​Potton boss hails ‘best club I’ve ever been with’

​United play in the Spartan South Midlands Football League Premier Division and are currently flying high, being second in the league after ten games.

And even though the campaign is in its early stages, things are boding well for an improvement on last season’s ninth-placed finish, which while itself was highly credible in an increasingly tough division.

And for Jackson, it’s so far been a good reward for not only his players but all of those who make the effort to keep the club ticking over.

He said: “It’s the best club I’ve ever been involved with.

"You’ve got so many people who have been at the club for so long, doing everything that needs doing on matchday and making life so much easier for the rest of us.

"The time and effort they put in makes them real unsung heroes. I get there on a matchday at 1pm and these people have already been there for some time, and it’s a real team effort.

"People like that are what keep clubs like ours going. Players, managers and coaches come and go, but it’s the regulars that are the reason the club survives and it can’t be underestimated how important they are.”

Jackson is aware, however, that fresh impetus will always be welcome as time goes by to ensure the club’s output on all levels can remain.

He said: “The reality is that there will come a time when, for whatever reason, those people can no longer help and we’ll need others to take over.

"So we’re always looking for volunteers to help out and in return they’ll get to be part of a fantastic club.”

On the football front, Jackson believes last season’s finish wasn’t as high as it could have been, but that despite numerous changes during the summer, he’s been delighted with how things have pushed on.

He said: “I feel we underachieved last season. But then we had a lot of changes in personnel over the summer – nine or ten players moved on and we only kept six or seven which was a bit of a gamble, and I also lost my two of my coaching staff to roles at other clubs.

"So whilst I largely kept the players I wanted here, we had to rebuild the rest of the squad and the coaching side of things, so you’re hoping you get things right.

"Deep down I expected us to have a good side and start well, but it’s been very pleasing.”

Jackson has plenty of good young players at his disposal, a necessary factor at a level of football where clubs’ budgets can vary from plentiful to almost zero and where selling the club itself becomes as important as just dangling money in front of prospective players.

Jackson added: “We don’t have a budget really, just a few expenses here and there, but it’s tricky in a league with so many relatively big clubs.

"You call in a few favours too – I know Jimmy Martin at Biggleswade Town well and we got a young lad in from them on loan who has done really well and it’s beneficial to Biggleswade too as it gives the lad minutes that he might not have got there.

"It helps having been in football a long time as you gain those connections.

"Our player pool is a bit limited because we’re the northernmost team in that league, so whilst the catchment is quite good in that you can call in players from places like Bedford and St Neots, it’s a London-based league so you need them to be able to commit to the travelling for away games and so on.

"That said, we were in the United Counties League before and that was even harder.

"We train on a 3G facility in Potton which is important because I think you lose identity if you train at another club or in another town.”