“WE’RE ready for it. We’ve worked on it, we’ve talked about it and we’re ready to face every challenge that’s thrown at us.”

That’s the message to York City supporters from boss Gary Mills as the Minstermen prepare for Saturday’s big kick-off to life in National League North.

Having retained the bulk of his squad that ended last season, the manager has also added a smattering of new faces – and is confident that his line-up can bounce back into the National League at the first attempt.

In just four days the talking ends as AFC Telford United head to Bootham Crescent to test City’s credentials.

Mills insists his players are ready for that challenge and the hurdles that lay ahead over the following 45 games.

He said: “I’m not interested in who are favourites and who are not favourites to win this league.

“We’ve got to go out there and do our jobs. We’re going to have to go to some grounds that our players have never been to before – that they possibly never wanted to go to.

“That's part of the challenge this season – different grounds and different sizes of crowds. Every team that plays us, certainly coming here to Bootham Crescent, it will be their cup final.

“So we’ve got to handle that, and I think we’ve got the squad to do that.

“It was mentioned 24 hours after getting relegated last season – we’re expected to bounce straight back.

"That’s part and parcel of it, but look at Stockport County who have been in this league now for a while. It’s not as simple as that and you have to work hard. Kidderminster, who went down, they didn’t get out of it last season either.

"It’s going to be a tough season and we’ve got to handle that in the right way.

“But we’re ready for it. We’ve worked on it, we’ve talked about it and we’re ready to face every challenge that’s thrown at us.”

Retaining the likes of Jon Parkin, Sean Newton, Dan Parslow and Amari Morgan-Smith gives the Minstermen a cracking chance of success, according to the boss.

He continued: “I think it’s massive. I think the fans have maybe got sick of every pre-season seeing a random set of different players rather than players that are committed to going forward with the football club.

“The word 'committed' is key. Certainly after getting relegated, wanting to stay and put that right this season shows the magnitude of the players that have stayed.

“Believe me, I’ve worked hard on a couple of them that could have gone and played in League Two that have now stayed with us. If not League Two, the others could have gone and played in the National premier league.

“So we’ve worked hard at that. Having said that, a lot of the players knocked on my door and said ‘gaffer, I want to stay.’ That was massive for me as well and for the fans that’s obviously important.

“Apart from a couple of changes, they’re going to be seeing the majority of players that they saw last season.

“Those players all know what a fantastic football club this is and they all know how much it hurt everybody last year to see what happened. The fact that they want to stay around and put that right is great credit to them.

“We’re in this together. Sometimes it’s easy to walk away, whether that's because we’re in the league below or whether there’s a club from a higher division who want to come and take you to play for them. To stay around – certainly in this day and age in football – that says something.

“People talk about loyalty – you can see what’s going on with some players in the Premier League at the moment which is an absolute disgrace.

"But it does go down to this level, so for the amount of players who have shown the loyalty to stay and to fight for the cause this season, I think they deserve praise for that.”