Gilly on his City homecoming

The reason?  The worry that things won’t be the same second time around – that all the things you know and loved will have changed, and that you won’t be able to recapture those old memories.

There’s no question that things have moved on since Matt Gill was last at St James Park.  The midfielder joined the club in 2006, and left to head back to Norfolk to join Norwich in 2009.

But four years later, Gilly is back playing his football at St James Park as a Bristol Rovers loanee – and he is more than contented that the decision to return to his home-from-home in Devon.  He readily admits that manager Paul Tisdale, who he played under during his first spell, was the primary reason he returned – and that his homecoming has been everything he hoped for, and more.

“It has felt really nice to be back,” explains Gill.  “I had a really successful time here before, and coming back to St James Park has felt like coming home.  I was really pleased to get it done and to get through the door.

“It has been the perfect move for the position I was in.  I was coming back from an injury and needed someone that would take me that knew what I was like – I’ve kept in contact with Tis all throughout my time away from the club anyway and it was the perfect fit for that point.  And since I’ve been back, it has just backed up what I thought – it was the right thing to do.”

You can read the full interview with Matt Gill in Friday's issue of The Grecian, our matchday programme, where he talks about the changes (and the things that never change) since his first time at the club, which young players have impressed him, and all about being older and wiser.   The Grecian is £3 and will be on sale around the ground.