Gary Jones celebrates his 36th birthday today and declared: I’m fit and ready for League One.

City’s veteran midfielder played 54 times during their momentous promotion and cup final campaign.

And he is confident of turning the clock back once again when they make the step-up in August.

Jones was the driving force behind a season that will go down in club history with his boundless energy at the heart of the side – and he credits the role played by head of sports science Nick Allamby.

Jones said: “Nobody could have imagined we would ever play as many games as we did last season. But I still feel absolutely great and can’t wait to get going again.

“A massive credit for that should go to Nick for getting me in shape and giving me a rest when I needed it.

“It’s vital that you have that balance between training and rest as you get older. Nick managed it brilliantly.”

Only Chelsea played more than the 64 games in City’s historic season. The way that Phil Parkinson’s side performed in the crunch play-off encounters demonstrated that physical – and mental – strength within the squad.

Jones said: “We had a marathon season but saved our best two performances until the end. That was the best thing.

“It shows not just the fitness levels but also the character we’ve got to get ourselves going again after losing the (Capital One) cup final 5-0. Three defeats out of 18 games is an amazing run.”

Jones revealed how much that heavy loss to Swansea had hurt his pride. Settling the score was a major incentive on City’s late push towards the play-offs – and seeing off Northampton so comprehensively on their Wembley return.

He said: “I think our cup final was beating Aston Villa. But when you get to Wembley, it’s the worst place to lose and we were completely outplayed.

“It wasn’t enjoyable one bit. In fact, I hated every minute of it. I’d loved getting to Wembley and all the build-up but the game itself was awful.

“To be on that stage and getting absolutely battered like that was soul-destroying. Nobody wants to go through that.

“So we felt the play-off final was unfinished business for us. If we did get back to Wembley, we wanted to take out our frustrations on the next team we played.

“We’d beaten Northampton three times already and it was vital we had the right game plan. We got everything spot on and it was quite surreal how dominant we were. It could have been four or five and nobody would have complained.

“But it’s great that we’ve achieved something for these supporters. They are the reason we are all here.

“As players, you want to sign for a club that are so well-supported and we wanted to give the fans some silverware in return. Hopefully we can keep the momentum going.”