CHRIS Millar insists he’s not returned to Morton for a ‘swansong’ and wants to help get the Ton back into the Premiership.

The midfielder, who has spent the last 10 seasons with St Johnstone, re-joins the club after spending his first five seasons as a professional footballer at Cappielow from 2003-08, signing a one-year-deal with the club on Wednesday.

After speaking exclusively to the Tele last month revealing his desire to return to Morton he was ecstatic to seal a return to his hometown club.

But the 35-year-old hopes he can stay on for more than one year, after becoming new manager Ray McKinnon’s first signing.

Millar told the Tele: “I’m absolutely delighted to come back and get my future sorted.

“I’d spoken earlier about wanting to come back and when the new manager was in place he got in touch with me fairly quickly.

“I’m 35 and I’ve got a contract here and I want to be successful still, if that’s promotion via the play-offs or promotion via winning the league. I’m not coming back here to have a swansong at a club I had five great years with.

“I’ve come back as a player who is hungry, ambitious and still wants to play football at as high a level as possible.

“I’ve won the Third and Second Division with Morton before and I’d love to make it the First Division champions as well.”

He becomes boss McKinnon’s first addition to the squad after the former Dundee United boss joined the Greenock side last week.

And the manager’s ambitions and desire for the club to progress were a big part of the reason for Millar to rejoin the club.

He added: “It’s flattering [to be his first signing]. It’s a small circle in football and I’m sure he’s done his homework and asked about me. And likewise with me, I spoke to other players that I’d played with that worked under him, and it was all good things.

“I went and met him [McKinnon] a couple of days ago, we had a good conversation and he has the same ambitions as I do for the club.

“He seems like a manager I really want to come and work with, and right away I was excited by what he was saying and how he put himself across.

“He wanted to get it done as soon as possible and he saw me as a big player for the club, and that’s hopefully something I can fulfil.

“So for me there wasn’t too much hesitation in getting the deal done and I’m delighted to get it done. The manager’s got a job to get a squad together, and to get that squad to the next level.

“I’m sure the people he’s mentioned and spoken about will be able to do that if he manages to get them across the line, and hopefully there will be a few more signings on the way.”

Morton had to fend off some late interest from Dundee United to secure his signature, but Millar felt it was the right move to stay closer to home.

He said: “I had interest from elsewhere but for me and my family it’s better for me to be at Morton.

“There was no firm offer made by them, but Ray made it pretty clear he wanted to sign me as soon as possible, and when I sat down and thought about it long and hard for me the right decision was to move to Morton.”