Gregor Fotheringham sealed his Rovers return last week and revealed a shortened League Two season has allowed him to rejoin the Coatbridge club.
The midfielder quit Cliftonhill at the end of the club’s ‘Greatest Escape’ season in 2018/19, when they managed to avoid the SPFL relegation play-off.
A manufacturing engineering graduate at Rolls-Royce, work commitments forced him to move down south.
But the 26-year-old has managed to secure a transfer home and back to Rovers in time to join Brian Reid’s men for the October 17 kick-off
Fotheringham explained: “I’ve been working at Rolls-Royce down south.
“In August I was in Coventry for four months and then I got transferred to Derby. It’s part of the graduate scheme there, you do different rotations, and I’d be harping on to get back to Inchinnan in Glasgow.
“I’d been missing football and I was really looking to get back to my family.
“It worked out well with the whole coronavirus thing that my attachment was due to change, come August. Brian Reid was in contact with me, looking to see what I was doing, and it all fit into place.
“If the season was starting in July/August time I wouldn’t have got my accommodation sorted or anything, so with the season starting in October, it’s ideal.
“It’s given me time to get organised and get back up the road, and get a pre-season in.
“I’ve been going to the pre-season training they’ve had so far.
"It’s been voluntary to attend and I’ve been going along to get fit.
"I’m focusing on that right now and getting in shape.”
The former Queen’s Park and Stenhousemuir star has managed to keep his engine running with the Rolls-Royce football team.
But admits he was missing that competitive edge and scrapping for points every week that comes with league football.
He added: “I was totally missing football. I’d be playing occasionally with the Rolls Royce team, keeping fit, but I was missing being in a league and working towards something.
“As soon as Brian phoned me, I was excited to come back to Albion.
“It’s a totally different squad of players, a new manager, so it’s all new faces. We know what to expect, but I’m hoping we are going to be fighting at that top end of the table. I know what it’s like down the bottom; it can be a real struggle at times.
“But this is a clean slate, so let’s see how we go.”
Of course, Covid-19 has forced big changes in football since Fotheringham last pulled on a Rovers jersey, with fans currently kept out of stadiums.
”Things will be slightly different, but I’ve been up to the club and seen the work all the volunteers are doing,” he said.
“There’s a real sense of community at Albion Rovers, so once everything starts to open up again, the fans will be back supporting the team.”
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