What Norwich City fans would give for a moment like May 2, 2011.

That was the day on which they sealed their first promotion to the Premier League in seven years, beating Portsmouth 1-0 at Fratton Park thanks to Simeon Jackson’s header.

That feels like a distant memory in the context of where the club are now, but it remains crystal clear in Jackson’s mind.

“Just the elation when that final whistle went,” he recalls, more than 12 years on from that famous match winner. “It’s an unreal moment to describe, and then even after that, for the next two weeks it doesn’t really sink in.

“And then you think, ‘oh, we have to get ready for a pre-season in the Premier League now’, which is a whole different ball game.

“During the game there’s no time to really think. You’re just so in the moment, so concentrated on what to do next, and just making sure that we seal the deal.”

That was one in a series of significant contributions he made to that promotion, scoring hat-tricks late in the season against Derby County and Scunthorpe United.

“It was just a golden period!,” he says. “It’s hard to separate it. Sometimes I see the clips from the Derby game, and doing it in front of the home fans, that might have a slight edge, just based on the experience at Carrow Road, and how that’s sat with the fans.

“It’s just amazing memories, overall an amazing period for me.

“I just loved my time at Norwich. I’m still here now, which says a lot about how much I love the area, and I love and appreciate the club.

“When I look back, I was still really young. I had a lot of learning to do, but I was just in a really good environment with good people, and I had a really good experience. I still keep in touch with those people now, which says a lot about it really”

Then-City manager Paul Lambert played a key role in Jackson’s signing, after he’d scored against the Canaries for previous club Gillingham during their promotion from League One.

“He was massive in that move,” says Jackson. “He made it clear where I’d fit in and what he thought, and what he thought I needed to work on as well.

“Working with him over the years, and having the success with him, just how he drove my personal standards and standards of the group. Everyone that played under him at Norwich has top things to say about him because of the level he got us to.”

It was no surprise, then, when Lambert got in contact with his former charge at new club Blackburn Rovers in 2016.

“It was Paul who made that contact again,” the now-36-year-old says. “That time was a weird period for me, because I’d just left Barnsley and I was out of contract. So I wasn’t sure what was coming next.

“I just got a phone call. I think he rang me on the Sunday, telling me to come into training tomorrow morning. I was like ‘yep, no worries’.

“That was all down to him again, and it was a different experience. I was lucky, because a couple of familiar faces came into the dressing room, with (fellow former Canaries) Elliott Ward and Elliott Bennett.

“We were at the other end of the table, trying to make sure we stayed up, which we did.

“Blackburn are a really good club to play for. It is in the North, and the weather reflects that! But the fans were always supportive, and very eager for the club to do well.

“They were displaying how they felt about the ownership at the time, but it was all about trying to get the club going in the right direction.”