Ex-Premier League referee Bobby Madley has announced that he is returning to the English game.

The 34-year-old was moved on from the league after a private joke of his surfaced online.

Madley has said that he will now be coming back into the country as a professional ref.

It is unclear if he will ever get another chance to redeem himself with the Premier League.

"Eighteen months ago I lost my dream job as a professional football referee due my own regrettable, naive and stupid actions," wrote Madley in his blog The Referee's Word.

"I am delighted however that I have been given the opportunity to return to referee in the professional game in England.

"The public response to my story was incredibly humbling. I never sought sympathy my actions nor for the resulting decision taken by my previous employers and that was not the purpose of the post, it was purely to help myself to move forward mentally.

"The messages I received from people I don't know who used that platform to share their own stories with me were incredible.

"I found myself in tears reading them because it was clear that many of these messages were done with the same intention as my own, to help themselves mentally move on from a difficult period of their own lives and to just talk about it.

"I have learned so much about myself over the last 18 months but I have also found out just how important friends and family are in the darkest times.

"Their love and support has been unwavering, especially that of my mum, brother and my incredible partner Jenny and her family and that has undoubtedly helped me through that period."