FORMER Town hero Ronnie Jepson today put the record straight over his comments on the Town job.

Just two days before he returns to the Galpharm Stadium as manager of Gillingham (3.00), Jepson is eager to stress he was never offered the post ahead of Peter Jackson.

He was quoted two weeks ago as saying he could have taken charge under the Ken Davy regime but felt he was too young at the time.

Now, the 42-year-old ex-frontline partner of Andy Booth says the reports were wildly inaccurate.

"I couldn't believe it when I saw the story on Ceefax and I wouldn't want anyone in Huddersfield to think I would say something like that," said Jepson, a Town promotion winner at Wembley in 1995.

"The quotes came from an after-match press conference and were taken wildly out of context.

"I was being asked if I was too young for the job at Gillingham and what my thoughts were when I was linked with the jobs at Bury and Huddersfield a few years ago.

"My reply was that if I'd been offered either job at the time I would have turned them down because I was still learning the trade in coaching and management and didn't feel I was ready.

"For that to be reported as me turning Town down because I was too young is just ridiculous and not what I said at all.

"I would never disrespect the club in that way, and certainly not Jacko and Taff after the fantastic job they've done at a club where I had some fantastic times in my playing career."

Jepson scored 42 goals in Town colours between 1993 and 1996, when he left for Bury in a £40,000 deal, and he's looking forward to his first return as a manager.

"My task this season is to keep us in this division and then, given the opportunity and the scope, to move us forward," said Jepson, who succeeded Neale Cooper at Priestfield in mid November.

"The Galpharm is a hard place to come to these days and I'm well aware of how well Town have been playing in the first half of the season.

"I always look forward to coming back, though, because everyone makes me feel so welcome, and that's why I was so upset by what was reported the other week.

"Peter Jackson was one of the first to phone me up and congratulate me on getting this job and I would never make comments which are disrespectful to him, what he's done at Town or the club."

Town have midfield duo Chris Brandon and Mark Hudson serving one-match bans on Monday for reaching five cautions each.