Have your say: York ambitions include having Mills at helm

The Minstermen are still celebrating the greatest period in their 90-year history which began with FA Trophy triumph and ended on Sunday in a Wembley win that takes them back into the Football League.

Sandwiched in between was the news that they will be moving into a purpose-built 6,000-seater stadium on the outskirts of the city in two years.

Their return to the Football League is worth £750,000 annually and transforms their fortunes, turning a club that for the last eight years has operated at a loss into one that makes a profit.

Such a stable financial footing is enough to convince McGill that York’s full potential could see them become a competitive force in the top half of League One.

And to realise that dream, he wants to retain the services of the man who led the club out of non-League football and back into the big time.

“With Gary Mills it’s very simple,” said McGill, who 18 months ago enticed Mills from Tamworth with the promise of promotion.

“He’s a person who likes to be happy. It was never about money for him, even during his playing days.

“He could have left Nottingham Forest for bigger money but never did. That’s how he still is. He and his wife have a flat in York and they are very happy.

“I believe that for the relationship between chairman and manager to work, they need to know what makes each other tick. That is vital to the success of a football club. And that’s what Gary and I have. Any football club who wants him will have to take onboard that Gary is working for a club he loves dearly.

“What a fantastic signing he was for this football club.”

Mills, 50, has shown great man-management of his players over the past few weeks, steering them to an unbeaten run of nine games by keeping his players relaxed amid all the drama and attention.

McGill will continue to match his manager’s ambition by producing a budget that will make them competitive at the top end of League Two next season.

And the chairman has highlighted promotion to League One within two years as the ideal scenario, given that the start of the 2014-15 season would coincide with the opening of their new stadium at Monks Cross.

“There’s no point getting promoted to flirt with relegation,” said McGill.

“The extra income we will now receive means we will operate on a sound financial footing and we will put together a budget that will be competitive.

“We are ambitious. For too many years York have been perceived as a good housekeeping club – which is not a bad thing.

“But it was easier to make money in the old transfer market when you could sell Jonathan Greening to Manchester United and Richard Cresswell to Sheffield Wednesday for big money.

“Football has changed so you have to manage your finances carefully. These last eight years have stood us in good stead in terms of managing what we have.

“We are not going to set a target for next season at this stage. But our overall aim is for a second promotion and I believe that our current structure supports a top half of League One club.

“The timing of the new stadium – 2014-15 – is absolutely critical. It would be fantastic to achieve promotion and start League One in a new stadium.”

To continue York’s resurrection, McGill wants to keep as many of the players who have helped them this season as possible.

Striker Matty Blair scored 20 goals in his first campaign with the club, among them the winner in the play-off final against Luton and the goal that ended the Hatters’ FA Trophy dream at the semi-final hurdle. He also bagged the clinching goal in the play-off semi-final against Mansfield and the one that set York on their way to their first Wembley triumph against Newport 10 days ago.

Coventry City have shown an interest in Blair, 21, but given that the two clubs are now just one division apart, McGill is confident York have the resolve to reject any overtures.

“York City are not a selling club, unless the offer is a substantial one that is too good to turn down,” said McGill, in relation to interest in any of their star players.

“We have got a lot of players with one and two years left to run on their contracts.

“Unless it’s a huge deal, we wouldn’t entertain it.

“Now we’re a Football League club again, other teams will find it a lot harder to prise our players away. We will be even more resolute.”

Reflecting on the drama of the last week-and-a-half, McGill, who took over the club in 2003, said: “The last eight days have been the biggest and best in York City’s 90-year history. What we have achieved means everything to us.

“We didn’t enjoy a conventional build-up to the play-off final. Firstly we had to concentrate on the FA Trophy, then we had to focus on the stadium decision last Thursday.

“The play-off final was always at the back of our minds but we weren’t able to think about that until Friday.

“The importance of it didn’t really sink in until the Sunday morning, and it just showed how much it meant to everyone that the players came up the steps at Wembley and said to me ‘that’s for all the hard work, Mr Chairman’.”