John Brough is back in football and he couldn’t be happier.

Refreshed after a six-month break from the game, the recently turned 47-year-old took over as manager of Cirencester Town at the start of December.

And the ‘new manager bounce’ that is so often talked about in football these days kicked in immediately following his appointment because the club won their next five games.

Four of those were in Southern League Division One South, a run that helped the club move into the top half of the table.

Getting out of Division One South and back into the Premier Division – they’ve been playing at their current level since the start of the 2017/18 season – is one of the club’s driving ambitions.

“I think with the facilities we’ve got we should be playing in the higher division,” said former Cheltenham Town star Brough. “We’ve got everything in place but we’ve got no divine right to be there, we’ve got to earn it.”

That may be difficult this season as only the champions of the 20-strong division are guaranteed promotion with the next four teams playing off at the end of the campaign to determine who will accompany them to the next level.

“It would be nice to play in the higher division but the aim this season is just to finish as high as we can,” added Brough. “If we can get into the play-offs that would be fantastic.”

Brough, who was helping out with some coaching at Hellenic League Premier Division Lydney Town last season, knows what it takes to win promotion to the Premier Division of the Southern League because he was in charge when Cinderford Town won what was then the Division One South and West back in 2015/16.

That title success coupled with Brough’s playing pedigree – he played more than 200 Football League games – were obviously reasons why Cirencester chairman Steve Abbley was so keen to bring him to the Corinium Stadium following the departure of Charlie Griffin.

And while it’s a big job Brough says he has been given “no deadline” as far as getting the club back into the Premier Division is concerned.

“I’ve not been given any targets,” he said. “I’ve brought in quite a few new players, so there is a bit of rebuilding.

“We agreed that my position at the club will be reviewed at the end of the season – I haven’t got a contract – but if we can get some good results I’m hoping that we can sort something out before then because I want to start planning for the future.”

Brough talks like a man who is well rested after taking a break from the game even though he set up his own landscaping business last year.

“I did enjoy my time away from the game and there are only one or two clubs locally who I’d have joined, Cirencester obviously being one of them,” said Brough.

“The start of this season was the first time in my adult life that I wasn’t involved in football. But once the Cirencester job became available the juices were flowing again.”

And Brough, who lives in Cheltenham and has also managed Bishop’s Cleeve and North Leigh, has certainly thrown his heart and soul into the club over the past couple of months.

“It’s not a full-time job but it feels like it,” he said. “My partner will certainly tell you it is! I’m always on the phone.

“With my background in professional football I try to be as professional as I can be in everything I do.”