YORK City’s new player/ goalkeeper coach Paul Musselwhite is backing former Lincoln City team-mate Scott Kerr to help bring success to Bootham Crescent.

Musselwhite shares the popular-held belief in Lincolnshire that the Imps made a mistake when sanctioning midfielder Kerr’s move from Sincil Bank to City at the end of January.

Lincoln went on to suffer relegation from the Football League while Kerr became a key figure in his new side’s valiant late push for a Blue Square Bet Premier play-off place.

Musselwhite will be teaming up with Kerr for a third time in his career when they share a Minstermen dressing room and the Portsmouth-born ’keeper admitted: “I was surprised Lincoln allowed him to leave.

“I felt he was the sort of player we were missing at the end of the season. I played with him at Hull as well when he was a young lad and he’s a good passer of the ball in midfield.

“He was unfortunate that he had a back injury for most of the two years he was at Hull but he was a well-respected captain at Lincoln. He was probably the only leader at the club and, even though he was only 27 or 28 when he was given the armband, everybody looked up to him.”

Musselwhite’s last visit to Bootham Crescent came as a member of the Hull team that enjoyed a 2-0 League Two win back on Boxing Day 2003.

Less than five years later, the Tigers were plying their trade in the Premier League while City have since endured seven campaigns of non-League football.

About the teams’ contrasting fortunes, Musselwhite said: “I think Hull always had the potential to at least play in the Championship. They surprised a few people by reaching the Premier League but, even at Boothferry Park, we used to get 15 or 16,000 and when we moved to the KC Stadium that went up to 20 to 23,000.

“That’s great backing in League Two and gave the club that chance to go forward.

“Once you drop into the Conference though, like York did, there are a lot of ex-League teams and it’s difficult to get out of. We just need to start well next season and give it our best.”