ROSS MACIVER knew he would be back at Alloa before his loan had even finished.

The striker joined the club on loan shortly after Brian Rice took over from Barry Ferguson as the Wasps’ campaign was in danger of tailspinning into disaster.

MacIver made a number of substitute appearances and had a big impact on the team’s final games as they secured a fifth-place finish.

Now, after leaving Partick Thistle, the striker has joined Alloa on a permanent deal and is enjoying his time off on the golf course before pre-season begins on June 14.

He told Advertiser Sport: “I’m just happy to get it all sorted. Gaffer spoke to me…it must have been a couple of months ago and I knew then I wanted to join. I really enjoyed my last couple of months so I had it in my head that I would be staying at Alloa.

“The first couple of weeks I was there everyone was so down to earth; no-one thinks they’re bigger than the club or anything like that. Everyone wants to come to training, work hard, enjoy themselves and see where it takes us.”

Rice has been full of praise for MacIver and told Advertiser Sport he was “delighted” to get the striker back at the club. Those feelings go both ways.

“I like the way he thinks about football,” MacIver continued. “And I agree with the way he wants to play. It’s all about trying to win on a Saturday. Some places you go and [the plan is] not to get beat.

“There’s not much difference between drawing and losing, I’d rather go to try and win and play exciting football. I really did enjoy my time there [on loan].”

Last week Advertiser Sport confirmed that Craig Howie, Conor Sammon, Daniel Church, Scott Taggart, Cammy O’Donnell, Adam King, Kevin Cawley, Stefan Scougall, Andy Graham, Mark Durnan, Jon Robertson and Keir Burt had all agreed to stay for another season.

MacIver said: “I think that’s important. You see teams that stick together for a long time tend to do well.

“Guys like Taggs [Scott Taggart], Andy Graham, Robbo [Jon Robertson]…they must have played about 1,000 times for Alloa between them.

“They police things and it’s actually a very good dressing room.”

For MacIver, he has his own personal targets for the season but said they’ll stay between him and the gaffer.

However, he believes that the philosophy Rice has brought to the club will make them a match for any of the teams in the league.

He said: “There’s nothing between League One and the bottom of the Championship. Dunfermline are never a League One side.

“It’s good to have teams like that. You’ve just to take each game as it comes and you can only beat the team in front of you on a Saturday.

“Hopefully we end up winning more games than we lose to see where it takes us at the end of the season.

“If we play the way we play we’ll be a threat for any team in the league.”