York City

York City FC is a professional football club from the historic old Roman city in Yorkshire, who were formed in 1922. There had been an earlier club of the same name, which lasted between 1908 and 1917, playing as an amateur club and spending some time in the Northern League.

The club was re-formed to join the Midland League. After seven seasons City were elected to the Football League to play in Division Three North, and then moving into their new ground at Bootham Crescent from Fulfordgate in 1932. Their League form was unremarkable, but they gained a reputation as FA Cup giant killers. 

LNER Community Stadium. Image taken from the internet

In the 1937-38 season, City reached the quarter finals; losing to Huddersfield Town in a replay after dispatching First Division sides West Bromwich Albion and Middlesbrough along the way. They went one better in 1954-55 going all the way to the semi finals. 

Stanley Matthews Blackpool side were defeated, along with Tottenham Hotspur and Scarborough amongst others, and it took the eventual cup winners Newcastle United to knock City out after a replay. Forward, Arthur Bottom scored eight goals during the run.

In 1958 City were founder members of Division Four, and quickly gained promotion for a short spell in Division Three. In 1964-65 City were promoted the season after having to seek re-election, but they were subsequently relegated straight back once again. 

They returned to the third tier again under the managership of Tom Johnston in 1970-71. They were promoted to Division Two at the end of the 1973-74 season, but Johnston resigned after one season to be replaced by former Manchester United player Wilf McGuinness.

City were relegated after their second season at higher status and went down once again the following season. McGuinness left and several bosses were employed to try and correct the clubs fortunes. 

Yet another brush with re-election came in 1980-81, but in May 1982 the club appointed Denis Smith as player manager and Viv Busby as player coach, to impressive effect. They were crowned Division Four champions in 1983-84 becoming the first club to collect one hundred points in the process as Keith Walwyn and John Byrne banged in the goals.

In January 1985 City defeated Arsenal at Bootham Crescent in a memorable FA Cup clash with a Keith Houchen goal. They lost to Liverpool after a replay in the following round, a performance they repeated the season after. The talents of Smith and Busby were noticed by Sunderland who appointed the pair in May 1987, to be replaced by Bobby Saxton. 

Saxton took the team down in his first season in charge and was replaced by John Bird. In September 1990, City forward David Longhurst died during a game against Lincoln City after suffering a heart attack on the pitch. 

Bird departed to be replaced by John Ward and then Alan Little who led the side to promotion in 1992-93 after a Play Off Final victory at Wembley over Crewe Alexandra.

In their first season back in the third tier City reached the play offs, but they were defeated in the semi finals by Stockport County. In 1995-96 City knocked Manchester United out of the League Cup, and followed that up by dispatching Everton the following season.

Little was sacked in March 1999, with the team being relegated a couple of months later. Things went wrong for City in December 2001 when long standing chairman, Douglas Craig, put the club up for sale for £4.5 million. 

He threatened to withdraw the club from the Football League if an owner wasn't found by April 1st the following year. A "businessman" called John Batchelor rode into town and bought the club. As it turned out Craig's deadline date could not have been more apt for the man who came to the rescue.

The following is from Batchelor's page on Wikipedia and is a warning to over ambitious fans who see a "knight in shining armour" coming to save their club.

Batchelor became the owner and chairman of York City FC on 15 March 2002 after buying the club from Douglas Craig After taking over the club, he said he had two sites in mind for a new 15,000-seated ground. He revealed an interest in buying ITV Digital in May, which he later admitted was unlikely to succeed. 

He changed the club's name from York City Football Club to York City Soccer Club, in an attempt to appeal to United States markets. Also Batchelor's racing brand was incorporated into other parts of the club, the official badge had a chequered flag brought into it, as did the first team kit, which had a racing style print on one sleeve. 

He promised that he would buy York's Bootham Crescent ground, give the Supporters Trust 24% of the club's shares and invite two supporters onto the board, but none of these were fulfilled. It was reported that Batchelor received some death threats in regards to way he was handling the club. It went into administration and he was trying to purchase the club, but the Supporters Trust eventually bought the club.

He was a part of James Derry's bid to buy Mansfield Town in March 2008, but eventually launched his own bid to buy the club. He revealed plans to rename the club "Harchester United", after the fictional team in the Sky TV series Dream Team. This was called "absolutely bizarre" by Mansfield mayor Tony Eggington, who was later appointed as the club's non-executive chairman, which put doubt on Batchelor's takeover bid. 

He was later revealed to have had a £1.5 million bid for Accrington Stanley turned down by chairman Eric Whalley, which proposed moving a newly formed "Lancashire United" to Leigh and building a 10,000 seater stadium. He held talks with Chester City chairman Stephen Vaughan about purchasing the club in November 2008.

City struggled for a while after in the hands of the Supporters Trust from March 2003 after they reached an agreement with the Inland Revenue to pay unpaid bills, while hoping that York City Council would provide a joint stadium for themselves and York City Knights RLFC to share. 

The old York RLFC formerly played their home games on the opposite side of the railway on Clarence Street. Craig's holding company, Bootham Crescent Holdings Ltd owned the stadium with Persimmon Homes having a shareholding. York City Council came to an agreement to stop immediate attempts for ninety three homes to be built on the site and to let City play there for the foreseeable future.

On the pitch, the long suffering manager Terry Dolan was dismissed to be replaced by youngster Chris Brass owing to financial constraints. City lost their final twenty matches of the 2003-04 season and were relegated to the Conference after seventy five years of League football. The good news came when the Football Stadia Improvement Fund loaned City £2M to purchase Bootham Crescent.

City reached the play offs in 2005-06, but Billy McEwen's side were beaten by Morecambe over two legs. Colin Walker and briefly Neil Redfearn had spells in charge after McEwen until Martin Foyle was appointed as team manager in 2009. The team reached the FA Trophy Final, but were defeated by Stevenage Borough at Wembley.

Plans for a new stadium for the city's two major sporting clubs were often mooted as City became accustomed to life as a non league club. They narrowly missed out on promotion after losing the Play Off Final to Oxford United at Wembley in May 2010.

Former Nottingham Forest player and European Cup winner Gary Mills was appointed as boss in October 2010. He gradually made his mark on the team on his first season, before leading the club into dreamland in his second.

In May 2012 City lifted the FA Trophy after beating Newport County and then the following week returned to Wembley to win the Play Off Final against Luton Town, with Matty Blair scoring the goal to return the club to the Football League. 

Even better news followed when it was announced that plans for a new stadium at Monks Cross on the site of the Ryedale Stadium were passed to create a new home for both City and York City Knights RLFC as well as a retail development. which can be read about here. 

City came perilously close to losing their League status in their first season back after a terrible string of results saw Mills lose his job to be replaced by the experienced Nigel Worthington. 

The side averted relegation and with some decent signings including Michael Coulson, The Minster Men reached the pay offs, where they lost to Fleetwood Town in the semi final stage at the end of the 2013-14 campaign.

Good news came off the pitch early in the 2014-15 season as the move to a new stadium came a step nearer, but form on the pitch was very poor leading to the dismissal of Worthington who was replaced by Russ Wilcox who lasted until October 2015 in the hot seat.

Former Celtic player Jackie McNamara took over what turned into a disastrous season as City finished bottom of the Football League and were relegated to the National League; as the Conference had been retitled.

Gary Mills replaced McNamara in October 2016, with the Scotsman becoming chief executive. Mills' return saw mixed fortune. York were relegated to the National League North but lifted the FA Trophy for a second time.

Macclesfield Town were defeated 3-2 at Wembley with the goals coming from Jon Parkin, Vadaine Oliver and Aiden Connolly. Mills departed a few months later, with Martin Gray taking the managers job after leaving Darlington.

Gray went soon into the 2018-19 season as Sam Collins replaced him. The new man departed in January 2019. Steve Watson arrived from Gateshead to try and restore some pride to the club. City finished the 2018-19 season in twelfth position.

Meanwhile the opening of the new stadium at Monks Cross was delayed once again meaning that the team would start the 2019-20 campaign at Bootham Crescent. City reached the play-offs via a runners-up spot but dreams of promotion were ended by Altrincham.

The long running saga of the LNER Community Stadium at Monks Cross looked to be about to come to an end with its opening game when the National League North season was suspended in January 2021. Click here to see a beautiful farewell tribute to Bootham Crescent.

John Askey replaced Watson in November 2021, taking City to the playoffs, where they disposed of Chorley, Brackley Town, and Boston United to return to the top level of non-league football. Businessman Glen Henderson took over ownership of the club shortly after.

It turned into another disaster, with the owner quickly becoming extremely unpopular, especially when he sacked Askey and replaced him with David Webb, whose spell lasted just a few months. The side narrowly avoided relegation before Henderson sold up.

Julie-Anne and Matthew Uggla became new owners through the 394 Sports Ltd group in July 2023. They appointed Neal Ardley as manager soon into the season but dismissed him the following February. Adam Hinshelwood was headhunted from Worthing as the new team boss.

York City FC will play in the National League in the 2024-25 season.

My visits

York City 1 Hull City 2 (Saturday 6th December 1975) Division Two (att: 7,037)

This was a big day out for me. Despite having lots of family day outs in York I'd never been to a game there. In fact I was only vaguely aware of where it was as we passed the end of the road on the train. 

We went with friends, with Glen going to the game with my Dad and I, leaving the women to go shopping. I was concerned that we weren't getting a bus to the ground in such a large city. It's amazing how big things look when you're a young 'un!

We sat in Main Stand with the Hull fans to our left. Bootham Crescent seemed a decent sized ground to me. The stand we were in was a raised seating block taking around two thirds of the touchline, with a shallow open terraced paddock at the front. 

To our right was the open Shipton Street End, with a half time scoreboard and adverts at the rear and the school behind. Opposite was the low all seated Popular Stand. On the left The Grosvenor Road End was a largish bank of open terracing.

Highlights of the game were on YTV on the Sunday afternoon. My main memories were the noise of the crowd when Hull scored their goals through Roy Greenwood and Peter Fletcher, how few wore any colours as this was at the height of hooliganism and the lovely tomato soup behind the stand at half time.

York City 3 Scarborough 0 (Saturday December 16th 1978) FA Cup Round Two (att: 7,876)

There was a big away following as I stood in the Grosvenor Road End. Boro were totally outclassed by a fine City display with Gordon Staniforth standing out. We went on a supporters coach with my Dad. City gave away free basic programmes on admission in these days.

York City 0 Altrincham 0 (Saturday 12th December 1981) FA Cup Round Two

I went to this game with schoolmate Michael Johnson. It was a tough choice between this game and Doncaster Rovers v Penrith but we saved some money and time. I'm not sure why but we stood in away end. 

It can only to have supported the non league underdogs as I couldn't stand the dirty sods of Alty. It was an absolutely freezing day, which saw my feet stick to the terraces. By now the Grosvenor Road End had been truncated because of safety reasons, which the rear section fenced off.

England U 15's 1 Switzerland U 15s 0 (Saturday 3rd April 1982) Schoolboy International Friendly (att: 3,945) 

I went with plenty of school mates on a bus from Raincliffe organised by our wonderful sports teacher Alan Smith. Stood on the Shipton Street 'Shippo' End. I also went inside York RLFC ground on Clarence Street which wasn't the worst ground ever.

Details of this game had passed me by until the power of Twitter helped me out when I sent a request to my City supporting mate Pete Brandon who put out the call to his friends. Many thanks to those gents.

The winner was scored by defender Mark Seagraves with a header in the fifty fourth minute. Seagraves would go on to a fine career with Manchester City, Bolton Wanderers and Swindon Town after being released by Liverpool.

Other notable names in the England side were Fraser Digby, Michael Thomas, Darren Beckford, Kevin Keen and John Beresford.

York City 1 Hull City 0 (Tuesday 19th April 1983) Division Four (att: 9,901)

I went with my Dad and brother Nick on the train to this rearranged game after snow had postponed the original date. York put Hull's promotion charge on hold through the superb forward partnership of John Byrne and Keith Walwyn.

Away manager Colin Appleton sprung a surprise by playing Emlyn Hughes in defence. There was a lot of bother outside the ground which led to one of my more memorable days as a Tigers fan, which can be read about on the Hull City, Boothferry Park page.

York City 1 Hull City 2 (Saturday 29th December 1984) Division Three (att: 9,565)

I went on the train with my Tigers mates for this Christmas game. I thought I was going to miss it as I was out of work at the time, but my joy was unconfined when a giro came through the letterbox. 

Lots of away fans were not really welcomed by landlords in the pubs so we ended up settling for fish and chips near the ground. Billy Askew scored the winner from the wing after an Andy Flounders goal. He insisted he meant it!

York City 1 Fulham 3 (Saturday 12th March 1988) Division Three (att: 2,560)

Scarborough were away at Exeter so went and stood on Shippo End with mate Gary Griffiths who drove. City were dire under Bobby Saxton in a season which would end in relegation. which I found quite funny. I picked up one of the first club fanzines I'd ever seen that day.

The Cottagers had a fine side with Gordon Davies and Clive Walker providing the attacking threat with the consistent Ray Lewington and Robert Wilson in midfield. City's star player of the time was Dale Banton.

York City 1 Scarborough 2 (Tuesday 19th April 1988) North Riding Senior Cup Final (att: 1,975)

Boro came from behind to lift the cup with a superb Mitch Cook free kick clinching it. There was a decent turn out in the away end.

York City 0 Scarborough 0 (Monday 27th March 1989) Division Four (att: 4,872)

This Easter Monday clash lacked any real incident and was a pretty poor game. Boro had nearly 2,000 in the away end in a game they could have done with winning in their play-off season. Steve Walker drove us to the game. 

We stopped off at the Cayley Arms at Brompton for a beer on the way home before heading down town and ending up in The Other Place. Happy Days!

York City 1 Scarborough 2 (Saturday 24 February 1990) Division Four (att: 3,551)

Boro came from one down to win with two second half Paul Dobson goals. I had a great day with some mate. I was caught on camera highlights going berserk in dungarees (fashion eh!) with Baz Rewcroft as the winner went in. 

The police were ratty marching us all the way back to the station as we were in high spirits. I had a rather large session pre match with Baz, Paul Wilcox and another of his pals on Blossom Street.

York City 2 Scarborough 0 (Tuesday 23rd April 1991) Division Four (att: 3,017)

Boro's faint play-off hopes were virtually ended in a disappointing performance to an impressive John McCarthy inspired City. I went in the car but the whole night seemed flat with a poorish Boro turn out. Pre match beers were taken in The Hopgrove.

Bootham Crescent had seen its latest change as the old Shippo End now had a roof and was named the David Longhurst Stand in memory of the City player who died during a game in 1990.

York City 4 Scarborough 1 (Saturday 5th October 1991) Division Four (att: 2,971)

This day out is often talked about when the subject of famous days out comes up, but in truth it was a complete and utter shambles. Boro went one up and were all over City before something went wrong and the wheels came off. 

Mr Marples was at his obnoxious best, cranking up the Seadogs behind the goal. We had a sit in at the end against Chairman Richmond for twenty minutes which caused a stir for a few weeks. Some of us then went on a drowning of sorrows of monumental proportions after already having had quite a lunchtime session. 

We were in Micklegate with the choice of the last train or more alcohol. The taxi eventually got us home for about £6 each, which he'd have needed to valet later after travel sickness caused me to destroy Crushers brand new wax jacket amongst other things. 

Chewy was in the cab for some reason, which was strange as he lived in Leeds and told his lass at 9am that morning that he was popping out for a paper and some milk. Then when trying desperately to recover with a hair of the dog the next lunchtime, someone broke the news that a gang had broken into the McCain Stadium. 

They pulled down the rugby posts and wrecked the scoreboard. A day to forget at the time but quite amusing now, unless you're Geoffrey Richmond.

York City 1 Scarborough 0 (Saturday 17th April 1993) Division Three (att: 5,993)

City needed to win to seal a play-off place and we had a chance to stop them. We went by car and stopped at a pub on the A64 where the landlady asked why we couldn't be nice neighbours and let City win, and she was serious! A big Boro contingent went home disappointed as City won a scrappy game with a penalty.

The Main Stand had been extended with a larger roof and the seating carrying over the old paddock down to the touchline. Not for the first time it was an interesting walk back to the station, especially as we were parked near the old rugby league ground!

York City 0 Hull City 2 (Wednesday 23^rd July 2014) Pre Season Friendly (att: 2,301)

My few days break in Scarborough slotted in perfectly for a long overdue visit to Bootham Crescent. I was in top form after enjoying Yorkshire’s magnificent win at Scarborough against Middlesex in the County Championship. 

My Dad was on a pensioners trip from the Railway Club to Skegness, so was unavailable. Instead I met my brother Nick, his wife Rachel and my nephew Stanley. The packed full train got me to York at 5.45 following a very pleasant walk on the sea front back in Scarborough. 

I took the quickest route to the ground along the side of the railway. Around twenty minutes later I was stood outside waiting for the others. The Tigers team coach had arrived just before Stanley who had hoped to see some of the players at close quarters.

We had a couple of drinks in the Burton Lane Working Mens Club, across the road from the away end before deciding to take a place on the terracing. My admission was £12. The programme was a folded effort that covered both that evening’s game and the previous friendly with Sheffield Wednesday and cost £1.

An impressive turn out of 696 away fans had made the journey to see a strong Tigers line up. I decided to try the catering. My meat and potato pie was scolding hot but very tasty. The stall seemed to be doing a good trade.

The game was a decent affair, with tackles going in on a glorious evening. The visitors new signing Robert Snodgrass certainly put himself about. Michael Coulson was York’s stand out performer in a decent team performance. The game remained goalless at the interval.

Hull City fielded virtually a brand new team for the second period, including the excellent Tom Huddlestone and recent capture Tom Ince. They went ahead when a hopeful shot from the edge of the box from Sone Aluko somehow crept under the body of keeper Michael Ingham five minutes after the restart.

Coulson came close to levelling the scores as his shot grazed the crossbar, before the home side tired. Huddlestone and Jake Livermore took increasing control of midfield. A pass was mis-controlled by centre back Keith Lowe to allow Yannick Sagbo to double the lead a couple of minutes from full time as he smashed passed the substitute goalie Jason Mooney.

The sun had dropped by half time, leading to it being a little chilly by the end. Stanley decided that my hoodie would be ideal for him to keep warm!

We took the pleasant walk back towards the city centre once I’d got us replacement programmes for the ones soaked when my water bottle leaked. I left the others and had just enough time to enjoy a beautiful pint of Citra in the York Tap on the station before catching my train back to the coast.

Thursday 20^th August 2020

I decided that I was going to use my fortnight summer’s annual leave positively once the Coronavirus restrictions had been loosened to visit some friends and relatives. I took the train to York ahead of six days in North Yorkshire.

City had been due to move into the LNER Community Stadium, to give the Community Stadium its titled moniker, several months earlier but the opening had been delayed several times. I knew it wouldn’t be too much longer.

As it happened, the stadium was perfectly located for my visit as I was staying at the Monks Cross Travelodge for three nights. It was a beautiful day, so I decided to take my daily exercise and walk the three miles.

I’d actually been to the Huntingdon Stadium which formerly stood in just about the same site to see Ryedale York, as York City Knights RLFC were called at the time, take on Batley in the early 90’s with the landlord of my flat who hailed from Normanton.

That ground had a running track round the pitch, with a seated stand facing a decent sized covered terracing opposite but the track was naturally going to be unpopular with football fans so a new rebuild was required to accommodate City and the Knights, who were tenants at Bootham Crescent.

Sadly, the ground was locked, with several of the roads around it fenced off. It appears that they were the bits that was causing delays to the opening. I managed to get a peep through some gaps in the fencing without gaining any proper views.

The all-seater arena was backed behind the South Stand by a large building containing leisure facilities for all the family including a cinema and an indoor Puttstars miniature golf where I would triumph the following day!

A leisure and fitness centre were positioned in the corner at the other end which three small sides artificial surfaced courts stood outside the main entrance. The Vangrade Shopping Park gave the whole area an enclosed feel despite it being next to open countryside.

It might not have been the perfect location wise, especially for pre match beers, but the city of York would have an arena to be proud of with its surrounding leisure facilities with its capacity of 8,005.

I went on to have a lovely few days with Nick, Rachel and Stan starting with a fine evening in the city with my brother, where there was plenty of conviviality in view despite some of the regulations inside the pubs.