Allan told he must push on to succeed at Hibees

Adam Jackson took one look at the Edinburgh derby raging in front of him at a million miles an hour and knew instantly he’d found his new home.

The 25-year-old former England youth international was on Hibs manager Paul Heckingbottom’s radar from the minute the manager arrived at Easter Road in February.

But the deal was sealed when he invited him to Edinburgh in April to take in the mayhem of one of Scottish football’s most intense rivalries.

And as he started pre-season last week with his former Barnsley boss, he admits he was right in his comfort zone.

Jackson said: “It was just a little bit after the manager came here that he called me.

“He said he needed time to assess his squad to see if there was space for me.

“But then he invited me up to the derby at the end of the season and when I saw it, I just thought: ‘ This is ideal’.

“The crowd was unreal, the atmosphere, the stadium – then I visited the training ground, which was perfect as well.

“The whole thing was great, a 20,000 sell-out, and the type of game it was – you had to be impressed.

“There were some big tackles and the crowd were getting right up for that.

“That’s a big selling point when you come to a game. It was a quick and entertaining, end to end – it was brilliant.”

A former Middlesbrough youth product, Jackson played at every level for England from Under-16 through to Under-19s. in his early 20s before Barnsley picked him up in 2016.

But the faith he has in Heckingbottom to bring the best out in him shone through as he rejoined him at their East Mains training base.

He said: “I did pre- season with him a couple of years ago at Barnsley and everything is pretty much running the same as that. Some of it’s not nice, but I’m used to it.

“And the lads have been welcoming as well. It’s a good group.

“What’s so good about him? It’s a lot of the coaching stuff t h a t y ou won’ t necessarily see on a match day.

“The detail of what he wants f r om in training is intense, the little things that you might not have noticed bu t he’ l l pick up on straight away. It’s all to benefit you as a player.

“I spoke to Stevie Mallan who I’d played with at Barnsley after that derby game,

“I had been texting him asking him about the place and he didn’t have a bad word to say. He recommended it and said ‘Come along’.

“Even when he wasn’t playing down there he always had good things to say about the gaffer as well and I was asking him what it was like: ‘Is he the same?’ He replied: ‘ Yeah, he’s exactly the same.’

“Stevie didn’t get much game time under him last time but he did well last season and got Player of the Year.”

Jackson only appeared in six of the 46 games Barnsley played on their way to promotion from League One last season – but he left with no ill wi l l and reckons he can hit the ground running this term. He said: “A couple of the lads, Liam Lindsay and Ethan Pinnock, played well all season so I can have no complaints. “Ethan made the League One team of the Year and Liam earned a good move to Stoke, so both did well. “I’m looking forward to playing. I’m more of a defender than anything else. If it needs to be kicked out I’ll do it but if I also get the chance to play I’ll do it, fire it into midfield. “Speaking to the gaffer and Robbie Stockdale, they both think a lot can be achieved this season wi th our squad. “Ob v iou s l y we’re hoping for a good cup run to start then qualifying for Europe is the aim.”