WHO'D have thought it? Wayne Thomas pulling on a Stoke shirt once more – and scoring – five years after leaving the club.

Sounds like a dream for the big defender and, sadly, he knows that's all it is in the long-term after returning to his old stamping ground this summer merely to train while seeking another club.

However, he remains determined to enjoy it for as long as it lasts.

His goal came in the unlikely setting of South Wales last weekend after turning out for a Stoke second 11 managed by assistant boss Dave Kemp against non-league part-timers Albion Rovers.

"Kempy stuck me in midfield for a bit of a run around," Thomas laughs. "I just made a run forward and got on the end of a Tom Soares cross to head in at the back stick. It was a great 30 minutes back in a Stoke shirt."

So any chance of something more permanent back at the Britannia?

"You never know," he says impishly, "but I'm just happy to be back training. I just want to say a big 'thank-you' to Tony Pulis for giving me the chance to get a proper pre-season under my belt and to access all the facilities here.

"It can be very difficult training on your own in a local park or down at the gym, but the lads here have been brilliant and I even got that run out against Albion Rovers."

Thomas, pictured right in his Stoke days, now finds himself in limbo after being released by Southampton at the end of last season to leave him looking for pastures new at the age of 31.

"My agent is speaking to people in the Championship and League One," he says, "and possibly even at clubs abroad.

"But it's tough times out there because a lot of players are in a similar boat and there doesn't seem to be much transfer movement going on at the moment.

"With Premier League teams now being restricted to squads of 25, players like me are having to fight against Premier League squad players who may be farmed out on loan.

"It's making it doubly difficult but I'd like to think I'll get something, though you just don't know.

"I've got a young family now and a wife from the Manchester area, but you have to weigh up all options."

Thomas, who maintained a family home in Holmes Chapel while playing for Burnley and then Southampton, clocked up 217 appearances for Stoke between 2000 and 2005.

He served under Pulis, Gudjon Thordarson and Steve Cotterill at the Britannia, while appearing in the play-off defeat to Walsall in 2001 and the rather more memorable play-off successes against Cardiff and Brentford in 2002.

But he returns to a club far different to the one he left as a free agent five years ago, between the exit of Pulis and the arrival of Johan Boskamp.

"The Michelin training ground is still here, but is obviously under re-development, while just about everything else has changed.

"All the personnel have changed, with the exception of kitmen Winnie, John and Giff. On the playing side, there's only Andy Wilkinson and Carl Dickinson still here from my time.

"Everything has moved up a few levels and it's obviously a great club to be at right now. Stoke have been in the Premier League for two years now and seemed to have achieved stability, but they know they can't rest and must consistently try to move forward.

"As for the gaffer, other than being slightly greyer from when I was last here, he's still the same. And I really do owe him a big thank-you."