MANAGER James Beattie reckons Andy Procter will be the man Stanley have been missing after sealing his return to Accrington.

Procter said when he left for Preston in January 2012 that he may one day be back at the Store First Stadium.

And the 31-year-old, who played almost 350 games for the club between 2002 and 2012, completed his return to Stanley on Monday.

Procter told Beattie over the summer that he was interested in coming back, having been denied the opportunity to establish himself at Bury.

The midfielder has taken a pay cut but it still took some number crunching for Stanley to confirm the deal on transfer deadline day.

Beattie now hopes the Reds’ former captain can help them kick-start their campaign with Saturday’s defeat at Bury, their fourth from five league games, having sent them back to the bottom of the table.

“I was keen to get him in,” Beattie said after Tuesday night’s Johnstone’s Paint Trophy defeat by Carlisle.

“He’s a really good character, a lot of the lads know him already, and he’s a leader.

“You saw when Paul Thirlwell came on for Carlisle that he was organising, telling people what to do and where to go.

“At the moment I think we lack that a bit. He’ll also add power to us, height to us and a threat from set-pieces.

“I know he loves the club, he’s very passionate about it, as am I, so I think he’s a great addition to the squad and I’m very pleased to welcome him back.”

Kevin Blackwell signed Procter for Bury in July 2013 and he was a regular at the start of last term but Blackwell’s predecessor, David Flitcroft, transfer-listed him at the end of the season.

Procter cut a forlorn figure as he watched Saturday’s game from the main stand in his Bury tracksuit.

He still had a year on his contract but managed to agree a release. That meant he was technically a free agent, so Stanley would still have been able to sign him after Monday’s transfer deadline.

The deal was complicated by the fact that Beattie has to be mindful of how it would affect the club with regards to the Football League’s financial fair play rules.

“Nothing was in place (with Stanley) before Andy sorted his agreement but I assured him there was something here for him once the Bury side was all sorted,” Beattie explained.

“It took a lot of work to sort things out at our end. It means we’ll have to do things in the coming loan window. There’ll be outgoings, with the SCMP (Salary Cost Management Protocol) being as tight as it is for us, but hopefully a couple of incomings too.

“With us having virtually no commercial or marketing revenue it puts our cap very low compared to other teams in the league. It’s something we‘ve got to deal with but we did it last year.

“I’ll have to shuffle things around again, keep talking to the chairman and keep trying to keep on the right side of him. It’d be much easier to do that if we got a few results!

“It’s a challenge but it’s one we have to face and one that I’m looking forward to dealing with.”