JACK Payne could feel the love wherever he went.

From the banqueting suites at Valley Parade to the bombardment of messages on social media, the theme was a common one.

All agreed that the little midfielder should ignore the transfer-window speculation and stick it out with City.

“It was lovely to know people wanted me to stay,” he said.

“The fans appreciating me is a great feeling. I am not going to lie about that.

“You work hard and try your best. To know it is being recognised is a lovely feeling.

“I won a couple of man of the matches recently. I went upstairs after the game and spoke to the fans personally.

“They were all saying, ‘Please stay’. It was the same over Twitter, asking me to stay and that does make a difference.

“I am not sure the fans realise that. But I promise it does.

“I have always believed you need to be where you are most wanted. I do feel really wanted here.”

Payne can also enjoy the continuity of staying in one place. This time last year, he swapped Oxford for Blackburn at the halfway stage.

“I will never say I regret doing that,” he added. “I had a great time at Blackburn and got promoted, playing quite a lot of football.

“But it does disrupt your season. There is only about four months in the second half of the season. You have to get to know a new manager, a new set of lads and a new club.

“You have to win those people over. It is not ideal to disrupt your season and that is one of the reasons I stayed here.

“I am in good form, the team is in good form and I feel settled. That was important.”

City showed their backing for their talismanic top scorer by virtually doubling their weekly contribution to Huddersfield for his services. They are now footing nearly his full wage.

Losing Payne at such a delicate stage of the campaign would have been a hammer blow for all. And yet when leaders Portsmouth visited Valley Parade in early November, the number 10 found himself on the bench for the first hour.

At that stage, Payne was still winning over David Hopkin and convincing the new boss his style of play was not a luxury.

He did that by putting in the hard graft that his manager demands alongside his natural talent to unlock League One defences.

Payne said: “You always have to prove yourself when a new manager signs, especially the type of player I am. I know I am not everyone’s cup of tea.

“I had to earn the manager’s trust but I always felt I could do that. I am not a luxury player, I work hard and always have to do the job for the team.

“We are pressing high and have to be fit. You can’t have any lazy players and I don’t think we do.

“This is a good group of willing runners and that probably comes across on the pitch.”

As one of the smallest players out there, Payne is used to having to fight his corner.

When he was starting out at today’s visitors Southend, he had to persuade manager Phil Brown to look beyond his lack of stature.

“I had to earn his trust and that took a long, long time with him.

“But I got there eventually and was in the team. I am happy to do that sort of thing.”

City are far from out of the woods but optimism is growing that they can salvage a season that threatened to be written off as a car crash during the darkest days.

Payne admitted: “It has been a weird one.

“When we were in the relegation zone, we were thinking, ‘this is not good enough’. Things then seemed to get worse and it was not nice to be part of that.

“But we had to deal with it and come out the other end. Although we are still in the bottom four, I do feel we have done that.

“Confidence can be affected. It is hard to say if mine was hit by the start. Obviously, it is not nice to be losing or not even be involved.

“There were games when I was on the bench and not able to affect things. I was frustrated, knowing I could do a certain job and yet it was not happening for me.

“In my mind, I knew the player I was or the level I should be at.

“I was never worried or doubted myself. It just took a bit longer than I liked to find my form.”