ALEX Whittle has revealed that he decided to commit himself to York City this season after clear-the-air talks with manager Gary Mills.
The 24-year-old left back, who netted City's final goal off the bench in last night's 9-0 friendly victory at Oakham United, was placed on the transfer list at his own request following the end of last season’s National League campaign.
Despite making more appearances during 2016/17 than any other player aside from former skipper Simon Heslop, he lost his place to long-throw specialist Sam Muggleton for the final-day 2-2 draw with Forest Green Rovers that could not save City form relegation.
Whittle was then left out of the Minstermen’s squad for the 3-2 FA Trophy final victory against Macclesfield at Wembley and, when Aldershot, who are still a National League outfit, subsequently showed an interest in his services, it seemed certain that the former Liverpool academy player would be moving on.
But, after reporting back to Bootham Crescent for pre-season training, Whittle had a rethink following discussions with Mills and, on his U-turn, explained: “There was interest in the summer after I’d had a decent season so I weighed up my options, but I’ve got another year on my contract and, since coming back for pre-season, I’ve really enjoyed it.
“There’s been plenty of ball work and York are also still a really good club – there’s no doubt about that. I was really disappointed not to play in the final league game and at Wembley.
“I won’t lie – I was gutted and I was devastated when the club got relegated. But me and the gaffer cleared the air and, sometimes, things can get misinterpreted a bit.
“Once we had a face-to-face chat, everything was fine and we’ll take things from there.
"I’m hoping we can bounce straight back up, because I want to get promoted and know we’ve got a good enough squad to do that.”
Whittle held down a regular starting place last term with fellow left-back Ben Barber, also recruited last summer, restricted to just one appearance during the 6-1 debacle at Guiseley.
He later had competition from the versatile Sean Newton and Muggleton – both recruited by Mills – to contend with.
The latter will again be his biggest rival for a first XI slot, with his phenomenal touchline talent making a compelling case for his inclusion.
Whittle has not been honing his own throwing skills to further enhance his own claims, but has the belief that his football prowess can continue to secure consistent selection.
“I played nearly all of last season, but you want competition and don’t want to be comfortable,” he reasoned. “You don’t want your squad to be too big, but we’ve pretty much got two players for every position and there are places up for grabs in the team with lads who have come in and want to fight their way into the side.
“I’m confident in my own ability though and I’m hoping I can continue on from last season.”
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