FORMER York City double-Wembley winning hero Jason Walker is backing his old club to bounce straight back up into the National League next season.

Walker, whose Chorley team missed out on promotion following Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Halifax in the National League North play-off final, reckons the retention of Gary Mills as manager and full-time status at Bootham Crescent will see the club prosper in the sixth tier.

The 33-year-old forward netted 18 goals in 39 games under Mills during a 2011/12 campaign that culminated in City winning the FA Trophy and Conference play-off final and, on the chances of the North Yorkshire outfit challenging for honours next term, he said: “The should do alright and I’m sure they will bounce back.

“They will have a good budget and will still be full-time, so should be pushing for the league, especially with the manager they have got. He signed me and was amazing for me and was probably one of the best managers I worked under.

“His man-management and style of play was great for me. I really enjoyed working under him and I’m sure he’ll get it right for next season and be at the top of the league by strengthening in the right way and playing the right way.

“There’s also a little less professionalism at this level, than the division above. All the players try to be, but it’s just that day in, day out training as a full-time club that gives you an advantage, especially when you’re a club like York.”

While predicting a good season for the Minstermen, Walker feels that three other clubs, who have all been Football League outfits during the last 12 years, will also be competing for promotion.

“Darlington will be up there again, Stockport will probably strengthen more and Kidderminster were really good this season and shouldn’t be in this league either, but it isn’t easy to get out of now,” the 5ft 9in striker reasoned.

Having netted four times in his last six games for home-town club Barrow at National League level in 2015/16, Walker has found the drop down to regionalised football less of a culture shock than he might have anticipated and, while his out-of-contract ex-Bootham Crescent team-mates like Dan Parslow, Adriano Moke and Lanre Oyebanjo might be pondering whether to make the same career choice, he has some words of comfort, adding: “They’ll do alright if they want to play at this level.

“You still play some big clubs and you play on decent pitches. It’s not like non-League football of old, where you’re playing on sand.

“They will still be full-time footballers and it’s more enjoyable if you’re pushing for the top of the league, which they should be.”

Walker went on to admit that he will have his eye out for one game in particular when the fixtures come out next month.

“I’m on a two-year contract at Chorley and I’m looking forward to going back to York next season to see a few old faces,” he confessed. “It’s five years to the week when we were doing the double at Wembley, so what’s happened must be devastating to everybody involved, especially the manager who I feel really sorry for, because I know how much he cares for the club.

“York shouldn’t have got relegated, but he shouldn’t get any criticism, because he went in there with a squad that wasn’t his.”

Walker is now a PE teacher at the school where his wife is headmistress, smiling: “She’s the boss at work now, as well as at home!”

But he was also delivering lessons to National League North defences last term, scoring 14 goals even though a mid-season injury restricted him to just 27 starts and a second-half substitute outing at the Shay over the weekend.

Chorley finished outside of the top five, but made the play-offs at the expense of Darlington, who didn’t meet the ground requirements for promotion, before knocking out Kidderminster in the semi-finals.

The Lancashire minnows were hoping to play in the highest echelon of non-League football for the first time since 1991, but Walker was gracious in defeat, pointing out: “They deserve promotion because they were in the play-offs all season and finished above us.

“We fought hard all season, but just came up short. As a club, we over-achieved really with the budget we had compared to the likes of Halifax, Fylde and Darlington but, when you’ve gone as far we did, it’s still a bitter spill to swallow because you want to finish the job off and get promoted.”