Jay Bothroyd was a bargain �300,000 signing by Cardiff in 2008
Jay Bothroyd has hailed Dave Jones' man-management style as it has helped the nomad striker finally find a home at Championship team Cardiff City.
Bothroyd, 27, is already at his eighth club and has a reputation of not settling.
"Dave Jones has helped me settle and I'm at my happiest time since I left Arsenal when I was a kid," he said.
"The man-management is great. If you're out of the team, the coaches put their arm around you and make you feel good."
Bothroyd has struggled to find a home since the Londoner left his boyhood club Arsenal for £1m as an 18-year-old in 2000.
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The 6ft 3in frontman stayed three years at Coventry City, spent a year in Italy with Perugia before returning to the Premier League on loan with Blackburn Rovers in 2004.
Bothroyd came back to England permanently with Charlton Athletic but failed to settle back in London and joined Wolves on a free transfer.
He joined Stoke on loan after failing to get regular first-team football at Molineux then snubbed Premier League new boys Hull City to join Cardiff for £300,000 in the summer of 2008.
Bothroyd's signing was seen as a gamble by Cardiff boss Jones because the former England under-21 international had an unwanted reputation of lacking motivation.
I think Chopra should get 30 goals this season, especially playing up-front with me!
Cardiff City striker Jay Bothroyd
He enjoyed a promising first season at Cardiff last term, his first consistent campaign of first-team in his career, scoring 12 goals and creating five assists.
And Bothroyd's improvement has continued this season as he now showcases the skills and tricks that he learned from his football education at the renowned Arsenal academy.
"I'm really enjoying myself here and it shows in my football," he told BBC Sport Wales show. "I'm genuinely happy here.
"Everything is going in the right direction at Cardiff. We have the new training facilities and the stadium is superb.
"Cardiff has given the players the stage we need to perform. So we need to produce and get to where everyone wants to be and that's in the Premier League. We've no excuses."
Bothroyd is back in striking tandem with his old England under-15 team-mate Michael Chopra at Cardiff.
Chopra has scored six goals in three league games this season - two of which were teed-up by strike-partner Bothroyd.
"Chopra is good for me and he is on fire," said Bothroyd.
"We both link up well. I've known 'Chops' since I was 15 when we played up-front for England under-15s together.
"I've known him for a while, yeah. We lost contact for some time but when he came to Cardiff, the laughs and jokes started again and the link-up play has returned.
"You don't always have to be mates with your team-mates but me and 'Chops' are good mates both on and off the field."
Chopra, who re-signed for Cardiff permanently for £4m in the summer, has set himself a 30-goal target for this season.
And Bothroyd added: "Chopra is a great finisher and has that knack of being where the ball is going to land in and around the penalty area.
"The three attackers in the team have different roles.
"Ross McCormack is more of a dribbler, he likes to drops deep and pick up the ball. Chopra is a typical poacher who works the attacking channels.
"Whereas I'm more of a target man where people play off me, I'll link with players and feed my team-mates in on goal. But I want to chip in with goals and beat my tally from last season."
* Catch the full exclusive Jay Bothroyd interview on Sport Wales on BBC TWO Wales on Friday at 2030 BST.
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