DAVID Flitcroft is determined to dismiss any peripheral noise surrounding his County Ground return, insisting he enjoyed his short-lived spell in charge at Swindon Town last season.

Flitcroft brings his Mansfield Town side down to Wiltshire on Saturday, returning for the first time since jumping ship to the Stags in March of this year.

Ironically, he will face a Town side in a not dissimilar state from that which he left them, with Swindon on the very fringes of play-off contention and in close proximity to the Nottinghamshire side in the League Two table.

Flitcroft's return may well bring a largely indifferent reaction from the home faithful, his Town tenure being marred by below-average home form which saw him win just four of his first 12, although he did prevail in his last five County Ground games in charge before heading north.

But as he prepares to come up against his successor Phil Brown at the weekend, Flitcroft is viewing matters from a purely professional viewpoint.

"It is business. You can’t focus on the background noise and what’s going on,'' he told mansfieldtown.net.

"It’s focusing on Mansfield Town and making sure the players know what they are doing from minute one to minute 95 and making sure that we’re not just competitive but competent in our work.

"A lot of other people make factors around it but you’re focusing on the team, the weaknesses of the club you’re playing against.

"You can’t let anything affect you and what’s what certainly we’ll be doing on Saturday.''

The 44 year old insists his heart was fully into his role with Swindon before the Stags' approach towards the end of last season proved to be an offer he couldn't refuse.

"I enjoyed a good spell (at Swindon), committed whole-heartedly to the project and didn’t see my family for six months, who are massive in my life,'' he added.

"I stayed down there and built a squad, where with relegation sometimes there is hangover and hang-ups.

"We rebuilt a team and infrastructure and built a team to get in the play-offs and drive forward from there.''

Getting this (the Mansfield) opportunity was something that I couldn’t not take.

"The ambition of the owner (chairman John Radford) and Carolyn (Radford, chief executive) when you speak to them - that’s come to fruition now.

"I know a lot of other managers speak about going to another club and the promise of a training ground and promise of support and infrastructure.

"I’ve had phenomenal support. The training ground is nearly ready so everything that got spoken about when I met the chairman and Carolyn has come to fruition and I’ve never been as excited about this project as on day one when I spoke to them.

"I’m looking forward to going back down there (Swindon).

"I absolutely committed, me and Futch (Ben Futcher, assistant), to living down there, staying down there 24/7 and committing to rebuilding a football team that had got relegated (from League One).''