Derby defender signs for Luton

Jackson was Derby County's longest-serving player, joining the club in 1999 from Scarborough for a fee of just £30,000. He is 5ft 8, 10st 12 and can apparently play many positions, primarily a defender. He only made 24 appearances for Scarborough before joining Derby, and he hasn't really been a prolific starter at Derby either. He played some games in the Premiership during Derby's stay in the top flight between 1999 and 2002, although strangely Derby won none of them, with Jackson playing the most games in the season they went down. He played many more games when Derby were relegated to what is now the Championship, with 2003-04 being his best season. Jackson played 37 games that season for the Rams. Last season saw Jackson playing just 7 matches for Derby (Derby lost none of them), two as a substitute, as Derby won promotion to the Premiership. He will now sign for Luton in the hope of making many more appearances than he has done so far in his career - since joining Derby he has only made 127 appearances for the club. He has a Sol Davis-like record of not scoring in matches, as he is yet to get off the mark in his professional football career.

The move for a defender such as Richard Jackson was probably a direct response to the sale of Leon Barnett to West Bromwich Albion for a ridiculous fee. At 28, Jackson is probably approaching the peak of his career. Hopefully he can play at centre-back and at right-back, because with just Foley, Keane, Coyne and Perry out of the senior players able to play in these positions, this is where we are looking the weakest, probably in the whole of the team. There is a lot more depth in the left-back position with the signing of Goodall, but we may still need another defender. With Perrett and Barnett leaving and Jackson coming in, we still have only three centre-backs, presuming Jackson can play there. Keith Keane may be able to provide emergency cover, but I don't really like the idea of Langley playing in central defence again, as he did against Rushden in the friendly. It makes a nice change to sign someone who isn't counting down the days until they can get a free bus pass either. We obviously don't know at this stage whether Jackson is a good signing, but the signs are quite good - he was an able squad player for years in a good Championship team.