"I love this place; I love everything about it so I'm glad to be back."

That was the message from new Dons manager Paul Ince on his return to stadiummk on Monday, as he was re-introduced to the local and national media.

The 41-year-old former England captain was on top form as he began his second spell in charge of the Club, just over a year after taking his first steps into Premier League management with Blackburn Rovers.

Ince signed a two-year deal to take over from Roberto Di Matteo last Friday and, as he fielded questions from the press for the first time since his return, it became obvious that the decision was a fairly straightforward one.

"I'm glad to be back," he said. "I've always had a great rapport with the fans in Milton Keynes and they know what they get from me. It was a hard decision to leave here in the first place, but I'm glad to be back now and hopefully we can start playing the way we did before I left.

"I had a fantastic year at Milton Keynes, I had a great time, and once I sat down with the Chairman and saw his face for the first time in a year there was only one decision for me."

Ince's decision to return to stadiummk comes a little over a year after his departure to join Premier League Blackburn Rovers - an opportunity he says was too good for him to turn down after a Double-winning season in Milton Keynes.

Welcome back: Ince gets a warm greeting from Chairman Pete Winkelman.

But the former Macclesfield boss went some way to easing the fears of Dons fans worried about a repeat episode next summer.

"You can never regret going to manage in the Premiership," he said. "When the Premiership comes calling for you, you have to chance your arm because you never know when that chance is going to come around again.

"I've learned a lot from that experience and I think I'm now a better manager. Hopefully I'll be able to show that this year.

"But taking the Dons from League 2 into League 1 and getting offered a Premiership job is completely different from taking the Dons from League 1 into the Championship. Then we would be one step away from the Premiership in our own right and that's where I want to be - Championship/Premiership level and hopefully I can do that with the Dons."

Ince is now due to fly out to Portugal and join up with his first team squad, who are currently starting pre-season training in the warm Iberian conditions.

But with his squad looking somewhat thin on the ground, Ince admits he may yet opt to remain in the UK as he tries to build a squad capable of challenging in a hugely competitive League 1 next term.

"I'm due to go to Portugal to join up with the lads for pre-season, but I might have to stay here to get players to come to Milton Keynes. With the stadium the way it is, it's the best way to persuade them to come here. We've got four or five I'm looking at, so I'll sit down with the Chairman because we are short on numbers.

"As soon as I took the job I said this is the best League 1 for a long, long time. There are some big clubs coming down plus the likes of Millwall, Leeds, Huddersfield and Brighton all spending money so we're under no illusions.

"We'll have to work twice as hard, but it is doable. Whether it's this year or next year we'll see.

"I'll never put too much expectation on my players, they know what I expect from them and if they perform every week we'll see where it takes us."

Watch Paul Ince and Pete Winkelman interviews now on Dons World.