New Darlington signing Graeme Lee says he has no reservations about playing in the Conference, explaining that he would not have taken the plunge had he not believed that Quakers could bounce back.

The defender last week signed a one-year deal at The Northern Echo, a move which sees him drop out of the Football League for the first time in his career.

But far from eyeing a stress-free campaign as he approaches the latter days of his career, the Middlesbrough-born centre-back is keen to add another promotion to his CV as he returns to the North-East where he began his playing days with Hartlepool United.

After making his senior debut in 1995 in the bottom tier of the Football League, the 33-year-old has since played for Sheffield Wednesday, Doncaster, Bradford City and Notts County where he spent the last two seasons.

He said: "I've played in the Football League all my life so you'd rather stay there, but I'm dropping into the Conference with a club that has ambitions to come back up. I wanted to be at a club with ambition.

"I'd prefer to do that than go to a Football League club that was happy to be mid-table. I'm going to a team that wants promotion and that's what I've done a few times in my career.

"There's no better feeling than being towards the top of the table and having something to play for at the end of the season.

"I've had four promotions. One was with Doncaster, although I was injured for most of the season, the first was at Hartlepool and there's been one each at Sheffield Wednesday and Notts County.

"Every club I've been at, apart from Bradford, I've had a promotion so hopefully I can get number five with Darlington."

Lee joined after talks with chairman Raj Singh and manager Mark Cooper ten days ago, and added: "I was back up in Middlesbrough to see family and as I'd spoken to Darlington a couple of times I said we should meet up in person instead of doing everything on the phone so we would get to know each other and see what the ambitions of the club are.

"The chairman invited me to his house and I had a good chat with him and the gaffer. They impressed me with how they want to do things.

"It was a discussion about what the club is like and that they are pushing for promotion this year.

"It's a good squad, I know that, the manager has added a few players and he wants to be towards the top."

His move to the Arena comes six months after Cooper first made an attempt to sign him, hoping he would plug the gap created by Danny Hone's return to Lincoln City, though Dan Burn eventually took that role.

He explained: "I wasn't too happy at Notts County at the time because I hadn't been playing as many games as I would have liked so I was looking to get out and Darlington were interested.

"We spoke, but the circumstances changed at Notts County so I got back in team and the club didn't want me to leave.

"The move was put on hold, but fortunately the interest was still there at the end of the season.

"I kept a close eye on Darlington, being good friends with Paul Arnison as we were at Hartlepool together.

" I was delighted when Darlington got to the Trophy final and to win it was a massive achievement. I saw him the next day at Richie Humphreys' testimonial cricket match and he was still celebrating with his usual bottle of Blue WKD!"

Lee meets up with his new team-mates when Darlington commence pre-season training on Thursday and he will be among the elder statesmen squad - a fact he is well aware of, which is why he is grateful to have been offered a new deal after being released.

"Any player out of contract now is worried because there's that many out there looking for a club," said Lee, the second oldest player in the squad after Arnison who is six months older.

"In the back of your mind you're thinking that people might be looking at your age which is frustrating because you know yourself that you're fit and well.

"I had a few other options which would've been a lot easier from a living point of view, but I was impressed by what Darlington had to say.

"I feel fitter now than I did when I was 26 or 27. It's just a case now of getting out there and proving it, and showing that I'm still fit and hungry for success.

"I've had a few messages off different Hartlepool people, giving me stick about joining Darlington.

"The last one was from Tommy Miller who sent me a text about it, but it's only banter and you get that in football.

"I had some good times at Hartlepool and since then I've been away a while and now that I've moved back I'm hoping for more good times at Darlington."