ALEX HURST has insisted that he thinks York City will be a “surprise package” in the upcoming season.

York begin their first Vanarama National League campaign in five years on Saturday, taking on Woking at the LNER Community Stadium (3pm).

Hurst is one of 16 new arrivals to sign for City this summer, the club having had to craft a team very different to the one that won them promotion last term.

Despite the sheer amount of new players, Hurst believes that his side have a chance at promotion and feels they will catch many other National League teams off guard.

“(Our aim is) to do as good as we can, I think we have a chance of going up,” he implored.

“There’s obviously some big teams in the league that have some money, but I think one of those teams are going to surprise people.”

“Like I say, I think we’ll be a surprise package. I don’t think people on the outside expect much of us, but the signings we’ve made are some really high quality players, a really good squad that’s come together.”

Hurst spent three years with Port Vale before joining the Minstermen, where he played under manager John Askey until Askey departed the club in early 2021.

Though Vale were able to earn promotion to League One last season, he played just two times in all competitions.

When asked if knowing Askey and how he wants to play impacted his decision to join York, Hurst replied: “Definitely, that was a massive factor in coming to play for him again, I’ve done well for him before.

“I know what he expects of players and he’s going to get us working hard and that’s the main thing we need to start with, working hard in games.

“After that, hopefully things come together.

“Coming off last season was frustrating for me, it was good for the team I was at, but I didn’t play as much as I wanted to.

“Firstly, I want to be starting games, playing week in week out. Then I want to be trying to get goals and assists, but that’ll come with minutes, I just want to get to playing 90 minutes week in week out.”