Michael Brown so happy to be at Latics

New signing Michael Brown says he feels fantastic after his whirlwind first day at the club and is now looking forward to settling down and getting to know everyone properly.

"It was a crazy couple of days. I came up for a medical, signed at around 2.00pm and an hour later I was on the coach with the boys," he says, "which was something I just wasn't expecting at all.

"I got 20 minutes or so at the end of the game, and it was nice just to get out there and play a bit. But I was still trying to remember names and faces when I was on the field."

Brown, who has signed a three year deal at the JJB, says he was really impressed with manager Chris Hutchings: "The gaffer was brilliant with me, told me how much he wanted me, what his plans for the club are and when you look at the calibre of boys he has brought in this summer, you can see the ambition of the place.

"I really am delighted to be back in the North-West, it's an area I know well having spent many years at City, and I am looking forward to settling down to some kind of normality after the madness of the past week."

On where he is going to play, he said: "The gaffer has just said to me he wants me to be myself. There is a lot of competition around the midfield places, as there always is at every top club, so no one is guaranteed a place.

"I am going to be competing with some real quality in there, so my aim is to get in the team first and foremost and then play where and how I am asked. I have played a more defensive role in the last couple of seasons at Fulham but the Gaffer has talked about players needing to be versatile, so we'll see how it goes. My first priority is to be fit, work my way into the side and help the team have a better season than they did last season, because no one wants a repeat of that."