Former Bolton man John keen to make most of St Mirren chance

Former Wanderer Declan John is eager to get back on the pitch as he takes on a new challenge in the Scottish Premiership.

The left-back, who was released by the Whites in the summer, has signed for St Mirren on a short-term deal until January.

John had been training with League Two club Swindon earlier this season, and then-manager Mark Kennedy admitted he didn’t know how the former Welsh international was without a club.

The 29-year-old, who spent last term on loan at Salford, revealed it has been a “crazy” few days before putting pen to paper in Paisley.

"I came up on the Thursday, trained on Friday and went to watch the game on Saturday which was a great win for the boys," he told the club channels.

"I have enjoyed it and I am really looking forward to getting back into training.

"From walking in, everything has been so positive and you can feel that in the changing room. It feels like a really good place to be."

St Mirren currently sit sixth in the Scottish top flight and have a tough test against Aberdeen coming up this weekend.

"Declan is here on a short-term deal with a view to extending depending on how it goes," manager Stephen Robinson added.

"The circumstances we find ourselves in means we are very short of defence cover. Declan comes in with a vast amount of experience.

“He has played at some very high levels and obviously been up in Scotland before as well so we are very lucky that we've been able to get him in.

"We have seen his quality in his first couple of days in training. He's a talented boy, is very good technically but he hasn't played a lot of football in recent months so that’s something we need to look at and try to get him up to speed.

"To add to the squad with the quality and background Declan has, I believe we are very lucky at this stage of the season."

John helped Bolton clinch promotion from League Two and started the Bristol Street Motors Trophy final against Plymouth at Wembley.

He also had spells with the likes of Cardiff, Rangers, Swansea and Sunderland earlier in his career.