GARY Waddock, the man who led Aldershot Town into the Football League back in 2008, has returned to the club for a second spell as manager.

His appointment was announced on Thursday, less than two weeks after Barry Smith stood down for ‘personal and family reasons’.

Waddock, 54, gave up his post as assistant first-team coach at Barnet to sign a one-year rolling contract with the Shots.

He was the fans’ favourite for the position after overseeing a promotion season in 2007-08 that saw Aldershot play bold, attacking football, netting them a record points total of 101. They were promoted after an 18-match unbeaten run and Waddock was named Conference Manager of the Year.

“It’s a situation I never thought I’d be in, but I’m delighted to be here,” said Waddock. “It’s a nice feeling. I like to assemble squads that I would like to watch. I’ve missed the people here and I’ve missed the supporters – the atmosphere they created at home games was amazing and I loved that. We have to be able to give them something to cheer about and we’re going to try our best to get this place rocking again.”Waddock left the Hampshire club in 2009 to become manager of Wycombe Wanderers, later moving on to Oxford United and then Portsmouth where he served as assistant manager and then caretaker. He never enjoyed the same success that he had with the Shots.

Waddock, a midfielder, had a long playing career and made 531 professional appearances, most of them for QPR (203), Millwall (58), Bristol Rover (71) and Luton (153). He also won 21 caps for the Republic of Ireland and played for QPR in the 1982 FA Cup Final. He also managed QPR before taking up the Aldershot job in 2007.