Skysports.com catches up with Johnnie Jackson to reflect on an eventful summer at Notts County.
As part of skysports.com's League Two Spotlight, Chris Burton catches up with Notts County midfielder Johnnie Jackson.
Prior to the events of the summer, Notts County's profile in the eyes of most supporters struggled to stretch past the fact that they are the oldest football league club in the country.
Yes, they enjoyed a brief flirtation with the top flight in the early 90s, and the likes of Neil Warnock and Sam Allardyce have both taken their own unique brand of management to the banks of the River Trent in the not too distant past, but truth be told the Magpies were hardly the name on everyone's lips.
How times change.
Enter a Middle Eastern takeover, one former England manager, a current international defender and a host of other fresh faces, mix them all together and all of sudden you have a media frenzy the likes of which League Two has never seen before.
Suddenly a club which had been going nowhere fast was the talk of English football, at times even managing to eclipse the mega spending spree going on at Premier League giants Manchester City.
The arrival of the Munto Finance consortium passed largely unnoticed when they took charge at Meadow Lane at the start of the summer, but they were soon shouting from the rooftops as they set about luring Sven Goran Eriksson into a role as the club's new director of football.
Established names such as Lee Hughes, Karl Hawley, Luke Rodgers and Johnnie Jackson were then all brought on board as the Magpies set about piecing together a lower league version of the 'Galacticos'.
The final piece in that jigsaw, or so they thought, arrived in the form of former Arsenal and Portsmouth centre-half Sol Campbell, who swapped life in the fast lane for that in the fourth tier when he penned a five-year contract with ambitious County.
The England ace, perhaps unsurprisingly to many, did not last long in his new surroundings - one game to be precise - before he quickly gathered his belongings and set off back in search of a fresh challenge higher up the League ladder.
Much has been said of Campbell's decision to drop down the divisions, and his subsequent hasty retreat, but there can be no doubt that he has helped to raise interest in both County and League Two in a way even a PR guru such as Alistair Campbell would have struggled to achieve.
Interesting
Things do appear to have settled down now, with the Sol saga consigned to the history books, and attentions have returned to the bread and butter of generating results on the field in an effort to take the first tentative steps down a yellow brick road the club's owners hope will ultimately lead to the Premier League.
That goal remains a long way off for now, but following one of the most bizarrely entertaining summers for County fans in a long, long time there is a sense that the good times lie just around the corner.
Skysports.com's Chris Burton recently caught up with pre-season signing Johnnie Jackson to see how the players have coped with all that has gone on of late, and was pleasantly surprised to hear that those at Meadow Lane have taken as much enjoyment out of keeping tabs on events as the rest of us.
"It's been interesting to say the least," said Jackson.
"Obviously I joined a bit after Sven had come in and there was all the talk about their aspirations and where they want to be. About a week or so later Sol signed and there was all the furore about that.
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