Adam Chicksen has highlighted the influence Notts County boss Luke Williams had in extending his stay at Meadow Lane earlier this week.
The Magpies defender signed a new two-year deal at the club after an exceptional season, netting a career-best 11 goals in all competitions - more than he has ever scored in the entirety of his professional career.
"It was massive," explained the 31-year-old on the impact the current Notts boss in committing his future to the club for another two years.
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"The style that he brings to the environment, everything that he has brought is so valued to how I live my life and how I act and treat everyone, he has very similar core values to myself.
"It makes you want to play for him, he is a great person not just a great head coach, so it makes you want to work and play harder.
"He has set up space for all of the younger lads to flourish and for me, it gives me so much energy seeing that. Being in my early 30s it has given me so much energy seeing so many lads improving in such a short amount of time, it just shows his passion for the game - he's doing a great job."
Chicksen has become an integral part of the Magpies' success this season, providing a consistent goal threat and tireless performances down the left-hand side, with the Zimbabwean tipped to be amongst the favourites for league and club awards at the end of the season.
Having started 43 of 44 games this campaign ahead of their latest fixture to Maidstone, Chicksen was rested for the trip down to the Gallagher Stadium - Frank Vincent deputising in that wing-back position and making his first start for the club in the National League this season.
The 24-year-old has impressed since returning from his loan spell with Aldershot, adapting to a position familiar to him having made his National League debut for Torquay at left-back, with his tireless displays and injection of energy from the bench earning the respect of the Magpies fans, as well as Chicksen himself.
"He's done brilliantly to come back in and be so willing and open to learning and being moved into a new position and having no arrogance, or no feelings of disappointment about being moved into a different position, but seeing it as an opportunity.
"He has been learning and improving, asking me questions along the way and being open to putting the shirt back on and feeling no disappointment about having to go out on loan and learn so many more techniques about himself, to come back and apply them you can see the progress.
"That is someone willing to learn and someone willing to improve, and the manager has seen that and given him a chance and he has been brilliant in the last few weeks in training, and that's why as a team, me being in a similar position, it's not me coming out of the team and I need to feel anger towards him, to see him work so hard and to go in, we all support each other and that is how we are going to get to that collective position of success."
When speaking to Vincent last month, he labelled Chicksen a 'role model' and the influence he had not only on himself but the rest of his team-mates.
Chicksen, along with Sam Slocombe, Connell Rawlinson, and Jim O'Brien are seen as the more experienced heads amongst this current group of players, with the Magpies defender highlighting the importance of passing down his own experiences to his team-mates and those in the academy to continue the success fans have seen this season.
"It's massively important - they are going to look towards us for guidance and if we don't pass on our knowledge, what is the point of me carrying on in this game?
"Because if you can't pass on your knowledge to youngsters and help them to take that further and into the next generation of football, you're doing a real injustice to the next generation.
"If you don't pass on stuff that you have learned, for them to take it further it's not going to keep the football moving in the direction that's beneficial.
"I'm happy to pass on my knowledge and happy to show every day and they have to open to it, and they are learning and you are seeing the results from that."
