"I've got to keep reminding myself which dugout I've got to go in!" - Ex-Town manager Chris Millington on his return to The Shay with Soilihull this Saturday

Milington was at Halifax for six years - three as assistant and three as manager - before leaving the club at the end of last season.

He returns to The Shay for the first time this weekend as manager of Solihull Moors, with former Town assistant manager Andy Cooper as his number two.

"I've got to keep reminding myself which dugout I've got to go in!," Millington said.

"It might be that I take a couple of wrong turns to the wrong dressing room and the wrong dugout, just out of habit.

"It will be slightly unusual arriving at The Shay as the opposing manager but I'm sure once I've got those parts ordered in my mind, and once I've got the hellos to the relevant people said, it'll be down to business."

Millington was appointed at the start of October, following a dreadful start to the season under his predecessor Matt Taylor.

Solihull have won five of their eight matches since he took charge, including five of their last six.

"There's a lot of similarities between the two clubs," Millington said.

"There's a fantastic set of people who are responsible for running the club, they're ambitious to be as professional as they possibly can and that's been borne out in the facilities, the staffing and the support me and Coops have had since we've gone in.

"The level of professionalism is that of an EFL club.

"Everybody's been fantastic, most importantly the players have been really committed and they've bought into everything we've asked them to do."

Solihull weren't the first club that approached Millington with a job offer though.

"There were a number of discussions, two or three offers made at National League level," he said.

"But for various reasons, they weren't quite right, but when I sat down with the Solihull chairman and got a feel for the club, I knew straight away it was a great opportunity for us."

Millington says he has no regrets about his departure from The Shay.

"It was definitely the right decision," he said.

"It was based on the fact that I was pretty worn out, the season had been incredibly tough last year with the amount of injuries we had, the challenges with pitch.

"In six years with the club, those challenges had taken their toll really and I needed a holiday.

"The truth is that, if you're going to do that job well, you've got to be absolutely on point with your recruitment and that means you spend all the off-season talking to players, agents, meeting people, travelling around the country trying to sell the benefits of the club.

"And that takes a level of energy that I just didn't have at the time.

"I was reluctant to do it, but it was definitely right for me and for the club."

Town made an impressive start to life under Adam Lakeland, getting to within touching distance of the top of the National League, but have since had a dip in form that they'll be seeking to end on Saturday.

"They're doing well," said Millington on his former side.

"I feel a bit for the chairman if I'm honest because I don't think people take into account the amount he's done for the club.

"It's changed quite significantly since I left only a short time ago.

"The squad is way bigger than it's ever been, which has taken extra investment.

"You've got a number of players whose options were triggered and re-signed, which doesn't happen on the same money, it all goes up, so there's been a big increase on that score.

"And also, there's one or two players the club have signed that, in mine and Coops' time there, we tried to sign and couldn't afford, so there's clearly been an increase in budget.

"He's the one who's largely responsible for getting the pitch sorted out, and that was desperately needed, and now the club's got one of the best pitches, if not the best, in the league.

"The season to date is going well and so it should.

"I think Adam said at the beginning of the season he was aiming for the play-offs and I think, given those improvements that have happened around the club, that's right, it should be, with the squad they've got and the pitch.

"A lot of the challenges we faced were based on the fact we had a small squad, a very small budget and a very, very difficult pitch, which the season before last, cost us because of fixture congestion and last season, it cost us because of injuries that were directly related to the quality of the pitch.

"Those obstacles are gone now and the success to date shouldn't be a surprise to anybody and I think they should rightfully be expected to be pushing for the play-offs come the end of the season."

Asked whether the same is true of Solihull, Millington said: "We've got a bigger challenge.

"I know our league position is positive at the moment but we've set ourselves a bit of a challenge by starting the season in such poor form and with such poor results.

"We've got a very talented squad, which is what you need.

"We've got excellent facilities, which allow us to be really thorough in terms of our coaching.

"We've got the support of the infrastructure behind-the-scenes ie the staffing structure and the quality of the resources that are available to us.

"So we've got no reason to doubt we can certainly compete with the top teams, the question mark for us will be whether or not we've left ourselves too much to do because everyone knows you have dips across the course of the season, but that poor run of form over the first part of the season, being bottom of the league at one point, makes it a bit more of a challenge.

"But we're up for it. Anyone who knows me and Coops knows we really embrace a challenge and we know that with this set of players, we can mix it with the very best in the division, so that's what we'll be trying to do."

Millington won the FA Trophy with Halifax and guided the club to two play-off finishes in three seasons, although some fans felt the style of football under his management left a lot to be desired.

"I'm not convinced I will but I'd certainly like it!," he said when asked if he hopes for a good reception from the Halifax supporters on Saturday.

"Anyone who knows me will know that I gave, and when I say gave, I truly mean it, six years of my life to the club.

"I was absolutely committed to the club from the minute I walked through the door to the minute I left.

"Whether fans liked what I did or not, I'd hope they respect the amount of effort that was put in to try and compete.

"There's a lot of Halifax fans who'll question what we did at the club in terms of style but I would respond to them by saying in our time at the club, with the condition of the pitch, with the challenge of the budget, we had to make a decision - do we want to be an attractive football team and maybe not be successful or do we want to be pragmatic and try to compete at the top end of the table?

"And that's what we opted for. We wanted to be successful.

"Let's not forget, we had players like Milli Alli, Andrew Oluwabori, Kane Thompson-Sommers, Scott High, Jack Evans - we played some really attractive football when we had our best players in the team.

"But as soon as we lost our best players, we had to be pragmatic to mainatin success.

"I think the majority of Halifax fans recognise that.

"We were very committed to being as successful as possible and sometimes that meant we had to do it ugly, but I'd rather win ugly than lose playing pretty football."