ACCRINGTON Stanley have more than quadrupled their transfer record to sign midfield maestro Ian Craney for £85,000.

Craney, who joined Swansea City for £150,000 in the summer after a loan period at the Liberty Stad-ium, signed a contract which will keep him at the Fraser Eagle Stadium until the end of the 2011 season.

The 25-year-old midfielder, who was Reds' record buy when he moved to Stanley from Altrincham in July 2004 for £17,500, will go straight into the side to face Chester City this afternoon.

Craney almost joined Peterborough but turned down the chance to sign for the London Road club for a return to East Lancashire.

After finding it difficult to break into Roberto Mart-inez's League One table-toppers, Craney joined Stanley on loan in Sept-ember and has made 13 appearances, scoring twice, before making the return a permanent one yesterday.

And Craney is aiming to help the club to the next level.

He said: "It's great to be back. I really enjoyed my three months on loan and I had other offers from around the league but I decided the move back was best for me.

"I know them, they know me and they've worked really hard to get me back and I wanted to show my appreciation.

"If I didn't believe there were good times ahead for Accrington, I would never have signed.

"We've got to be aiming at the play-offs this season or for promotion next season. I feel that the chairman has backed the club and we've got to be trying to aim for promotion."

He added: "I don't think the transfer fee will bother me. I'll just get my head down and work hard and try and score some goals."

And Stanley's chief exec-utive Rob Heys said he was delighted to have Craney back.

He said: "From the moment we began negotiations with Ian, he's been a pleasure to deal with.

"He could probably have gone for more money else-where but he's shown throughout the talks that he's committed to Accring-ton Stanley and wants to be part of our future.

"And I hope this proves to the fans that we don't just want to stop in League Two, but have ambitions of playing at a higher level."