Gary Meakin admits it’s nice to be back at a place where he feels ‘loved’ after he returned for a second spell in charge at Holloways Park.

The Beaconsfield SYCOB boss left the club for Southern Premier outfit Burnham in May 2014 having guided the Rams to an eighth place finish in his first season in charge.

A tough time ensued at Burnham culminating in his departure from the club in November with the team struggling at the wrong end of the table Meakin replaced Andy Hurley in the Beaconsfield dugout on January 15 with his predecessor taking up a coaching role within the FAB Academy that supplies players for the first team, and the new man is happy to have been tasked with transforming the fortunes of a side that lie third from bottom in Division One Central.

He said: “It’s a place I never really wanted to leave so it’s nice to be back and nice to be somewhere you’re loved. They’re all nice people doing it for the right reasons.

“Obviously we had a better side last season because we just missed out on the play-offs and this time we’re in the bottom three.

“That’s not to be disrespectful to anyone but that’s just self explanatory. The squad itself is better than I thought it was.

“Now we’re just trying to teach them the game a bit more. In the three performances we’ve had we’ve progressed massively from the first to the third. If we can keep doing that we’ll be ok.”

The Becky boss also insisted he has no regrets about taking up the reins at Burnham, but believes the experience has made him more pragmatic.

“There was nothing on offer from Beaconsfield at the time and the club didn’t know where it was going.

“You can’t regret it because I made the right decision at the time in my own head. If I didn’t think it was then I wouldn’t have gone. It’s a learning curve and sometimes you learn more from the worst experiences, if you like.

“I suppose I’m a bit more philosophical about everything but that’s football. You can’t get too upset because football’s a funny old game. It’s a mates game in one extreme and people do what they like in another. It’s not like a normal working place, anything can happen.”

The three games that Meakin has overseen since his return have yielded two points with draws against Leighton Town and Godalming Town, and a 2-1 defeat to fourth place Rugby Town who scored twice in the last ten minutes to steal the points.

Former SYCOB players Craig Carby, Jordan Ajanlekoko, Kurtney Brooks, Romaine Walker and Kofi Lockhart-Adams have followed Meakin back to the club and he is hopeful they can help the side stave off the threat of relegation, starting with a positive result against Hanwell Town on Saturday.

He said: “When you pick the bones out of it obviously there are players that won’t make the grade, that happens at any level, but the five or six who are good enough is a good start.

“Plus the ones we’ve bought in and the ones we might bring in – there’s the foundation for the rest of this season.

“Third from bottom would be perfect. Do I want to finish third from bottom? Not really, but if we finish third from bottom it will be mission accomplished.”