CITY fans this afternoon get their first chance to see the new-look squad in its entirety.

Stuart McCall intends to give pretty much every senior player a run-out at Horsfall Stadium as pre-season kicks off against Bradford Park Avenue.

They may be limited to a maximum 45 minutes each as a gradual warm-up exercise but it means the supporters, starved of their football fix since Wembley, will catch a glimpse of all the new faces.

That includes the opportunity to see Shay McCartan vertical.

City’s most expensive summer recruit, signed for around £200,000 from Accrington, made a short and not particularly sweet trip to Valley Parade last season.

McCartan was in no condition to celebrate his Stanley side’s FA Cup scalp after leaving the pitch on a stretcher. He had been on for less than five minutes.

John Coleman’s post-match mood was muted because of concern over the Irishman’s mystery condition. Nobody knew what had happened at the time.

“The specialist said it was a ‘perfect storm’ unfortunately,” recalled McCartan this week.

“I was coming back from injury and the tablets I was on were a strong anti-inflammatory.

“It was a freezing day and apparently I’d picked up a virus, a mild hypothermia. I tried to sprint and just felt dizzy and went down.

“Obviously it was panic stations at the time. You think the world’s about to end. I had loads of scans and was away for about three weeks and not allowed to do anything.

“The test results came back and the specialist told me that all these things had been brewing and happened at the same time.”

City’s summer business has gone down a storm with the Valley Parade faithful in the last couple of weeks. The early panic at watching established names heading elsewhere has been replaced by excited optimism at the prospect of the latest breed making their mark.

McCartan is relishing the step up in division and the sheer size of his new surroundings.

He said: “From playing in front of 1,500-2,000 people at Accrington, I’ve come here where they’ve just sold 19,000 season tickets. It’s a big challenge and one I can’t wait for.”

But the newly-capped Northern Ireland international also brings a note of caution for those automatically anticipating success after going so close in last season’s play-off final.

McCartan experienced the bitterness of being pipped for promotion in 2016. Accrington went into the final game at home to Stevenage just needing a win to go up – they drew 0-0.

Worse followed with an immediate play-off exit at the hands of eventual Wembley winners Wimbledon.

The hangover from that double disappointment extended well into last season. Widely tipped to challenge again, Accrington did not get into gear until the turn of the year, when even a 15-match unbeaten charge was not enough to make up lost ground.

McCartan admitted: “Everyone was expecting us to do well again but we had a terrible start and were third bottom in January.

“Then we had an amazing run but we’d given ourselves too much to do.

“The team we had were definitely good enough to get in the play-offs again but the first six months killed us.

“We had the League Cup run and obviously beat Bradford and Burnley and did well at West Ham. But it’s the league you really focus on and we blew it.

“That’s the thing about football. You have to work hard every game and can’t look too far ahead.

“You can’t just wait until you’re halfway through and think that’s good enough.

“There are big expectations for us and there’s no getting away from that – but we know it’s going to be a tough season.

“We have to be ready for it right from the first week in August. That was the reason I wanted to get the deal done so quickly to settle in. I didn’t want my future to be hanging about.

“Accrington were really good about it and didn’t stand in my way. It was obviously good for them financially as well.

“I wanted to be here from the start because it takes a week or two to get to know everyone.We’re all focused now and looking forward to the season.”