ANDY McMillan was often the epitomé of cool in a York City shirt but there will be few people more tense than the Bootham Crescent legend this afternoon.

Not only will the man who has played more games than anybody for the Minstermen other than Barry Jackson be fretting about the fortunes of his old club at Dagenham & Redbridge today.

As head of academy coaching at Barnet, he has a boot in two of the camps involved in an incredible final-day, seven-club dogfight for Football League survival.

With 492 games played for City from 1987 to 1999 and a family still based in the city, McMillan’s heart still belongs to his first club.

But Barnet are now his employers and McMillan knows that jobs, including his own, will be on the line if the Bees are left in the bottom two by 5pm.

On his hopes for both teams, the 44-year-old said: “When you have been associated with one club for so long you don’t want to see them going out of the Football League. Equally, I am working for a club’s academy where everyone will lose their jobs if the worst happens.

“I’ve said to a few players at Barnet this week that it’s not just about them. As well as the fans, people’s livelihoods are affected.

“There are ten to 15 full-time academy coaches who will be walking out of the building if the club gets relegated.

“We went for Category Two status this season and have been playing against Premier League academies but I don’t think that will be allowed if the club are in the Conference and the level of funding would also change.

“It’s a terrible situation for both clubs to be in but, if you look at recent form, hopefully both of them can get the results they need.

“York did a fantastic job at Northampton two weeks ago after they had won ten home games on the trot so I am hoping we can do the same thing there and the right result comes through at Dagenham as well.”

While optimistic that Barnet can collect maximum points against the Cobblers, McMillan refutes suggestions that Northampton will have little incentive to win the match having already secured their play-off place with no prospect of automatic promotion.

“It’s a massive game for Northampton as well,” he insisted. “They will want to finish as high as they can to play at home for the second leg of the play-offs and they have to be professional.

“As a professional football club, you have to go about things in the right way. But the Barnet lads have been doing all right and there are some good players here.

“There was a bit of a dip in form but the result at the weekend (a 1-0 home win over Wycombe) was massive and thoroughly deserved because we dominated the game.”

McMillan added that he would have never foreseen his former club needing a point to stay up on the last day of the season after witnessing their comprehensive 3-1 win at Underhill back in August when Dan Parslow, Ashley Chambers and Michael Coulson all scored first-half goals.

“I find it unbelievable after watching that game and a couple others,” McMillan admitted. “I’ve liked the way they’ve played but it just goes to show how this season has gone.

“There are no really poor teams and, if you draw too many games and your home form isn’t strong enough, you’ll find yourselves in difficulty.

“I was at the return match at Bootham Crescent as well and, even though a draw would have probably been a fair result, Barnet won because they took their chances.”

Having had a close relationship with previous boss Mark Robson, the ex-City right-back has revealed that his replacement Edgar Davids has been a little more detached from the youth ranks at Barnet.

“It’s been interesting since he came to the club,” McMillan said of the former Holland, AC Milan and Barcelona midfield star.

“But I’ve not had a great deal to do with him because I’ve been concentrating on the U21s and U18s, while he’s had more important things to worry about like where this club is going to be playing next season.”

Similar to City boss Nigel Worthington, who balances family life in Norfolk with his professional commitments in North Yorkshire, McMillan has chosen to travel far from home for the last nine months for what he perceived to be the right career decision. On that experience, he said: “I have a young family in York but am living down here six days a week, which is incredibly difficult. But I am trying to build up a CV so I can progress to become either a manager or a first-team coach.

“You have to travel if you want jobs and sacrifices have to be made.

“I hope my family understands that I am trying to build something for our future and I think everybody knows that the dream would be to come back to York City to do that one day.”

 

• CHRIS Smith is The Press Player of the Year for 2012/13.

The City skipper has secured the accolade ahead of this afternoon’s vital final game of the season at Dagenham & Redbridge, following his The Press man-of-the-match award for the 2-1 home win over Southend.

That distinction earned him another three points towards the standings, leaving him in an unassailable position at the top of the leaderboard with goalkeeper Michael Ingham his nearest rival.

Matty Blair, meanwhile, ensured he will finish fourth with two points against Southend as our second-highest rated player, while David McGurk collected the remaining point on offer.

Centre-back Smith also heads The Press Player of the Month contest ahead of today’s fixture after receiving the two bonus points available towards that competition, having polled the most man-of-the-match votes from visitors to our website.

To be in with a chance of presenting April’s Player of the Month with their award – a framed photograph – before a City home game, vote for your man of the match from today’s final match of the season at Dagenham.

You can also tweet your choice to @daveflettpress

The Press Player of the Year latest standings (not including Player of the Month bonus points): C Smith 38 points, Ingham 31, Parslow 30, Blair 24, O’Connell 18, Fyfield 17, Chambers 16, Walker 16, McGurk 14, Kerr 13, Kearns 12, Oyebanjo 11, Coulson 8, McLaughlin 6, Potts 6, Carlisle 5, Carson 5, J Smith 5, McGrath 4, Doig 3, Rankine 3, Reed 3, Blanchett 2, Obeng 2, Rodman 2, Taylor 2, Challinor 1, Johnson 1, Platt 1, A Reed 1.

The Press Player of the Month for April latest standings: Smith 6, Ingham 5, McGurk 5, Parslow 5, A Reed 3, Blair 2, Carson 2, Chambers 2, Cresswell 2.

Goals: Chambers 10, Walker 9, Blair 7, Coulson 5, McLaughlin 4, Own goals 4, J Reed 4, Potts 3, C Smith 3, Cresswell 2, A Reed 2, Parslow 1, Rodman 1.

Assists: Walker 7, Blair 6, Chambers 6, J Smith 5, Parslow 4, C Smith 4, Kearns 3, McLaughlin 3, Carlisle 2, Carson 2, Coulson 2, Kerr 2, McGrath 2, Rodman 2, Challinor 1, Cresswell 1, Fyfield 1, Platt 1, Reed 1.

Bad boys: Chambers 7 yellow cards; C Smith 6 yellow; Kerr 1 red, 3 yellow; Ingham 4 yellow; Fyfield 3 yellow; Blair, Coulson, McGurk, McLaughlin, O’Connell, Oyebanjo, Parslow, Platt, Potts all 2 yellow; Carlisle, Carson, Challinor, Cresswell, Doig, Johnson, A Reed, Rodman, J Smith, Walker all 1 yellow.