DAVID Hopkin says the time was right to return to his home town club as it looks to be ‘going in the right direction’.

The 48-year-old has been one of the favourites for the position since 2013 every time the Ton have been looking for a new boss.

After the former Morton player left Livingston, he was the bookies’ favourite to take over at Cappielow.

The Tele understands Hopkin was offered the position last year, but eventually turned it down and was later appointed as Bradford City’s new manager.

Hopkin said he had ‘five or six’ options last year, but believes it was the right time to come home to manage Morton.

He told the Tele: “Once I spoke to Crawford [Rae, Morton’s chairman] and Dave MacKinnon [Morton’s chief executive] we had a good chat about where the club wanted to go and the way things will change this season.

“We agreed everything on Monday and Tuesday evening last week before everything was finalised.

“Last summer I had five or six options, and it was weighing up the situation about where I wanted to be, and sometimes timing in football is key.

“Now I feel as if the club is going in the right direction. Obviously with Crawford, the board and Dave MacKinnon at the club, there’s a lot of things we want to put in place and hopefully we can move quickly and get started.”