YORK City manager and Macclesfield legend John Askey has described tomorrow afternoon's (3pm) return to his former club as "just another game".

Askey leads his York side to Macclesfield FC today for their fourth pre-season friendly of the summer, following three straight defeats to Middlesbrough, Bradford City and Guiseley.

The City boss has been described as Macclesfield's "greatest ever servant" by the area's local press and was awarded the freedom of the town in 2018.

That followed from a 679-game playing career and a near-300-match managerial spell at Macclesfield Town, during which time four promotions were won as the Silkmen rose from the sixth tier to the third.

After almost 150 years of existence, Town dissolved in 2020 amid financial difficulty but have since reformed as Macclesfield FC, now in the eighth-tier Pitching In Northern Premier League west.

“Sentiment doesn’t really come into it in football for me, it’s just another game," stated Askey.

“The game was arranged because they asked us to play. I thought it would be a good one because we’re playing Maidstone on a 3G pitch two weeks into the (Vanarama National League) season.

“They’ve been doing well in pre-season and have won the majority of their games, so it’s a good game for us."

York's return to the National League begins in two weeks and, having yet to come away with a result so far in pre-season, Askey wants more from his side ahead of the August 6 start date.

“I’m expecting us to perform better, that’s what I’m expecting now,” he said.

“In the previous games, we’ve worked really hard and especially in (training camp in) Scotland.

"We went into the Bradford game with a lot of tired legs, and I gave them the benefit of the doubt. We went into Guiseley reasonably fresh.

“We still worked hard but hopefully when we start to do a little bit less in training, hopefully come the Notts County game (on July 30), then we’ll see what they’re made of.”