YORK City boss Sam Collins is ready to get “really, really horrible” as he looks to clamp down on perceived ill-discipline at the club.

After the 2-0 defeat at Boston United on Saturday, Collins criticised veteran striker Jon Parkin for being filmed on Twitter drinking alcohol on a Sunday morning at a UK airport and also expressed his disappointment in another unnamed player for eating a bag of Doritos on the way to a game.

Collins, who has sanctioned days off for Parkin this season to watch games in Germany and Holland for trips linked to his undrthecosh podcast venture, stressed that he has tried to be accommodating and fair with every member of his squad, but feels he might now need to take a tougher stance as the club look to improve on their disappointing 14th-placed position in the National League North table.

After watching his team throw away a two-goal lead to draw at home last week to Leamington, Collins vowed not to “hammer” his players, but Saturday’s 2-0 defeat in Lincolnshire led him to confess that he was “sick of hearing excuses” in the changing room for below-par performances and he has pointed out: “I’ve tried to be really fair with everyone and they’ve all had a chance in the team, other than Dan Parslow, who was going to play at Swindon but he got injured and then we had to strengthen.

“I’ve treated the players with respect and in the same way I would have wanted to be if it was the other way around and I was still playing. But I’ve worked with some managers who were really, really harsh and tough in terms of discipline and, if I have to get the discipline side right by being really, really horrible to get three points, so be it because, if they are letting me down, they’re letting the football club down and, if they don’t like that, I don’t care.”

Since becoming City manager in August – initially on a caretaker basis – Collins has made one short-term signing in Alex Harris and recruited five loan players Alex Bray, Joe Davis, Kennedy Digie, Lewis Hawkins and Joe Ironside.

In total, the Minstermen now have 28 professionals on their books, including loaned-out pair Tom Allan and Alex Kempster, with Collins confessing that he would be reluctant to ask chairman Jason McGill for more funds to bolster his ranks, despite expressing reservations about the commitment of many of those in the current squad.

The ex-Hartlepool caretaker manager said: “It would be really difficult to go out and get more players because there are a lot of players here and a lot of them are on good contracts until the end of this season or the one after that. I feel for the football club and the chairman, because he’s been fantastic in terms of what he gives to the club and the way he lets you do the things you want to do.

“He backs everything 100 per cent and the players are on fantastic money for the level we’re at, so I don’t really think it’s fair that I knock on the door asking him for more. Letting him and the punters in the stand down is what hurts me the most and the players have to feel the same because, if you’re letting your team-mate down next to you and that doesn’t hurt, then go and find another job, because you’re in the wrong one.”

Sean Newton is one of seven players contracted to City until the summer of 2020, with Allan and Jake Wright others known to be on the terms of the same length.

But ex-Wrexham left-back Newton is under real pressure to keep his starting place for this weekend’s FA Trophy trip to Harrogate Town, with three goals in the last two matches having originated from his side of the pitch.

“That can’t keep happening and you can’t keep getting away with it,” Collins reasoned of that statistic. “Normally, if you do it during a couple of games on the bounce, you’ll find yourself out of the team, so there you go.”

Wright will definitely not feature at his former club on Saturday, but an accurate diagnosis on his ankle injury hasn’t been possible yet, while Bray should figure having been named on the bench at Boston.

“He was ill and then had a bit of cramp and a hamstring twinge, so we didn’t think he’d get through a whole game and that’s why we didn’t start him,” Collins explained.

The City manager also revealed that he was not aware why the start of the second half at Boston was delayed as referee Amy Fearn and club stewards intervened during an apparent spat between home fans and keeper Adam Bartlett.

“I’m not sure what happened but was told it was related to something that went on at last season’s match and their fans were having a go at Adam about it,” Collins declared.