Jackman delight at Gills return

Jackman has scored two goals in 80 appearances for Gillingham

Gillingham's new signing Danny Jackman says he is delighted to return from Northampton for an undisclosed fee.

The midfielder, 26, signed his three-year deal in time to play in the 3-1 Carling Cup defeat by Blackburn Rovers.

Jackman, who first became a Gills player in 2005, has been on manager Mark Stimson's wish-list all summer.

"It's great - I've always said I want to play as high as I can for as long as I can in my career and that was a major factor," Jackman told BBC Radio Kent.

He added: "As soon as I found out that they were after me it was nice and a bit of a confidence boost as well.

"I got the call about 1630 so I managed to sign and get the fax through to the club about 1645 so it was a mad rush to get down here.

"I literally pulled up about 1930 and jumped out and met the boys as they were out on the field so it was quite strange."

Jackman, who spent two years at Northampton in League One before their relegation in May, came on as a substitute and played for 20 minutes on Tuesday night.

"I haven't trained for four weeks so it's quite hard when you haven't done any football work," he said.

"But hopefully I can do as much as I can on Thursday and Friday and it'll be enough for Saturday."

Gills manager Mark Stimson has wanted to bring Jackman back to Priestfield for a long time.

"You hear little rumours but you never know if they were true or not," said Jackman.

I've been trying to get him for a while now. He's someone who has impressed me whenever my teams have played against him

Gillingham boss Mark Stimson

"But I'm pleased he has come for me and I hope I can repay him with some good performances."

During Jackman's previous spell with Gillingham he predominantly played at right-back, but now prefers to be in midfield.

"The gaffer at Northampton, Stuart Gray, he's been great," he said.

"He's worked with me and he's converted me into more of a midfielder as well as a left-back.

"He gave me the chance in midfield and I think that's where the gaffer (Stimson) has seen me play and liked me so I owe a lot to Stuart for that."

After a battled to secure Jackman's signature, Stimson said: "I've been trying to get him for a while now. He's someone who has impressed me whenever my teams have played against him.

"I'm sure he'll do even better this time."