After Declan McManus was frozen out at English League One side Fleetwood Town by boss Steven Pressley, the player agreed to go out on loan to Raith Rovers in July.
Just five days after the striker signed on a season-long deal at Stark’s Park, the manager resigned from his position.
McManus was obviously denied the opportunity to impress new Fleetwood boss Uwe Rosler but the 22-year-old insists he has no regrets about joining Gary Locke’s side.
He said: “Raith is a brilliant club. The manager and Jacko (assistant boss Darren Jackson) are ambitious, the squad are the same.
“It is a good place to be and where I need to be to try to fight for trophies and accomplishments.
“I just want to better myself and there are a lot of young boys in the squad who are the same age as me.
“We are all at the same stage and just want to keep improving.
“Raith is a good fit for me and I am enjoying it.”
He added: “I have another year option at Fleetwood and we will speak about it closer to the time.
“I am playing for myself just now. I asked to go on loan and I am up here trying to impress everybody as much as I can.
“Graham Alexander signed me at Fleetwood. I thought I started well in the league campaign but then I went away with the Scotland Under-21s and when I came back, Steven Pressley was in and my face just didn’t fit.
“There is nothing else I can say about that. That happens in football – a new manager comes in and he doesn’t fancy you, there is not much you can do about it so that’s why I went out on loan last season.
“But he was still there when I came up here to Raith and then he was suddenly away.
“It was just unlucky that he went after I left but to be honest, I am really enjoying my football up here.
“I have no regrets about going on loan.”
Former Scotland, Newcastle, Celtic, Dundee United and Hearts striker Jackson has taken time to work with McManus and the 22-year-old admits the assistant boss has really boosted his confidence.
He said: “Jacko has been brilliant with me.
“He is always getting me to do a bit extra and he often pulls me aside and tells me that I can go to the top.
“It is always good for your confidence to hear that from someone with the ability he had as a player and now as a coach.”
Raith travel to Queen of the South today still licking their wounds after losing their long unbeaten home run to Falkirk last Saturday.
McManus admitted the display against the Bairns wasn’t acceptable and the players are determined to make amends at Palmerston.
He said: “It is a tough run of matches just now but the Falkirk game wasn’t good enough and it will have to be a lot better this Saturday.
“St Mirren are bottom of the league at the moment and nobody would have said that would happen at the start of the campaign, especially going by their squad.
“That just shows how tough this league is when even big clubs can struggle.
“We started off the season well and hopefully last Saturday was just a blip on the road.
“I am sure come this Saturday we will be back to ourselves, ready to go and get three points.”
He added: “When you are on a run, you want to keep it going as long as possible.
“But there always comes a day when it ends.
“That has now happened but hopefully we can start another wee run with a win on Saturday.
“There are no easy games in this league but we have faced three of the teams that will maybe be in the top four.”
