Kayden Jackson

[justthisone]

Greetings,  Ipswich  fan here, but don't worry I won't be making any more posts other than just this one.

I'd just like to say how pleased I was that Jackson got a really good move to a good club when he left Town,  and more so that he seems to have had a pretty good start with you.

KJ has had some footballing journey. He literally won a competition to be a pro footballer with Swindon Town,  only to spend his time there loaned out to Swindon Supermarine and various other non-league teams, before finally working his way into the football league and then getting what must have seemed like a dream move for him Championship Ipswich.  Unfortunately for KJ it was at a time when Town were utterly rubbish.  Hurst had just come in as manager,  sold anyone decent (Martyn Waghorn and Adam Webster most notably)  and replaced them with a bunch of league one players unproven at a higher level,  most of whom were individually not up to Championship level and collectively way off it.  Only Jackson and Janoi Donacien came good, and it took time for both of them. The end result was that Town got relegated with barely a whimper.

I'd like to say that in the lower league KJ shone, but he didn't.  He was mostly decent and put a shift in but wasn't really at the sort of level that would help get us promoted back to the Championship.  After an up and down few years under Pauls Lambert and Cook he ended up training with the under 23s and was in the 'bomb squad' those players that Cook wanted to shift on.

Then  McKenna took over and transformed him.  He seemed to gain confidence and though he was mostly a 'finisher' coming on as a sub more often than being in the starting eleven, particularly at Championship level,  he never let us down, always worked hard and made a lot of crucial contributions,  more in terms of making chances for others than scoring himself, including one of the best assists I was all last seasn where he put a low cross right onto Nathan Broadhead's toe for what was a lovely finish,  Broady could be seen mouthing 'what a ball' to KJ afterwards.  He did also score some crucial goals for us too,  a wonderful goal against Sunderland and another against Stoke after making space with some lovely movement stood out for me.

Just as importantly he always had a terrific attitude,   just about every fan who has met seems to have nothing but positive things to say about him, he does seem to be a genuinely great guy.  This, quite moving, post on TWTD gives a hint of what he's like https://www.twtd.co.uk/forum/548325/5423156/

Anyway, we paid about £1.5m for him when he was far from the finished product, you have picked him up on a free after McKenna worked his magic for him.  You have got an absolute steal.   I wish both KJ and yourselves well for the coming seasns.

Anyway, that's it from me. Over and Out. Uppa Town

 

 

[Kathcairns]

5 minutes ago, justthisone said:

Greetings,  Ipswich  fan here, but don't worry I won't be making any more posts other than just this one.

I'd just like to say how pleased I was that Jackson got a really good move to a good club when he left Town,  and more so that he seems to have had a pretty good start with you.

KJ has had some footballing journey. He literally won a competition to be a pro footballer with Swindon Town,  only to spend his time there loaned out to Swindon Supermarine and various other non-league teams, before finally working his way into the football league and then getting what must have seemed like a dream move for him Championship Ipswich.  Unfortunately for KJ it was at a time when Town were utterly rubbish.  Hurst had just come in as manager,  sold anyone decent (Martyn Waghorn and Adam Webster most notably)  and replaced them with a bunch of league one players unproven at a higher level,  most of whom were individually not up to Championship level and collectively way off it.  Only Jackson and Janoi Donacien came good, and it took time for both of them. The end result was that Town got relegated with barely a whimper.

I'd like to say that in the lower league KJ shone, but he didn't.  He was mostly decent and put a shift in but wasn't really at the sort of level that would help get us promoted back to the Championship.  After an up and down few years under Pauls Lambert and Cook he ended up training with the under 23s and was in the 'bomb squad' those players that Cook wanted to shift on.

Then  McKenna took over and transformed him.  He seemed to gain confidence and though he was mostly a 'finisher' coming on as a sub more often than being in the starting eleven, particularly at Championship level,  he never let us down, always worked hard and made a lot of crucial contributions,  more in terms of making chances for others than scoring himself, including one of the best assists I was all last seasn where he put a low cross right onto Nathan Broadhead's toe for what was a lovely finish,  Broady could be seen mouthing 'what a ball' to KJ afterwards.  He did also score some crucial goals for us too,  a wonderful goal against Sunderland and another against Stoke after making space with some lovely movement stood out for me.

Just as importantly he always had a terrific attitude,   just about every fan who has met seems to have nothing but positive things to say about him, he does seem to be a genuinely great guy.  This, quite moving, post on TWTD gives a hint of what he's like https://www.twtd.co.uk/forum/548325/5423156/

Anyway, we paid about £1.5m for him when he was far from the finished product, you have picked him up on a free after McKenna worked his magic for him.  You have got an absolute steal.   I wish both KJ and yourselves well for the coming seasns.

Anyway, that's it from me. Over and Out. Uppa Town

 

 

Just read the post, what a lovely man.

[Anag Ram]

Thanks. He’s very good so far!

[Tyler Durden]

Really impressed playing wise so far

Seems to have a good attitude and lovely temperament too. 

[Millenniumram]

The one thing that struck me most when we signed Jackson was how highly rated he seemed to be by your fans. I was quite surprised, given his goal scoring record with you was terrible, but it showed he clearly brought something more to the table which stats alone don’t show. And I think your post has quite eloquently summarised why he’s a much shrewder signing than most of us realised.

I have to admit, I was astonished and almost outraged when we signed him - 30 year old striker, atrocious goalscoring record and very little Championship experience. It looked like a poor League One signing, and an absolutely terrible Championship one. But so far, Kayden is making me eat my words and then some - he’s really proving a lot of us wrong.

Three goals already so far, and all of them have been very well taken - particularly his latest, which showed technique and strike of a football that belies his prior record. His goal against Boro also showed real composure, which again I didn’t think for a second he had in him.

His work rate is phenomenal as well, as the OP alludes to - he always puts in the effort to track back, and his electric pace is a real asset to chase down lost causes and press the opposition.  He sounds like such a lovely guy too, which is something our manager values highly.

Long may your form continue Kayden, I’ll look a right fool if you’re our top goalscorer with 18 goals come May! And thanks for the free transfer Ipswich, very much appreciated so far 😉

Edited September 1 by Millenniumram

[Ghost of Clough]

He's already exceeded my expectations. Based on his role for yourselves, I was expecting more of the same for us (squad rotation option) and was disappointed we hadn't signed a first choice winger. 

His performances in pre-season convinced me he'll be good enough to be a regular starter, then his 3 goals and 1 assist already this season confirmed it. Potentially one of Warne's best two permanent signings for us (the other being Nelson).

[Jourdan]

Our player of the season so far.

I wasn’t excited at all by the signing. I suppose it comes with waiting months for one.

I could see how he might be effective, but I didn’t see him having such an impact to the point now where he’s one of the first names on the teamsheet.

So full credit to him and full credit to Warne and the recruitment team. They get a lot of stick but they look to have done very well here.

He is shaping up to be one of the signings of the season and a big fans’ favourite.

[abertawe_ram]

1 hour ago, justthisone said:

Greetings,  Ipswich  fan here, but don't worry I won't be making any more posts other than just this one.

I'd just like to say how pleased I was that Jackson got a really good move to a good club when he left Town,  and more so that he seems to have had a pretty good start with you.

KJ has had some footballing journey. He literally won a competition to be a pro footballer with Swindon Town,  only to spend his time there loaned out to Swindon Supermarine and various other non-league teams, before finally working his way into the football league and then getting what must have seemed like a dream move for him Championship Ipswich.  Unfortunately for KJ it was at a time when Town were utterly rubbish.  Hurst had just come in as manager,  sold anyone decent (Martyn Waghorn and Adam Webster most notably)  and replaced them with a bunch of league one players unproven at a higher level,  most of whom were individually not up to Championship level and collectively way off it.  Only Jackson and Janoi Donacien came good, and it took time for both of them. The end result was that Town got relegated with barely a whimper.

I'd like to say that in the lower league KJ shone, but he didn't.  He was mostly decent and put a shift in but wasn't really at the sort of level that would help get us promoted back to the Championship.  After an up and down few years under Pauls Lambert and Cook he ended up training with the under 23s and was in the 'bomb squad' those players that Cook wanted to shift on.

Then  McKenna took over and transformed him.  He seemed to gain confidence and though he was mostly a 'finisher' coming on as a sub more often than being in the starting eleven, particularly at Championship level,  he never let us down, always worked hard and made a lot of crucial contributions,  more in terms of making chances for others than scoring himself, including one of the best assists I was all last seasn where he put a low cross right onto Nathan Broadhead's toe for what was a lovely finish,  Broady could be seen mouthing 'what a ball' to KJ afterwards.  He did also score some crucial goals for us too,  a wonderful goal against Sunderland and another against Stoke after making space with some lovely movement stood out for me.

Just as importantly he always had a terrific attitude,   just about every fan who has met seems to have nothing but positive things to say about him, he does seem to be a genuinely great guy.  This, quite moving, post on TWTD gives a hint of what he's like https://www.twtd.co.uk/forum/548325/5423156/

Anyway, we paid about £1.5m for him when he was far from the finished product, you have picked him up on a free after McKenna worked his magic for him.  You have got an absolute steal.   I wish both KJ and yourselves well for the coming seasns.

Anyway, that's it from me. Over and Out. Uppa Town

 

 

Would be good to know your thoughts on Marcus Harness too while you're here please 🙏 

Great post about Jackson, thanks for sharing. Hopefully his excellent early contribution continues!

[Van der MoodHoover]

Thanks for Jackson. Mind, you owed us one having made £5m from us for waghorn....

[Ambitious]

I was disillusioned when Jackson signed, I had always considered him an erratic footballer who could be useful only for his pace. I felt it was an example of us trading for physical attributes over technical attributes and that was always my concern with Warne, as much as I rate him as a manager.

Nevertheless, the first couple of games in preseason, I said I was leaning to him being a really good footballer who was ridiculously unlucky. He seemed to pick up really good positions and miss a ton of chances and create a ton of chances had the ball just been ever so slightly better. 

Technically, he’s got an excellent first touch. Absolutely lightyears ahead of anything I was expecting. I knew we had something to work with and I was way off in my initial assessment. I was always concerned going into the season that if it didn’t happen for him quickly that perhaps the confidence would drain and he would then start making poor decisions and fall into that erratic player that I’d always considered him to be. Again, fortunately, it happened quickly for him. Now, we have a player who is technically gifted, with a ton of pace and is confident/making good decisions. First impressions are everything in football, when players move to new clubs, very definitely for strikers. If he can keep this level of confidence and decision making up then who knows what he could achieve this year. 

[Chellaston Ram]

If only CBT could have some of his attributes 

[Srg]

I don't expect the scoring to keep up as regularly as it is, but that's fine, we now have a squad where we have a few options. But he's lightning, and as has been demonstrated, he is a great guy and teammate. On a free, it was a no brainer as a squad player at minimum. It does go to show, people really need to stop speaking in absolutes about players they've barely ever seen (if at all) just based on stats they see online. They add flavour, but they ain't telling you much.

Warne has preached a lot about good blokes and has been mocked for it by some, but he has built a wonderful culture. You could see those celebrations for the third on Saturday, epitomised by a goalkeeper who has barely been here 2 weeks running the entire length of the pitch. When you're talent deficient compared to some rivals, that is the stuff that gets you competing and picking up more points than you ever should on paper. These lads are a joy to support.

Edited September 2 by Srg

[JuanFloEvraTheCocu'sNesta]

25 minutes ago, Chellaston Ram said:

If only CBT could have some of his attributes 

That signing looks more and more weird as time goes on, something just not working there.

[FKANorwichExile]

The thing that stands out to me about him so far is just how smooth he makes everything look. He glides about the pitch.

Ok, his finishing has two modes and is either perfect or pathetic, but that's why he's with us and not playing in the Prem. He's making a lot of fans eat humble pie and long may it continue. If Harness can have the same impact then I'm convinced we'll stay up.

[Animal is a Ram]

13 minutes ago, JuanFloEvraTheCocu'sNesta said:

That signing looks more and more weird as time goes on, something just not working there.

I'm filing it under panic January signing.

[BaianoPOTY98]

31 minutes ago, JuanFloEvraTheCocu'sNesta said:

That signing looks more and more weird as time goes on, something just not working there.

Yeh its CBT

[MadAmster]

CKR and Didzy both left many fans underwhelmed when we signed them. KJ idem ditto. Always happy to put my hand up and say I got it wrong.

[Ambitious]

33 minutes ago, JuanFloEvraTheCocu'sNesta said:

That signing looks more and more weird as time goes on, something just not working there.

This is my point about first impressions, CBT has the same skill set and attributes as KJ but came in injured and didn’t hit the ground running. He’s been injured for the majority of his time here. No doubt there is a player in there, but footballers at this level struggle when unsettled. The fluctuations in player performances at the second level in this country are huge - good players seemingly turn great or s*** overnight. They’re all looking to essentially ride the crest of a wave.

[Magicman]

CBT has done zero in 8 months at DCFC 

[Day]

13 minutes ago, Magicman said:

CBT has done zero in 8 months at DCFC 

Not a fan of him?