FORMER Swindon Town favourite Lee Peacock says he feels “like being back home” after returning to the County Ground this week.

The 40-year-old has joined the Town backroom staff after being appointed head of coaching at the club’s academy, where he will work alongside academy director Seamus Brady and academy manager Jeremy Newton.

Peacock spent four years at Town as player, first signing in January 2006, with the former forward making 138 appearances for the club before leaving in early 2010.

Injuries restricted Peacock’s game time during his latter days at the club and within six months of departing the County Ground, he dropped down into non-league.

Peacock admits it was gut-wrenching to leave Town in the first place and he never lost his appetite to return to SN1 in some capacity.

“Honestly, it feels like being back home,” said Peacock.

“Some people will know and some won’t but the day I left as a player, my eyes were welling up as I didn’t want to leave.

“I know injuries and stuff played their part in the back-end of my time here, but I absolutely loved it and it was heart-breaking to leave.

“You always dream of wanting to go back to places you love but I was keen to earn the right to do it, I didn’t want to jump in at the first opportunity or take on any job that I wasn’t ready for as the last thing I wanted to do was step into a job at Swindon and be no good at it and be out of my depth.

“I want to be here and be proud of working here and do everything with a passion.

“It is amazing to be back and it has still not massively sunk in.”

Peacock is already relishing his new role and arrives back in Swindon with a wealth of experience, having previously served as head of youth development at Eastleigh in the National League.

Although he was more than content with life on the south coast, Peacock concedes that the lure of returning to Town was too good to turn down.

“I wasn’t actively looking because I loved my job and I loved working with the kids but as soon as there is an opportunity at Swindon, I am instantly interested,” said Peacock.

“I had a look a the job and two minutes later, I thought I am definitely interested.

“Before we even did the interview, myself and Seamus were talking for about two hours and I think he just got the fact that I care, I care about the coaches, the players and everything they do for the club.

“Once the opportunity came up, it was a no-brainer whether I wanted to do it, it was just a case of hopefully I’d be given the opportunity to do it and thankfully I have.”