TERRY Dolan is preaching patience as Stuart McCall embarks on his second stint as City boss.

Dolan knows McCall well since first managing him at Valley Parade in the 1980s and the pair come face to face again at Horsfall Stadium tonight when Avenue host a Bantams XI.

McCall continues to rebuild the squad since replacing Phil Parkinson with seven new signings and is still targeting at least another three.

But Dolan insists City fans should not demand immediate results after such a summer of upheaval.

He said: “Supporters have got to be careful they don’t get too carried away.

“It has been a quick changeover and Stuart would obviously like to get his own type of player in. But that doesn’t happen overnight.

“It’s easy for people to say ‘we haven’t signed enough players’ but I’m sure Stuart will do it the way he wants. Slowly but surely is the key.

“Stuart knows the club as well as anybody. He’s obviously been there before.

“People say you shouldn’t go back again but there’s always a right time to do things.

“He has naturally got more experience than before and will be able to deal with things a lot better.”

Dolan was not surprised to see McCall jump at the chance to come back to the club where he is a legendary figure as a player. He believes the new boss has made a wise move to get former team-mate Greg Abbott on board as head of recruitment.

Dolan added: “I suspect it all came a little bit quickly. I’m sure nobody expected Phil Parkinson to go as quickly as that happened.

“But Stuart has got Kenny Black with him, who has worked with him before in Scotland, and now he’s brought in Greg.

“It’s important for Stuart to have someone like Greg with him.

“Obviously with the change of owners, they are still new to everybody. But with Stuart and Greg there, the supporters have somebody to identify with.

“Fans know they are people very much with the club in their heart.”

While City’s pre-season business has been brisk, that is nothing compared with the hosts. Avenue have ripped their squad apart since Alex Meechan succeeded Darren Edmondson.

Director of football Dolan said: “I know how Stuart is feeling because we’ve done the same at Park Avenue. We’ve signed 16 or 17 so far – there’s only one player left from last season.

“But that’s the difference between our level and League One football.”

McCall is likely to take a back-seat this evening and allow assistant Kenny Black and head of academy coaching Steve Thornber to run the City team – which will comprise trialists and youngsters.

None of the senior players will be involved as McCall holds them back for Saturday’s final friendly against Carlisle at Valley Parade.

McCall said: “The likes of Macca (Tony McMahon), Knight-Percival, Nathan Clarke, Dieng, Law, Marshall and Billy Clarke have almost got three and a bit games under their belts and a lot will be involved on Saturday.

“I wanted to have a good training session with good numbers yesterday and tomorrow I want to be planning for the weekend as well.”

Kick-off is 7.30pm.