FORMER York City man Jon Parkin was lured away to Macclesfield by a too-good-to-refuse contract offer, he has revealed to the Evening Press.

The giant 22-year-old striker-cum-defender signed for the Cheshire club late on Friday for an undisclosed fee after being offered a big-money deal that would be worth more than double what City could have offered him in the summer.

The hastily-arranged transfer went through in time for Parkin to make his debut at home to Carlisle in a relegation six-pointer on Saturday.

That game finished 1-1 with Parkin completing the full 90 minutes for his new club.

Speaking for the first time about his move he said: "I found out on Thursday. I spoke to my agent who phoned me and told me they'd offered me a contract.

"It was a difficult decision but York had told me that the contract they would have been able to offer me would have been more or less half of what I'm on at the moment so going to Macclesfield was a better move for me.

"I would have been happy to stay but when it comes down to finances, you have to look after yourself and it was a better deal."

Parkin's last start in a City shirt was on January 17 at Northampton when he scored a bizarre own goal that proved to be the winner in the 2-1 defeat.

Since then, he had struggled to maintain a place in the squad and he admitted that he did not know whether he would be able to do enough to reinstate himself.

He said: "I wasn't sure, to be honest. I would have wanted to try to get back in but obviously it's up to Chris Brass. I always wanted to play but that's their decision. I'll definitely miss them - they're a good set of lads.

"There are a few memories I will take with me. Going into administration and then just missing out on the play-offs will be among them. But I definitely enjoyed my time there overall."

Joining Macclesfield, who have recently been taken over by new owners, will offer up a different set of difficulties as they battle to avoid the drop out of the Nationwide League.

But Parkin is relishing the challenge. He said: "Going to Macclesfield will be a bit of a hard time but it's a new challenge and I'm looking forward to it."

He almost had the dream debut in Macclesfield colours with a goal but Carlisle goalkeeper Matt Glennon pulled off a great save to deny him his moment of glory near the end.

"It went all right," he said of his debut. "We should have won really but I personally played well, so that was good.

"I started up front and I should have scored, to be honest, but I had a couple of half chances and the 'keeper pulled off a great save for one of them.

"It would have been nice to score on my debut but a win would have been more important."

He added: "I appreciate what the York fans have said and I thank them for everything."

Updated: 10:46 Tuesday, February 24, 2004