After two seasons as a Dandy Town striker, Janeiro Tucker is heading back to his beloved Southampton Rangers.

And already big things are expected of the dreadlocked poacher as Rangers seek to re-establish themselves as a force in the Premier Division.

Tucker, who obtained a late transfer from the St. John's Road club, will be eligible to play for his new team on November 15 when he will renew an attacking partnership with the likes of Rohann Simons and Ascento Russell who have also decided to return home.

Confirming Tucker's impending arrival was Rick Richardson who heads the club's coaching committee.

“Janeiro has a proven track record of delivering the goods,” he said yesterday. “And he will bring that into the team along with the other former players who are returning.

“We have to remember that Rangers are a newly promoted team and we will need all of the guile and expertise that we can call on to compete in the league.”

Rangers profited handsomely during the off-season as they also secured the services of key players Otis Steede (PHC), former Somerset Trojan Randy Simmons and North Village keeper Dwayne (Streaker) Adams.

“When he (Tucker) teams up with some of the players who played last season, then I think that we will be able to be competitive,” added Richardson, who guided Rangers to their sole FA Cup triumph in 1983-84.

“We were able to get key players to fill key positions that will allow us to compete and we needed those key players.”

Richardson, however, refused to make any predictions ahead of the new season which officially gets underway with the rescheduled Charity Cup final between league and FA Cup champions North Village and Martonmere Cup champions Devonshire Colts at BAA Field on Sunday.

And as far as pre-season training is concerned, the ZBM executive would only divulge: “The pre-season has been directed and carried out primarily by (player/coach) Meshach Wade. He is the one who has put the guys through a fairly rigorous fitness campaign.

“Meshach is doing the majority of the coaching of the team and it is suffice to say that we have had a fairly good pre-season.”

Though Rangers will carry the tag of underdogs this season, Richardson insists he is comfortable with the label. After all, he's been in the same position before. It was he who was largely responsible for turning the club's fortunes around for the better during a brief stint in the early 1980s.

“Being in the top flight is as much psychological as it is technical,” he explained. “There are teams who I admired last season because they had all of the ingredients to remain in the top flight. Those teams included Somerset and PHC - and we saw what happened to them.

“So right now we have managed to acquire some of the talent back and also have a nucleus of players who are capable of competing. Now, psychologically and mentally, we need to prepare ourselves and see if we can compete because that's what it takes to survive in the top division.”

As for Tucker, the striker said: “I don't think I have too much time left to play. And really, I'm just going back home to finish up my career.”

Rangers celebrated their return to the top flight last season by seizing the league and Shield double.