Updated: YORK City have acted quickly to sign former Mansfield Town defender Alan O’Hare after missing out on Ebbsfleet centre-back Darius Charles.

Manager Martin Foyle has also admitted he always had his doubts about the move for Charles because of the player’s reservations over uprooting his pregnant girlfriend and had placed O’Hare on standby for that reason.

When Charles turned down a transfer to Bootham Crescent almost 12 hours after City had announced the “successful signings” of both he and his Ebbsfleet team-mate Michael Gash, Foyle, therefore, wasted no time in recruiting Irish defender O’Hare.

Striker Gash, who scored 11 goals in 39 Blue Square Premier appearances last season, was part of an £80,000 offer from City, along with Charles, that was accepted by the Kent outfit’s MyFootballClub owners.

The former Cambridge United forward is now the subject of a new bid from the Minstermen, thought to be in the region of £50,000.

About O’Hare’s arrival, Foyle said: “Alan is what we need – a left-sided centre-half. He’s been on the back-burner for a while and has been very patient but he knew about the deal the chairman was working very hard on with Darius.

“I was up front and honest with him and I always had a feeling something wasn’t right with Darius and I’m delighted Alan’s on board now.

“He’s a decent pro and a hard-working professional. He also wants to play for the club and that means a lot.”

O’Hare, 26, started out as an apprentice with Bolton Wanderers but failed to break into the first team and moved to Chesterfield after a loan spell in 2002.

He went on to play 170 games for the Spireites in League One and Two and was signed for Mansfield by former City boss Billy McEwan last summer.

The Drogheda-born defender played 25 league games for the Stags during 2008/9 but enjoyed only four outings after Christmas.

O’Hare will now contest City’s central-defensive places with David McGurk and Daniel Parslow with Foyle adding: “All the squad needs competition.”

About the decision to go public on the Gash and Charles signings before pens were put to paper, Foyle said: “We had a verbal agreement but, at the last minute, the lad was concerned about his home life.

“That happens in football but I think the chairman did everything right and people don’t realise how hard we have worked to get the deal up and running so I won’t accept any criticism on our behalf.”

Released City defender Shaun Pejic is weighing up his options after being approached by clubs in the USA and Greece.