We spoke to striker Steven Rigg shortly after he put pen-to-paper on a short term deal with the club.
“I’m delighted to be back,” he said. “I’ve put a lot of hard work in during the past 10 or 11 months with my injury and it’s starting to pay off.
"We’ve got good facilities at the club now with the gym, which Dolly and Lee Fearn let me use, then obviously the gaffer helped me out by letting me train. Even Darren Edmondson and Gav Skelton let me train with them when I was just getting back into it and everyone has just helped me out massively."
“I do feel like I’ve got things to prove now, particularly with being through the injury as well," he admitted. "When I first did my cruciate ligament a few people were asking me if that was me done with football.
"I bet no one would have thought I would be back here when I first got injured or when I was on crutches. I’ve proven people wrong and hopefully I can carry on doing that.
“I’ve had a difficult year or so but I’ve just tried to stay positive and work as hard as I can. A lot of people have helped me through it and I’ve already mentioned the gaffer here, Dolly and Lee, but there was also Ross Goodwin at Queens who helped me a lot during the summer.
"I’ve also been down to St George’s Park with the PFA using their facilities, so I’ve had a lot of help. I’m getting the rewards from that now."
Speaking about leaving the club first time round, back in 2016, he said: “There were no bad feelings when I left, or anything like that. I left on good terms and I’ve kept in touch with lads who are still here, and even some who have left since I did.
“When I moved on a couple of years ago Charlie [Wyke] and Jabo [Ibehre] were both flying and they deserved to get the game time. That’s football. If others are doing well you’ve got to wait your turn, and everyone will remember how well they were both doing at the time.
"My turn didn’t come because they were both doing the business."
“Things didn’t really work out when I left," he admitted. "I obviously got injured, but I’ve put a lot of work in and I'm ready to go again. I think the good thing for everybody is that I want to be here.
"I’ve been training with other clubs and had other offers over the past few weeks but I would rather be here, so it's worked out well. It gives me real motivation to carry on working hard.
"In feel fit and strong and even though there were other clubs interested it was a no-brainer when the gaffer offered me something here. I’ll just keep working hard and hopefully it will keep paying off."
Having now returned to the club which handed him his first professional contract, he said: “This is a club I love. Through the period of me being injured I obviously wasn’t playing on Saturdays, so I was coming to watch all of the games.
"I’ve been coming this season as well and I’m buzzing to be back. Hopefully I can nick a few goals because we’ve got plenty of balls going into the box. We’ve got some good players here and hopefully I can get on the end of a few."
“I’m definitely claiming the goal at Wigan the other day, so that’s a nice start," he commented. "A few of the lads were asking whether it was an own goal, but it definitely came off me last.
"That’s what I do and how I play. I’ll try to be in the box to get on the end of crosses and I’m sure with the players we’ve got here I’ll be getting plenty of opportunities!"
And on his reunion with the club's skipper, he concluded: “I’ll be sharing lifts with Danny [Grainger] again so I’ll have to drive every day and get the coffees.
"That's something I’m really looking forward to!”
Click HERE to watch an interview with Steven Rigg on iFollow United now.