YORK City manager Nigel Worthington believes quality will prove more valuable than quantity during the club’s compact pre-season programme.

The Minstermen will only play four public friendly matches, all at Bootham Crescent during a 12-day period, prior to kicking off the new League Two season at home to Northampton on Saturday, August 3.

It is a new approach to that previously adopted by Worthington’s Minstermen predecessors with Gary Mills opting for eight warm-up matches last summer, stretched over three-and-a-half weeks.

Only two of those matches – against Oldham and Middlesbrough – provided strong Football League opposition however.

Premier League Sunderland, meanwhile, sent a string of youngsters and the other friendlies were against York & District League Huntington Rovers and non-League quartet Harrogate Railway, Pickering Town, Gateshead and Grantham.City, who start their pre-season with a match against Derby County under-21s during their training camp at the FA’s national St George’s headquarters, will play host to Championship trio Huddersfield (Tuesday, July 16), Blackpool (Saturday, July 20) and Leicester (Wednesday, July 24), before wrapping up their preparations against top League One team Sheffield United on Saturday, July 27.

On the reasoning behind the schedule, Worthington, right, explained: “I never played more than five or six pre-season games as a player. The six weeks should be about doing your work and the games are there to bring you up to match speed.

“The four home matches we have got are excellent. The quality of the opposition will be a good test for the players and their fitness.”

City also aim to honour an agreement to play a friendly with EvoStik League side Darlington as part of the deal that brought midfielder John McReady to Bootham Crescent last summer but not prior to the new season as originally expected.

Worthington added: “I didn’t know anything about that agreement. I’m hoping something can now be arranged during the season if both parties agree.”

• YORK City’s League Two trip to Oxford United has been switched from Saturday, April 19 to Good Friday, April 18. The game will kick off at 3pm.

And City’s home clash with Scunthorpe has also been moved, from Saturday, October 12 to Sunday, October 13 (3pm) to avoid a clash with a race meeting on Knavesmire.