PER Frandsen hardly had time to get his breath before he was back in his old dynamic routine.

Within hours of putting pen to paper to complete his surprise Reebok return, the Dane was on the plane to the States, where he was quickly into the swing of twice a day training sessions.

He was also the only member of the squad to complete both tour games, which were played in energy-sapping conditions.

A tough start, maybe, but Frandsen's not complaining. He's just happy to be a Wanderer again after 10 months of turmoil at Blackburn where he played under three managers in the space of six months and was eventually told there was no place for him at Ewood Park!

"It's great to be back here," said the 30-year-old. "It's been hard work but I'm, very happy."

Happy is a word Frandsen rarely used during his time with Rovers. He'd left the Reebok with a good measure of reluctance last September when the financial squeeze was on and somebody had to be sold.

Within two weeks, the man who'd signed him was gone and his world was turned upside down.

"It was Brian Kidd who signed me but after two weeks he was sacked," he recalls. "The weekend after, I wasn't even in a squad of 16.

"It was a strange situation and I could see then that it was going to be a hard struggle."

Bolton fans, who had seen Frandsen play a pivotal role in three hard-working seasons - including an ever-present run in the 97-98 Premiership campaign, simply couldn't understand why he was struggling to make an impact down the road. For their part, many Rovers fans couldn't see what all the fuss was about this particular Dane.

But it wasn't all bad, as Frandsen explains: "To be fair, I had a good spell under Tony Parkes when I played a lot of games and did well. But after that I was in and out all the time, which wasn't the best for me.

"Then Graeme Souness arrived. I played in the first two or three games - on the right wing! - but after that I was just out of it. I never even spoke to the manager but I knew what the score was."

A lot of water has gone under the bridge since Frandsen left the Reebok. He wasn't the first nor was he the last of the star names to be sold to ease the financial strain - a factor which saddens him when he considers the high hopes he once had for the club which brought him from Denmark for a scandalously modest £300,000 in July 1996.

"It's a pity because a few years ago we had something very good going here," he says of those early days. "We had some great players.

"We got into the Premiership and two years running it came down to the last 90 minutes of the season, when we could either have stayed there or got back up.

"We've been nearly there all the time. That's why it's a pity that the club has had to sell its best players."

But Frandsen would not have returned to the Reebok if he hadn't thought there was a chance of success and, being back on home ground again, he is determined to play his part to the full.

"I'll be doing my best to get us back up there again!" he promised.