Van Zanten has been paraded at St Mirren Park as Lennon's first signing

Danny Lennon has returned to his former club, Cowdenbeath, to make defender Darren McGregor his second signing since becoming manager of St Mirren.

The 24-year-old will move to Paisley on a two-year contract, the Scottish Premier League club have confirmed.

Lennon became St Mirren boss last week and immediately moved to sign right-back David van Zanten, who ended last season with Hamilton Accies.

Now he has secured McGregor from the club he led to promotion last season.

Cowdenbeath have already announced that Lennon's assistant, Iain Jenkins, will follow him to St Mirren Park.

That has yet to be confirmed by the Paisley club, with Lennon also admitting an interest in bringing Joe Mbu, the Edinburgh-born 28-year-old defender who captained the Blue Brazil to their Division One play-off victory.

McGregor (left) helped Cowdenbeath win promotion

But they have now announced the signing of McGregor, a product of the Cowden youth ranks who will now give up his career in retail management to become a full-time footballer.

The defender played during their championship-winning season in 2005/06 but was released that summer and joined Lothian junior side Arniston Rangers.

However, he returned to the Fife club two years later and impressed as they won promotion under Lennon this season.

The news of his switch to the Buddies came as Van Zanten was officially presented as a new signing at St Mirren Park.

It is the 28-year-old's second spell with the club, having spent five years with St Mirren from 2003 before moving to Hibernian.

He was released by Hibs in January and joined SPL rivals Hamilton, for whom he went on to make six appearances.

Lennon was looking to add more defenders to his squad after releasing veterans Jack Ross and Chris Innes.

Midfielder Stephen O'Donnell and striker Tom Brighton left after they were also not offered new contracts.

Forward Billy Mehmet joined Turkish club Genclerbirligi, midfielder Andy Dorman has rejected the offer of a new contract and has offers from Championship clubs in England, while veteran midfielder Allan Johnston has retired.

McGregor is the second of Cowdenbeath's promotion-winning squad to exit Central Park, with winger Scott McBride leaving for Fife neighbours Raith Rovers, who will be rivals in Division One in the coming season.

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