CITY’S last promotion side was assembled through a snowball effect of solid signings.

Phil Parkinson’s history-making squad was pieced together in the summer of 2012 in a gradual process of one strong recruit helping to attract another.

Andrew Davies making his initial season-long loan permanent started the recruitment drive that would lead on to Rory McArdle a fortnight later, Gary Jones two weeks after that, then James Meredith, Stephen Darby and Garry Thompson – with Nathan Doyle finally arriving on the eve of the first game.

All would go on to cement their place in club folklore in the double Wembley campaign that followed.

Nothing sells a club to potential signings better than the names already in the building.

City boss Graham Alexander is hoping the same rings true in this summer’s window.

And he has seen evidence of that already after the early capture of Antoni Sarcevic and Neill Byrne from League Two champions Stockport.

Alexander said: “Good players always want to play with other good players and they want to play in good teams.

“We have a good team anyway but we need more strength, more quality. The two signings we’ve made so far will certainly give us that and I think that’s been noticed when we speak to other players.

“I’ve just spoken to another one and he mentioned the couple of signings. That shows people see what you’re doing and the intention is clear.”

The better players can take their pick of clubs at this time of the year with plenty of competition in the market.

Having the proof of those early captures can help City show it’s not just sales talk when they sit down to negotiate with further targets.

“It’s about what you do and not what you say you’re going to do,” added Alexander. “That’s how life is.

“Those two signings have shown what we intend to do. We intend to create a better team and a better squad to compete higher up.

“Nothing guarantees that but there’s a process and getting the right players is a big part of that. We’ve brought in two good players.

“The pair of them have just come off the back of a promotion-winning season. They’ve got previous promotions before that and they are at good ages where they have still got a lot of football in front of them.

“They’ve still got a real burning desire to be successful and other players see that.

“We’re delighted with getting them on board relatively early in the summer because that was important.”

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