YORK City chief Chris Brass has hailed the club's familiar faces as a major boon in his preparation for his first season as player-manager.

The youthful winds of change may be blowing through the corridors of Bootham Crescent in the wake of the club's decision to appoint the youngest manager in the Football League.

But Brass reckons it is the old rather than the new that has given his start in the managerial hot-seat a lift.

As reported in the Evening Press, the club will be retaining the services of fitness coach Kevin Hornsby and City's long-standing physiotherapist Jeff Miller next season.

Paul Stancliffe and Brian Neaves, aided by a mini-army of coaches, will also continue to run the club's highly regarded youth development scheme while the club's current scouting system will also remain in place.

Brass reckons having such a settled, well-established backroom staff already in situ means any upheaval brought about by the change in management has been kept to a minimum.

Underlining the sense of a seamless transition is the fact Brass has been promoted from within, which means he already has a good idea of the existing squad's capabilities, strengths and weaknesses.

The 27-year-old explained: "I know the people I'm working with and I'm not coming into a job where I'm inheriting people whose backgrounds I don't know.

"I already know how the squad works; I know with some players you have to pull them to one side and have a quiet word, with others you have to be a bit harder.

"It can take three, six or even 12 months to get to know people and how they work but I'm fortunate to be coming straight into a job knowing exactly how people work and how the club has to run.

"I'm under no illusions and there should be no skeletons in the cupboard. There should be nothing to hide and there should be nothing to stop us now in order to stabilise the club and take it forward."

The City player-boss is still formulating how things will work on match-days, when it is possible both Brass and his assistant, Lee Nogan, could be playing.

"Everything will be pre-planned before the game," he insisted.

"Obviously, you can't envisage how a game will be run but within reason we will be able to change it.

"Kevin will be on the sidelines and Jeff has been in the game long enough to know what's happening and if myself and Lee are playing and we need to get a message to the bench then it shouldn't be a problem."

Updated: 10:59 Friday, July 04, 2003