To receive our full, free St Mirren newsletter straight to your email inbox, click here.

It was the same surroundings for all of last season. Mobbed as he left the team bus, posing for pictures with supporters and then heading inside the SMiSA Stadium.

The only difference this time was James Bolton had a Fleetwood Town badge on his chest rather than that of hosts St Mirren.

The centre-back, 29, was back in Paisley all of ten days after leaving St Mirren for a return to England for family reasons.

Greeted with a positive reception during a friendly contest after his surprise summer exit, Bolton insisted there is no bitterness only fond memories of his time in Scotland.

"It was crazy, you go back down to England and don't expect to be coming back to Scotland for a friendly, do you? Especially not to the team you've been at," he said of his quickfire return to face St Mirren after signing a two-year deal at Fleetwood.

"I think it has been a week-and-a-half since I was in Spain with the boys. It's been a crazy couple of weeks but it was good to see the boys again and some fans as well.

"I wasn't expecting a bad one [reception] to be honest. I think a lot of people understood my reasoning.

"They have always been good and I have always tried to give a bit of my time to fans.

"I always got on with the lads as well so there is no bitterness or anything like that. It was nice to come back and have chats with them."

Read more: 

Stephen Robinson previously revealed he was surprised by Bolton's request to leave St Mirren but the defender had been mulling over a return home to be back with family throughout the season.

"To come back and be with my family was something I was keen on doing, he explained. "I'm getting to the age now where I potentially want to have a family and that kind of thing so that plays a part.

"I enjoyed my time up here; great club, great coaching staff, great lads, a great bunch of lads.

"It was a decision I felt had to be made. It was something I had kind of looked at and an opportunity came up.

"I don't think any of the lads have any bitterness.

"They understand, they have got families of their own who are up here. I was up here on my own, my family hadn't come up. They all understood."

One tinge of regret for Bolton does come in missing out on playing in Europe after helping St Mirren secure a Conference League qualifying spot last term.

On missing out, he commented: "That's another thing but sometimes you can't buy happiness. I think sometimes you take your family for granted and stuff like that.

"Of course I will [be cheering them on], 100 percent. Whenever I can, I will see if I can get the game on somewhere. I will watch the boys."