TONY MCMAHON is committed to the long-term project of York City in his new role as Director of Football.

McMahon was unveiled as York’s new Director of Football last week, transitioning from his role as first-team coach as part of manager Adam Hinshelwood’s backroom staff.

The 38-year-old will be in this position for the first time in his career, but admitted that he isn’t concerned about his lack of history in the role, having performed it during the Summer, just without the title of Director of Football.

McMahon now hopes that he can be a part of moving York forward, and explained how his role works.

“The title changes but I don’t change, I just go about my job,” McMahon confirmed.

“In the Summer, I was asked to do a job to help the club out and the chairman out, and I stepped up to the role.

“I quite enjoyed it to be fair, it was really good, really busy, a lot of phone calls and a lot of time but it was a job that I really enjoyed.

“A couple of weeks ago the chairman asked me to step up as Director of Football, and I was honoured.

“It’s a role that I thought ‘yeah, come on then, let’s have a go at it’, the proof will be in the pudding over time but we’ve had a good Summer, as you can see in the recruitment, things like that.

“The club is heading in the right direction.

“When I first came into the club I was coaching, I was on the grass as assistant manager, first-team coach and now it’s the other side of it.

“It’s about transfers, in and out, it’ll be stuff to do with the day-to-day running of the football club and trying to make everything better.

“It’s about how we can improve, how we can move forward, the academy and how we look at that to start getting players coming through, our scouting system and how we make that better. It’s a big role, a big job.

“It won’t happen overnight, but it’s something that really excites us as we all want the same thing.

“I was speaking to the owners, we all want everything to get better and we’ve started well, but that’s all it is, just a start.

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“In the Summer, we got that right and we’re starting to get the rewards on the pitch.

“This is a long-term project with York and is one that I’m really looking forward to.

"Whatever role I go into, I give it my all, I’m an open and honest lad and work hard.

"That’s what this job is, it’s a lot of hard work and is one I’m really looking forward to getting my teeth into.

"I’ve enjoyed the Summer, but we have to keep building now and work on how we make York City a league club again.

“I had a good relationship with the owners and they approached me and asked if I would take the role, and it was one that I didn’t hesitate to take.

“I’ve been doing most of it throughout the Summer anyway, so it was more of just a title change. I’ll keep doing my job and what I was asked to do during the Summer.”

As part of McMahon’s new role, he will aid Hinshelwood in bringing in any targets that the City boss has identified, as well as working on orchestrating the departure of players.

The new Director of Football confirmed that the final decision will come down to Hinshelwood, who remains in complete control of his squad.

McMahon explained: “We have a process of how we do it, we don’t want to just sign anyone and end up with a massive squad.

“This year we have got a tight-knit squad and he’s identified the players that he wants, it’s then up to us to make it work.

Tony McMahon has set out his priorities as York City's new Director of Football.Tony McMahon has set out his priorities as York City's new Director of Football. (Image: Tom Poole)

“Some we have had to walk away from, some just weren’t financially possible.

“We’ve got a reputation from the outside of spending mega money, but we have to go away from that, it’s not sustainable. We’re in a good place.

“In the Summer we had to work on which we players we wanted to move on, which players the manager had identified to bring in, we had a long list and a long process to go through.

“We got the players out that we had to move on and we got them out quite quickly in the window I think, some quicker than others.

“The quicker we did that, the quicker we could get the players in that the manager wanted.

“The manager got a lot of the signings that he wanted, it’s been a really good Summer on and off-of-the-pitch, and we’ve started really well.”

McMahon is also keen to help build a pathway from York’s academy to the first-team, looking back on his experiences to work closely with under-19’s manager Tim Ryan and Head of Youth Development Dan Wilson.

“We’ve got to bring everybody together and look at how we get young players from our academy into the first-team, that’s what we want to do.

“I was one of those young players many moons ago, and I was looking at my pathway of how I get into the first-team.

“We want to give these young lads a platform to perform to get into the first-team.

“It’s not going to happen overnight, but we do want to try and get more younger players close to our first-team.

“I can pass on experience, I’ve been a young player in academy so anything that I can pass on.

“Dan and Tim know what they are doing, they’ve got a good youth team in place and even just below that, there are some good youth teams as well.

“It’s a progression, they get to 16 and come into the building full-time and it’s about how we get them to that level to come into our first-team.

“We’re all pulling in the right direction and want the same thing, to make York City better.”