Cheltenham Town FC

Ash, now 28, rejected a new contract offer from Port Vale in May and made the decision to return to Cheltenham Town despite having a number of attractive offers on the table and he admitted that his family had to come first when making the decision.

"I'm very happy," he smiled.

"This is, in footballer terms, where I would call home because I was here for five years, had some great memories and won promotion. This is the first club that gave me my professional chance so hopefully I can bring in some experience and push the club up the league."

Ashley is a fast winger who can also play up front and he really made his mark at Cheltenham Town with a number of scintillating performances and goals which helped the Robins win promotion into League One back in 2006.

He worked under John Ward, Keith Downing and Martin Allen during his five year first spell with the club but Ash believes he is a far different player to the young man that departed for Colchester four years ago.

"I'm a different player now," he explained.

"When I was here last I think I was young and perhaps a little naive. I always had an arm round my shoulder from John Ward or Keith Downing because of my youth days at Wolves and maybe they still saw me as that boy. I made the decision to move away from home at that time to 'go it alone' and force a career out there in the big world! 

"I enjoyed my time away and I have no regrets in doing that but I'm really, really happy to be back. I'm excited because Cheltenham Town is home. Hopefully I can score lots of goals and help win games."

Ash of course won promotion for a second time in his career last season with Port Vale. He was offered a new deal by the League One club but he turned it down.

He admitted that he loved his time at Port Vale but explained that his family was the key motivation for coming back to Cheltenham Town.

"I wanted to start somewhere fresh.

"It wasn't about not playing first team football because I made 40 appearances for them last season. I played football last year but it was a personal decision that I made for myself and my family.

"We are now going to move back home and I have no regrets.

"I'm looking forward to the challenge and I'm excited to see what the boys can do here because they played really well last season. They came so close last season so if I can help push us on and go one step further then that will be great."

The deal to bring Ashley back to the Abbey Business Stadium was done very quickly and he will now head to Wales tomorrow to meet up with his new manager and team-mates.

He will have a couple of familiar faces however in Scott Brown and Ian Weston who were both big motivations for Ash to make his return.

"It was a quick decision and I made no secret about wanting to leave Port Vale in the summer," said Ash.

"I've been to a couple of different clubs to have a look around but I got the call from the gaffer and he asked whether I'd consider going back. It was a no brainer for me because I still have a good mate here in Scott Brown and a person who I owe so much too, Ian Weston, because of my previous injuries. 

"I wanted to come back and luckily they made it happen so I'm grateful to the manager. Hopefully I can repay everyone with good performances, goals and hopefully, promotion."