YORK City top scorer Jon Parkin has revealed he wants to carry on playing for manager Gary Mills in the future.

A contract clause would have automatically guaranteed 15-goal Parkin’s presence at Bootham Crescent next season if the Minstermen avoided relegation, but the 35-year-old veteran does not know where he’ll now be plying his trade next term.

He has, though, signalled his desire to join forces with ex-Wrexham and Gateshead chief Gary Mills, who has also said he is uncertain as to whether he is wanted as the club prepare for life in the National League North.

Parkin has worked for former top-flight chiefs Tony Pulis, Peter Taylor, Dave Bassett, Phil Brown, Malky Mackay, Alan Irvine and Brian Horton in the past and, outlining his respect for Mills, he said: “I think the gaffer is brilliant and I’ve enjoyed working under him.

“He takes the pressure off players and I can’t speak highly enough of him. I obviously don’t know what will happen now, but I’d like to work with him again in the future.

“I’m not sure what the future holds for me either to be honest. That was the last thing on my mind during all of this.

“There was a clause in my contract that, because I’d played enough games, I would get next season if we stayed up, but that’s not a conversation for now.”

Parkin also pointed out that the Minstermen must first, in coming days, try and overcome the bitter blow of relegation and switch their attention to the FA Trophy final against Macclesfield at Wembley on Sunday, May 21.

“After a few days off, we will lick our wounds and come back in to prepare for winning a game at Wembley,” he reasoned. “That’s the situation – it’s as simple as that,

“It’s our next game, so it’s the most important one now, although it would obviously have been much better if we’d have got safe before we went there.”

Parkin went on to defend chairman Jason McGill’s position at the club after a small section of supporters staged a car-park protest against him following the 2-2 home draw to Forest Green that condemned City to sixth-tier football.

The former Barnsley striker’s first spell with the Minstermen coincided with a period during the 2002/03 campaign when the successive stewardships of Douglas Craig and John Batchelor had threatened the club’s very existence.

McGill was then heavily involved as the Supporters’ Trust rescued City from oblivion and, having become the majority shareholder in 2006, has since covered significant annual losses as the move to a community stadium drags on under the City of York Council’s watch.

Expressing his thoughts on McGill, Parkin pointed out: “I obviously don’t know everything that goes off at the football club, but I remember sitting down and being told we weren’t going to be paid as players all those years ago and I think it would have been in a hell of a lot of a worse situation if he wasn’t here.”

On the pain of watching the club plunge into the realms of regionalised football, meanwhile, former Championship forward Parkin added: “I’m devastated.

“The (Forest Green) game meant everything and was comfortably one of the biggest in my career. At 90 minutes, a draw was enough, but it’s the small margins that cost us and we ultimately fell short.

“We had three or four really good chances and their keeper pulled off three incredible saves so, on another day, we would have won the game 3-2 or 4-2. This football club shouldn’t even be in this league, but it’s alright saying it’s a big football club.

“Wherever you finish after 46 games, you will have had decisions gone against you and for you and it’s where you deserve to be.”

Parkin has scored 15 goals and provided nine assists since his arrival from Newport and netted both of the Minstermen’s final two efforts in their league campaign.

But, having endured a first-ever career relegation, he is not interested in any individual praise, arguing: “Whatever happened before I came back here, I wanted to help this club stay in the division which, ultimately, I’ve failed to do, so that pretty much sums it up really.

Like Mills, though, Parkin insisted none of his team-mates deserve criticism for their efforts during this calendar year.

“Our form in the second half of the season was good enough to give us a great chance of staying up and we were a couple of minutes away from doing that,” he explained. “All you can do as a player and person is give your best at all times and I don’t think anybody can question the attitude and application of the lads since I came back to the club.”