege.”

Asked whether the afternoon brought back memories of his promotion team’s celebrations, which were held on the Cornhill rather than in the park, the former midfielder added: “It sort of does but that’s a long time ago, 34 years ago! I said in the corporate areas on Saturday, when we won our last game against Brighton having become champions, where was our bus welcome? In 1992 things like that didn’t happen. The world has changed so much.

“I was talking to Wes [Burns] there and over the course of your career, you might not win a medal — he’s picked up three in the last four years!

“Just a massive achievement, all of those players, wherever they’ve come from. It was really nice to speak to Ashley Young because you think about the clubs he’s played for, the career he’s had, but he still knows this is a special club as well.

“It was really good, Kieran was emotional, [chairman and CEO] Mark [Ashton] was emotional and croaky. We’ve got the End-of-Season Dinner tonight, so that’s another big event, the last event, and then it all calms down a bit and then we prepare for next year.”

But for the moment, Milton says this is a time to celebrate rather than think too much about what next season might hold in store.

“This is the moment,” he continued. “A long, hard season, a difficult start, right the way through the season it’s ‘will we, won’t we?’.

“But I’ve got so much faith in this manager. He does the right things, he picks the right players, he gets the most out of them, systems, however. Whatever he does, he does well and we’re delighted to have him.”

Milton admits he would love to have been part of a McKenna side during his playing days.

“That’s what you look at,” he said. “Someone asked me about ’92, what we had in ’92. In ’92, we had a really good squad but we had a brilliant manager in John Lyall.

“And this year, we’ve got a really, really good squad, but we’ve also got the brilliant manager. That’s vitally important.”

Photo: TWTD