CENTRE-half Graham Hutchison is returning to sign for Worcester City, according to AFC Telford United manager Rob Smith.

Smith said Hutchison, who spent three separate loan spells at Telford from Halifax last season, was offered a deal by the Bucks but decided to join their Vanarama National North rivals.

The former Redditch United player and manager said: “We offered Hutch a deal but he has decided on Worcester, who offered him something we couldn’t come close to."

Nottingham-based Hutchison joined Halifax for an undisclosed fee from Worcester in February last year.

The 23-year-old, a recruitment consultant off the pitch, spent two years with Carl Heeley's side after signing from Birmingham City.

Hutchison is a former Scotland under 17s international and has also played for Lincoln City.

The defender has previously said joining Worcester was the making of him.

He said last month: "It was the coming of me as a man. I remember my second game, it was at Boston and within the first 30 seconds a ball went up to the striker and he dropped his elbow on me and it broke my nose.

“It was the first time I’d done it and it was pretty painful at the time. Coming from academy football at Birmingham it was a bit of a shock but, being a centre-back in non-league, it’s what you expect.

“It was a big, steep learning curve for me and I learned the non-league game is very different from the pro game.

“But, from the moment I went there, I really enjoyed it, so the next season when I was leaving Birmingham, it was a no-brainer to join them (Worcester).

“The first season there was difficult in that it was similar to this (at Telford), a bit of a relegation battle. But then, after that, we really started to build something.

“I made some friends there who I will probably remain friends with for the rest of my life, such as George Williams, who’s now at Barnsley and still my best friend, and we had a lot of success with the FA Cup run.”