York City are set to beat off competition for the capture of Peterborough attacker Chris Conn-Clarke.
The Minstermen, who sacked highly rated manager Adam Hinslewood just over a week ago, are wiling to pay wages and a loan fee to win the race for the Peterborough United man – as per Alan Nixon.
What Has Led To York City Getting The Peterborough United Man’s Signature?
Last season York missed out on automatic promotion to Barnet (102) by just six points – a reasonable gap, but still a worthy promotion total. Alas, despite not having to play two play-off matches due to their second place finish, York were undone by eventually promoted Oldam 3-0.
This led to the Minstermen campaigning for the 3UP campaign all the more passionately – rival fans calling them sore losers after missing out on promotion.
Hinshelwood’s job was considered on the line then after missing out on their primary objective, but he stayed considering the overall good work he’d achieved. Another issue of not having League Two football was persuading star striker Ollie Pearce to stay on despite missing out on promotion.
At 30 (then 29), he may have been a risk for EFL clubs considering the fee that would be needed, but then again 33 goals and 11 assists in 50 games does turn heads.
League Two clubs circled, with even some promoted League One interest, but York were able to keep him in the end going into the 25/26 season.
Though Hinshelwood has since departed, it’s been an unbeaten start for York so far – albeit they’ve only played five games compared to most on eight. Promotion will again be the aim and with Pearce remaining, York are favourably fancied for that.
As such, the Minstermen project remains attractive – to achieve what they couldn’t before – and the addition of Conn-Clarke may just be the final ingredient needed as the Peterborough United man gets set for his move…
What Does Conn-Clarke Bring To York?
Conn-Clarke is a silky attacking midfielder that has been surplus to requirements at Peterborough United, despite a summer of change for Posh that’s seen them lose all of Kwame Poku, Malik Mothersille, and Ricky-Jade Jones this window.
Reasonable fees have been received between Mothersille (believed to be around £1-1.2M from Stockport) and Poku (around £800-900k compensation from QPR) but nothing from Jones who decided to move abroad.
As a result Peterborough United have decided to move in a different direction and refresh the squad, leaving Conn-Clark free to leave despite only joining last summer and Posh being bottom and winless of League One. This Comes following just a small amount of appearances for the Posh.
The Northern Ireland U21 international may have managed only one goal in 30 appearances in 24/25 but was prolific for Altrincham the year before that – leading to Peterborough signing him – with 22 in 47 in the National League.
It’s surprising really that no league clubs were willing to take a chance on him; Conn-Clarke may have little EFL experience ultimately but has clear quality and showed it with what few opportunities he was handed last campaign.
He only tallied a single goal and three assists in 23 league matches, but at still just 23 he has plenty of room for growth.
The fee needed to prise him from his contract, even if he was no longer required by Darren Ferguson, may have been too much for the majority of EFL clubs – but without doubt York have landed themselves a proven star at the non-league level.
Some More 24/25 Facts & Numbers…
- Conn-Clark injured his collarbone at the end of September 2024 (his second match) after just 20 minutes in his first start.
- He then didn’t start again until 29th December, subsequently playing four consecutive 90’s into January.
- He appeared in five matchday squads in March 2025, making just a single sub appearance totalling eight league minutes.
- His last appearance in a matchday squad was in the 2-0 home defeat to Luton in matchday two of the 25/26 season
