FUMING York City boss Sam Collins admitted he was sick of hearing excuses from under-performing players following a dismal 2-0 defeat at Boston United.

Second-half goals from Nicky Walker and Gavin Allott condemned the Minstermen to a fourth straight National League North away loss with Collins confessing that he was only happy with the current standards of “three or four players” from the sizeable Bootham Crescent squad.

Collins also labelled the Lincolnshire performance as “weak” and “soft”, whilst accusing the majority of those on City’s books of only giving “50 or 60 per cent” commitment to the cause.

He went on to declare that the players are fully responsible for the 14th-placed club’s current struggles and that any other manager would encounter the same problems he is facing.

Without naming names, the City chief appeared to have a swipe at out-of-favour striker Jon Parkin, too, for being filmed on Twitter carrying a pint of lager at an airport in the morning on his way to the Feyenoord v PSV Eindhoven match earlier this month.

Another unidentified player, meanwhile, had his professionalism questioned for munching Tortilla chips on the way to a fixture.

Pulling no punches, a livid Collins seethed: “After the game, I just stood there and kept quiet for ten minutes, so I could listen to what the players had to say and all I heard was excuses. One week it’s because of one thing and, the next week, it’s because of something else.

“I just asked them one thing: ‘Can you look in the mirror and say that you’re giving everything you’ve got?’ Jordan Burrow does every time he plays and trains, and there are three or four other players I could say the same about, but this club has 20-odd players who are on good money and are well looked after by a chairman who is different class.

“I’ve been told by some players here that old managers didn’t treat them with respect or weren’t professional, but it’s just excuses. Just go out there and play.

“I had managers who weren’t the best coaches or man-managers but, when you go out on that grass, all that matters is how you perform and I’m sick of hearing excuses.”

Expressing his views on the professional standards of some players, Collins added: “I’m disappointed, frustrated, emotional, upset and angry because I’m a proud man, who has been involved in football since I was a little lad and been involved in professional football for 20 years and one thing I prided myself on as a player was that I would fight, scrap and try every single game.

“Are our 20-odd players doing that? Not really.

“I saw one of our players on a video the other day at an airport with a pint in his hand at 7.30 in the morning. Another was on the team bus eating a pack of Doritos on our way to a match.

“I’m getting screamed at by the fans and I understand that it gets directed at me as a manager, but it’s nobody else’s fault other than the players. I’m really proud to be manager of this football club, but I won’t be proud of the team until they can do the things I want them to do and that won’t change whether it’s me here or somebody else.

“They’ll need lads who can change this, because there’s one common denominator in all this over the last two or three years – those that go out there on the pitch. Some players want to have a go out there, but a lot don’t and that’s the big problem.

“My mate of ten years (physio Ian Gallagher) backed me up when a fan came on to the pitch a few weeks ago at Altrincham and, while he, myself and (assistant-manager) Stuart (Parnaby) might have limitations as physio, manager and coach, we are all honest and work hard every single day.

“If I’m not good enough, I’ll hold my hands up and say so. Will the players do that? Not a chance.”

Delivering his withering final verdict on an eighth league loss this season, Collins declared: “It was weak and soft.

“There are different types of bravery – the kind where you show for your team-mates and get the ball and the kind where you stand up, fight and scrap out there. I think I saw that from two or three players and I’ve felt like that for weeks to be honest.

“The goals we’re letting in are terrible. We were unbeaten for three games going into this game but I’m not stupid and, apart from at Kidderminster, we got away with it a bit.

“They will probably go to Harrogate next weekend and play well, because we’ve seen that before enough times at places like Kidderminster. But it’s these types of games when you’re going away, it’s raining, and the pitch is a bit heavy that you need to puff out your chest and have a big heart.

“York City fans are different class. They might moan and get on my back, but I understand why, because they are frustrated and all they want to see is people giving everything they’ve got.

“You might make a mistake and concede a goal – I did that many times as a centre back – but the fans stood by me as a player because I gave my all and held my hands up. Quite a few players in this squad are only giving 50 or 60 per cent and that’s not acceptable.”