YORK City head of football operations Richard Cresswell believes stepping into recruitment is the next path in his career.

The former striker, who scored 142 goals during an 18-year career at every level of football, is charged with finding potential targets for manager Russ Wilcox in his expanded brief at the Minstermen.

Cresswell, who will also work with the club's strikers as he also remains in his role with the first team squad, is hoping to utilise a book of contacts gathered during his career to help find the players that will propel City up the League Two table.

Stressing the final decision on any possible arrival would rest with Wilcox, the 37-year-old said he was looking forward to helping put together the "ingredients" for a recipe of success.

"The next step is into recruitment," Cresswell explained. "During last season I filed a report on every opposition team and I am going to take that a bit further. As a small club, everyone has to help out in different areas.

"We are not lucky enough to have five, six or seven full-time scouts and a chief scout. It is down to the staff to do their bit. For me, I think the ingredients of what goes into the team is the most important thing.

"I have said that to the owner and the board. If we get that right we have a better chance of getting our maximum performance on the pitch. That's the goal. I won't be on the training ground every day.

"The gaffer and John Schofield will be doing that. I will have an impact on the recruitment side of things and giving the manager options and looking at what positions we need.

"I do have a number of contacts in the game, which I have generated over the years, and they will come in handy to help the club move forward. I think recruitment is one of the most important things.

"If you put bad ingredients into a cake you are not going to enjoy it. It is the same with football. If you don't get the players on the pitch who can play in the style and formation you want to play, you are not going to get the performance levels that the fans, board and the manager expect.

"The manager will take the final decision. This is more to give him a list of players when and where we need them."

Cresswell, who added he was excited by the possibility of "creating a vision for the future" with the Minstermen, also said he has learned more about football in the short period since ending his playing career than he had in all his years on the pitch.

He explained: "After retiring it is finding your pathway. Fortunately for me the board and the chairman gave me a route back into football - looking at different aspects from the commercial side to the academy and then the first team.

"It was quite a wide range of different aspects of how the club works - from the bottom to the top - and I have learned more in the last 12 to 18 months than in 20 years on the playing side.

"Having to work round the back of the club, in different ways, has been a fantastic experience and I have been pleased to have had an impact with the academy - getting new staff involved and creating the environment to ultimately produce some players."