The Saturday Interview

IF there is one thing York City have long been short of it is brass.

The Minstermen have often found themselves wheeling and dealing on a wafer-thin budget, while dangling dangerously close to expulsion from the Football League - but now they have brass, Chris Brass.

The former Claret is now at the helm of the Yorkshire club having taken the hotseat just a handful of weeks ago and he says that his years studying the managers he served at Turf Moor will serve him well.

Even though York still aren't out of the woods in terms of their financial problems, Brass - who played at Turf Moor under Jimmy Mullen, Adrian Heath, Chris Waddle and Stan Ternent - knows exactly who to turn to when it comes to advice about building and maintaining a squad on a shoestring.

"Stan is probably the best, most successful manager I've played under and I'll be taking a lot of pluses from his way of doing things into forming my style," he said.

"I spoke to him briefly when I first got the job and he gave me some good advice, and I'm sure I'll be speaking to him again in the near future.

"However, I've not had time recently. I didn't realise how busy this time of the year was for managers, looking at trialists and organising which games I'll be able to watch over the pre-season.

"I'm sure Stan's been just as busy, if not more so, but I will definitely be in touch with him again."

City have been frequent inhabitors of the lower echelons of the third division, last year, however, sparked a welcome upturn in fortunes for the Yorkshire club following a successful fundraising mission to push the club's finances towards an even keel.

The campaign was as simple as organising events, with proceeds going to the club's coffers, and bucket collections around the ground on matchdays. But it seemed to do the trick as York stayed in business and were among the top six in the table during the early part of the campaign.

Venturing into relatively unknown territory started to prove too much, though, and they failed to maintain their play-off push, finishing 10th.

Nevertheless, improvements had been made on and off the pitch, the future was looking brighter and manager Terry Dolan was even linked to other clubs after his successful season, preferring, however, to stay with York.

So few were more surprised than former Burnley defender Brass when Dolan was shown the door at the end of May.

That initial shock soon reached seismic proportions for 27-year-old Brass when he was offered the hot-seat at Bootham Crescent - especially as he was being tipped to be the next departure!

"I had a message on my answerphone one Friday night, so I replied to that on the Saturday," the defender said.

"I didn't know what was going on because Terry had just left the club and I didn't even know if I was getting transferred.

"There had been a lot of speculation at the time that I would be leaving the club too.

"But then they asked me if I wanted to take the manager's job.

"Knowing how thorough I like to be and do my homework before I take anything on, I asked for the weekend to think about it and talk it over with my family.

"I wouldn't go into it blind. I wanted to be sure that they were willing to back me, get the backroom staff that I wanted and that we could work within our budgets.

"Plus, going into management was something I envisaged doing when my playing career had ended.

"It was strange when I was first approached, but it was something I simply couldn't turn down."

It was also a move which reignited his passion for the game. Brass isn't ashamed to admit that York's financial crisis, which had overshadowed their relative success on the pitch, had left him and some of his team-mates disillusioned with football.

It was an especially difficult period for Brass because of his role as captain and a sense that it was his responsibility, as well as Dolan's, to keep the squad focused.

"There were a lot of troubled times last year and uncertainty regarding the club's future," he said.

"I fell out of love with football a little bit, even though we were doing well on the pitch.

"So it's exciting to get that buzz about the game back and everything seems to be falling into place.

"Knowing the board were willing to back me and get the backroom staff I wanted made my decision a lot easier."

Brass has also been dabbling in the transfer market ahead of the forthcoming season in an effort to bring former Burnley team-mate Marlon Beresford back to York City.

Beresford, released by Ternent at the end of last season, was at Turf Moor with Brass from 1993 to 1998 before the stopper was sold to Middlesbrough.

Beresford then had a loan spell with the Minstermen at the beginning of last season before returning to Turf Moor.

And he had a pivotal role to play in York's prominence at the top of the League's basement division in that time.

"Marlon hasn't signed as yet but hopefully he will, subject to a medical," Brass said.

"He is a very good goalkeeper and it was my number one priority to sign a goalie.

"He's had numerous offers from other clubs but he's decided he wants to come to York, which is great because he understands what you expect of him.

"Marlon was a part of our good start last season and the basis of a successful team is to get off on a good footing."

One change Beresford will find, however, is quickly getting used to calling his former team mate 'gaffer'.

"I've had a meeting with the lads and they distanced themselves straight away. But that's necessary because I'm their manager now," Brass continued.

"I have to make decisions and I can only keep 11 of them happy at any time.

"It will be hard but they know exactly how York City works and what needs to be done to take this club forward."

He added: "I still hear some of the lads call me Brassy from time to time. Some call me Brassy-gaffer, so I have a double-barrelled name, which is quite cool!"