A BADLY-TIMED holiday saw Football League outfit Macclesfield Town lose out to York City in the battle for Christian Smith’s signature.

Midfielder Smith, who marked his Minstermen debut with a spectacular goal during last Saturday’s 3-0 league win over Lewes, has also revealed he turned down two new contract offers from Wrexham to join the KitKat Crescent club.

The ex-Clyde utility man has instead renewed his acquaintance with City management’s team of Martin Foyle and Andy Porter, who oversaw his development as a trainee when first-team boss and youth-team coach respectively at Port Vale.

Smith said: “Wrexham offered me a contract at the beginning of December, but I turned it down. I then got a second offer but, by then, I’d already made my mind up to leave.

“I had spoken to Martin at York, but told him and Wrexham that I was going to Macclesfield. I spent three days training there, but there was a delay in signing my contract because the chief executive was on holiday and, although the lads were great there, I didn’t enjoy it because the training and style of play wasn’t right for me.

“I spoke to Martin and asked if the opportunity was still there to join York and, when it was, I jumped at the chance. Martin is an all-round good coach who gets his ideas across well and Andy gets the best out of you as a player.”

Smith, 21, admitted that a lack of regular first-team football was also a factor behind his desire to move on from the Racecourse Ground.

City boss Foyle played a major role in Smith’s move to Wrexham while he was Brian Little’s assistant at the Welsh club but, since Dean Saunders’ arrival as manager in October, the ex-Northwich loanee has only made two senior appearances.

Smith added: “I enjoyed my time at Wrexham and the coaching under Dean Saunders and his staff was great, but I wasn’t making as many appearances as I would have liked.

“I spoke to Adam Smith, who came on trial at Wrexham, and he said that York was a good club to come to, having been here on loan himself.

“It also helps having Kyle Critchell and Simon Brown here from Wrexham as well.”

Smith’s 30-yard strike against Lewes was only his third goal in 49 first-team outings but, when he does net, it tends to be in spectacular fashion.

He said: “It was probably the best I’ve scored, although I did get a similar one when I was on loan at Cambridge. I hit one from the edge of the box on the half-volley and it went into the bottom corner.

“I was pleased to score on my debut though and I didn’t realise how far out I was until I saw the replay.”

As for his and the team’s overall performance, Smith conceded it was the classic game of two halves, saying: “There was a lot of moaning from the crowd at half-time which I thought was a little harsh but we weren’t at our best in the first half and I could have done a bit more.

“The more the game went on, though, the more we outplayed them and I was able to get on the ball more.”