YORK City assistant manager Darron Gee will take a pay cut to turn full-time at Bootham Crescent next season.

Gee has been working with City chief Gary Mills on a part-time basis since October 2010 but has decided to give up his well-paid job outside of the game to concentrate on Minstermen matters in 2012/13.

The former Tamworth and Dunkirk manager has been combining work as Mills’ number two with his directorship of a security camera company but he insisted that taking a drop in earnings required little soul-searching.

He said: “The chairman has drafted a contract for me to have a look at and, if everything is okay, I will be signing it. I’ve already agreed the deal in principle and I’ve just got to see it in black and white now.

“The offer the chairman has made me is a great one and I am pleased he feels I am worthy of it. It’s probably obvious that I will be earning less money as it’s very rare that, if you are leaving a good job behind to go full-time in football, it will work out the other way round unless you’re going to a Championship or Premier League team.

“The chairman said that the negotiations with myself would probably be the hardest he did this summer but I have spoken to my family and they are totally behind me and understand what I am doing. It was not a hard decision to make in terms of my career in football.”

Gee is also fuelled by a desire to silence any critics who might still doubt his and Mills’ credentials after the pair were relieved of their duties at Notts County just three months into their first taste of League football together eight years ago.

“I have a young family but it’s always been my aim to go full-time with Gary again,” the 49-year-old coach added.

“We have a massive point to prove after what happened at Notts County, where we were never given a chance to show exactly what we can do. We’ve got a great opportunity to do that now at a fantastic club.”

On the benefits that Gee’s extended hours at Bootham Crescent will bring to the club, he added: “I will be at the ground every day now, which will take a bit of pressure off Gary in terms of the day-to-day running of the club.

“Sometimes players need to see different faces and it’s good to freshen up training regimes. We dealt with that well last season but there were times when I could not get to the ground and that won’t be the case now.

“I can also go to more games to look at young players and potential signings in reserve games or Gary can do that and I can take care of stuff at the ground.”