City have ruled out a move for the much-travelled Bruce Dyer.

The journeyman striker appeared for the reserves at York last night but Stuart McCall stressed that fans should not read anything into it.

Dyer, who spent a month on loan at Valley Parade two seasons ago, is on the look-out for a new club after leaving Chesterfield in the summer.

But McCall’s invite to let the 33-year-old train with City was purely with a view to proving his fitness after a long-term back injury.

The City boss said: “Bruce has had a lot of problems with his back. He’s had a course of injections and before he tries to get another club, he needs to see if the treatment has worked.

“So he came to us three or four weeks ago to ask if he could do some training. I was happy for him to join in and he’s worked really hard.

“His professionalism is top class and that rubs off on some of the younger lads when they see his attitude to training. But there’s nothing in him being here – he’s certainly not on trial with us.”

Dyer was one of Colin Todd’s final signings for City when he joined on a month’s loan in January 2007. He made five appearances and scored on his debut against Nottingham Forest.

That also proved to be his last goal. Dyer returned to Doncaster but was given few opportunities and also failed to hit the net in brief spells last season with Rotherham and Chesterfield.

The former £1.1m hitman was released by the Spireites after playing only three games as a sub.

McCall added: “Bruce is at the unfortunate stage of his career because of his back. He’s in the last-chance saloon.

“We’re giving him the chance to work with us and get fit. but he’s also helping us in a way as well.

“With so many games coming up over the next couple of weeks, we’ve got to be careful who is in the reserves. Sometimes, for youth lads to play Saturday, Tuesday, then Saturday can be too much.

“Bruce wanted to see how long he could cope in a game so letting him play for our reserves is doing us both a bit of a favour.”

Dyer has not been the only Sheffield United old boy to team up again with McCall at Apperley Bridge. Wayne Allison also spent a few days training with the squad before he was appointed Chester’s assistant manager.

McCall said: “Having good old pros like Bruce and ‘the Chief’ around the place can be a benefit for the younger ones. They can pick up good habits from them.”