WHETHER it is people hoping his new signing chips in with a few goals, or speculating if he will become a (Chicken) Legend, Mark Jones has heard all the jokes.

There was nothing particularly unusual about Matt Paterson signing for Oxford City.

But the location, a McDonald’s at Tot Hill Services on the A34 near Newbury, led to the picture going viral online.

Jones admits he had misgivings about being unexpectedly thrust into the spotlight, but the City boss, who took the picture, is taking it in good humour.

“At our level it’s a case of doing it yourself to get deals over the line,” he said.

“I wanted to get a photo for the club’s website and I didn’t really think too much about the background.

“The next thing I knew it had gone completely viral.

“I was at the club at the time and there were more and more people commenting, it just shows you the power of social media.

“I was slightly concerned it was making the club look amateurish or devalued his signing, but I think everybody has seen the funny side.”

Betting companies and McDonald’s themselves were among the high-profile accounts to get involved as the story spread rapidly.

It was all a little bewildering for Jones, who had only arranged the meeting to help out his new striker, who scored 18 goals for Havant & Waterlooville last season.

City’s manager said: “We didn’t just meet him in McDonald’s for the first time.

“He was on our radar with good experience and is a proven striker.

“We made contact and he came down to the club and had a chat.

“We agreed to meet a couple of days later and as he lives down near Southampton I met him halfway.

“Matt didn’t have anything but I thought ‘we both can’t sit here without getting anything’, so I got a strawberry milkshake.”

With more than 2,100 retweets and 3,600 likes on Twitter, it was the sort of exposure on a national scale which is very rare for a club of City’s size.

And while Jones expects to hear plenty of comments from fans at other clubs once the season starts, he is looking to make the most of the attention.

“One thing we do need to try to do is improve our attendances,” he said.

“We’re not the biggest club at our level and they say any publicity is good publicity.

“We are still looking for sponsorship and McDonald’s have got a lot of attention out of it, so maybe they would like to get involved.”

He added: “We might have to change our first pre-season session and run to McDonald’s and back. I’m sure we will get a bit of stick from opposition supporters if we’re not playing well next season.

“We don’t want to be biased, so we may have to go to KFC for the next signing.

“We hope people will look at it for what it is.”

The main aspect for Jones is Paterson, who played in the Football League for four different clubs, represents another piece of the jigsaw for next season.

Midfielder David Pearce has also joined from Chesham United, while Guri Demuria is the latest player to sign after impressing late last season.

With a core of last season’s squad retained, including several promising young players, the squad is taking shape with a month still remaining before pre-season training begins.

Jones said: “We’re pleased, the idea was to be decisive.

“We are still in talks with two or three others. If we can get them we feel we will have a competitive squad.”

Meanwhile, City have restructured their Nomads and women’s management.

Rob Tutton and Paul Mulvany have been named as joint managers of the Nomads, while Wayne Holden will become first team manager of the ladies’ side.