Once a team-mate of Jonathan Woodgate and Alan Smith, Mark Jackson has finally found promotion success in one pocket of Leeds. In the Telegraph's latest Where Are They Now... feature, CHRIS SUMPTER finds out from the former Iron captain why title glory for Farsley AFC caps a remarkable 12 months.

THE feeling of winning promotion has been a long time coming for Mark Jackson.

But on the back of the most turbulent 18 months of the former Scunthorpe United skipper's time in the game, it has proved well worth the wait.

Eleven days ago, Jackson was part of the Farsley AFC side that came back from a goal down to beat Lincoln Moorlands Railway 3-1 at the Leeds based side's Throstle Nest headquarters.

It was a result that not only clinched the club the Northern Counties East League Premier Division title, but also a place in next-season's Evo-Stik League First Division.

It caps an incredible story for the fans, staff and players of the West Yorkshire team, who less than 12 months ago did not have a club to be a part of.

Wound-up in March 2010, with debts of more than £750,000, the demise of Farsley Celtic hit Jackson harder than most.

Not only did the centre-half play his football for the then Blue Square North club, he was also employed by the Celts full-time, working as the club's football in the community officer before later coaching their Under-19 side.

When the administrators pulled the plug on their fight for survival, Jackson was not just dumped onto non-league's soccer scrap heap, he was also facing up to the very real prospect of a trip to the dole office.

Until, that is, the intervention of businessman John Palmer.

Not only did the 74-year-old head a family consortium which funded the rebirth of Farsley, he also gave Jackson a wage, employing the one-time Leeds United trainee as a wagon driver at his Palmer's Plants business.

So when the dependable defender and his team-mates followed up their title success with an injury-time win against Winterton Rangers to lift the Northern Counties East League Cup on Monday, the Villagers' rise like a phoenix from the flames was complete.

"We've had a very turbulent 18 months," Jackson, who doubles up as joint assistant manager at Farsley, tells the Telegraph.

"But it's been really enjoyable and credit to people for doing what they have to get the club back up and running."

Competing in non-league football's top tier, the Blue Square Premier League, as little as four seasons ago – when he was also an integral part of their defence – Jackson says Farsley are 'a big club', even though they are a new one, at their present level.

That, he adds, brings with it its own problems, with the weight of expectation meaning he, manager Neil Parsley and fellow player-assistant boss Simeon Bambrook are pleased a celebratory campaign has now drawn to a close.

Winning the title was what Farsley wanted – and what most of their rivals expected.

But if there is one thing Jackson has learned from 12 years in the professional game, also spent with Rochdale and Kidderminster, it's that football is not a simple game.

"We knew it would be difficult – and it has been," he says.

"But the group of players we've got together has made it easy for us.

"Week in, week out we've had the 'big time' jibes and people telling us we're on 'x' amount of money.

"The reality is we're not. We haven't got the massive budget people think. That couldn't be further from the truth.

"We've got players who could play at least two levels higher, playing for next to nothing.

"At the start of the season we said we had to stay inside our own bubble and ignore what was going on, because teams were always going to come and try to upset us.

"We said we had to keep believing in what we were doing and we have done. We've had some rocky times, but the players have come through."

The crowds may be somewhat smaller than inside past stadia, the money no doubt a drop in the ocean compared to previous wage-slips.

Football though remains central to Jackson's life.

As well as working with Farsley, since last August the 33-year-old has been head of football at Leeds City College, running four teams.

Currently in the throes of taking his UEFA A Licence, the Yorkshireman is aiming to use his current coaching experience as leverage to get back into the professional game.

"I'd love to do that, that's my ambition," he confesses.

The trials and tribulations of life at a non-league club, he feels, provide 'the perfect grounding'.

"It's frustrating at times, but being at this level opens your eyes and presents you with different challenges, ones I feel can only stand me in good stead if I do, one day, get the chance to go back into it," adds Jackson.

"Players have been working all day and you have to accommodate that and make training enjoyable while trying to get your point across."

Being able to do that from the pitch remains another important goal.

As well as playing more than 130 times for the Iron, Jackson also made 19 appearances in the Premier League for Leeds United – including at places like Old Trafford and Anfield.

Players with that sort of experience are often reluctant to drop into non-league circles, particularly as low as Level Nine where Farsley have competed this season.

Having missed only two of the Villagers' 49 matches this term – both because 'it was my decision to have a rest' – Jackson's playing career shows no signs of slowing.

"I always say you are where you are," he says on the matter, days after being crowned as Farsley's fans' player of the year.

"I just enjoy playing football to be honest.

"People have always told me to play as long as I can and providing my injuries stay away, I will do.

"I'll look to play next year, after a good rest over the summer.

"Everybody has got their own opinions, and I didn't know what to expect at this level, but we've come up against some good teams.

"There's some very good players at non-league level.

"It can be a culture shock at times when you visit some of the grounds, but at the end of the day it's a football pitch, with 11 men against 11 men."

Jackson joined Scunthorpe from Leeds in March 2000 when the Iron were battling to stay in the Second Division, a fight that was eventually lost.

Bouncing back proved to be equally as fruitless during his five years at Glanford Park.

Part of the United side beaten in the 2004 play-off semi-finals by Lincoln City, Jackson never had much luck when it came to promotion.

He could have played a pivotal role in the Iron's League Two runners-up campaign of 2005, but had departed for Kidderminster in January having found first-team opportunities increasingly limited by the form of both Andy Crosby and Andy Butler.

"A couple of weeks after I left, Andy Butler got injured and it turned out that I'd probably have played during the run-in," remembers Jackson of that particular season, at a club he says have provided him with his 'favourite time' in football.

"It's funny how things work out, but you live and die by the decisions you make. At the time, I wanted to play football."

Choosing to stick with Farsley, through their lowest ebb, has proved much more rewarding when it comes to trophies.

On present evidence, the future could be equally as bright.