YORK City's new signing Steve Davis is hoping to celebrate promotion at Bootham Crescent for the second time in his career next summer.

Davis was part of Burnley's Division Four championship-winning side which secured the title with a 2-1 win at York in April, 1992.

Now, the Hexham-born defender is targeting a lucky 13th-year anniversary by helping the Minstermen bounce back into the Football League at the first attempt.

Davis said: "I want to get promotion first and foremost and get back into the Football League. From my own point of view, I have had some happy memories of York because it's where we clinched the Division Four title for Burnley.

"Traditionally, York have been a club known for getting good results in the Cup and it would be nice to get some league success next season."

The 35-year-old defender is believed to have turned down several offers to stay in the League, preferring instead to link up with his former Turf Moor team-mate Chris Brass.

Tranmere striker Alex Hay recently rejected a move to City and signed for Rushden instead because he did not want to drop into non-League football but Davis believes there is less of a stigma surrounding Conference football in the modern era.

"That was not really a worry to be honest," he said. "The Conference is getting better and better and a lot of teams are going full-time.

"Over the last few years some good players have filtered down probably because of the Bosman ruling and it's a very good league now as has been illustrated by the likes of Doncaster. There's not that much difference between the Conference and the Third Division.

"I'm just very pleased to be joining York and am looking forward to a good challenge. It's disappointing what happened to the club last season but hopefully we will have a good go at getting back up.

"I know a little bit about the club and York's a lovely place that I will be happy to move to. It's also the only club in the city and has a good catchment area."

Brass and Davis were central defensive partners at Burnley and the ex-Luton centre-back admitted that their friendship was a significant reason in choosing York when he was granted a free transfer by Blackpool despite having another year left on his contract.

Davis may be seven years older than his new boss but believes Brass is a born leader, saying: "He's a very honest lad and hard working. People talk about good professionals and he's one of them.

"He sets high standards and is somebody I've stayed in touch with so it will be nice to work with him again."

Former club Burnley were believed to be interested in offering Davis a coaching role but the 6ft 3in defender insists he was unaware of any approach by the Lancashire club to take him back to Turf Moor for a third spell.

He said: "I don't know about any interest from Burnley and going back there has never really crossed my mind. Burnley are a big club and they need to make some important decisions concerning money but once I knew Brassy was interested I thought it was a good time in my career to come across and take on a bit of coaching responsibility as well.

"I want to get involved with that side of things and this is an opportunity to do that which I'm absolutely delighted about."

Davis has scored an impressive 76 goals in 605 League matches and was often used as a makeshift striker by Lennie Lawrence at Luton.

About combining his defensive duties with a possible forward role, Davis added: "I have not done it for a while but who knows? First and foremost though, I'm looking to keep them out at the other end."

Updated: 11:18 Thursday, June 03, 2004