GARY Mills intends to take York City back into the Football League again after plotting a successful survival battle in 2017.

The Minstermen ended a terrible 2016 with just their ninth victory of the calendar year following Boxing Day’s 1-0 triumph at North Ferriby.

That result lifted the club above Ferriby and off the bottom of the National League table ahead of the New Year’s Day return fixture against the Humberside villagers at Bootham Crescent.

With the gap to a place outside the relegation zone now reduced to three points, City also have fifth-bottom Woking in their sights.

The Cards lost 4-0 at neighbours Aldershot over Christmas and host the same opponents this weekend.

Mills has previously stated that the challenge of keeping City up this season is bigger than that he faced when masterminding promotion via the play-offs in 2012.

But safety is not the limit of his ambitions during his second stint at the Minstermen helm - he has signalled his intention to be around for the long haul and emulate his promotion success of five seasons ago

"From the word go the welcome I got back was massive," said the 55-year-old, a European Cup winner in his playing days at Nottingham Forest. "All I can say to every York fan is I want to be here now, no matter how long it takes.

“I want to get us back into the League. I don't want to be going anywhere else."

Mills was sacked by City in March 2013 as a run of 11 win-less games placed them in Sky Bet League Two relegation danger.

He then took Gateshead from the lower reaches of the Conference to the play-off final at Wembley the following season, being named non-League Manager of the Year.

After taking over at Wrexham in April 2015, Mills was relieved of his duties in October, before being swiftly brought back to Bootham Crescent.

Of his pledge to "go nowhere else", he added: "I know that's not always my choice, but I want to be here. People know me at this football club and I know them.

“I'm here to do a job. I'm so, so, so dedicated to getting this right."

If City can extend their unbeaten run to a fourth game on Sunday, that would represent the longest sequence without a defeat in a season since Russ Wilcox steered the club clear of relegation trouble from the Football League following four wins and two draws towards the tail-end of the 2014/15 campaign.

On the bid to keep accumulating results, Mills said: "I'm glad people can see positives in what we're doing because it is positive and we are getting there.

"But we have to make sure we pick up enough points. I'm already looking at next year and getting excited about where we're going to be and what we're going to be doing.”