Well, Christmas is just around the corner, or so the tv is telling us already. (I swear the adverts get earlier every year!)
I’d love to say that the Christmas cheer is spreading around our football club right now, but I can only say that it sadly isn’t the case as I write this column.
City has said goodbye to Steve Watson. Considering the recent results, it’s no surprise that we have seen a change at the helm in the York City hot seat.
John Askey, who was initially brought in for some temporary help, has been given the manager’s job until the end of the season. Askey was manager of Macclesfield and saw them promoted back into the National League with Watson as his assistant. So he brings some great experience to the job and likes to play attractive football as well as knowing these divisions well. I think for many fans, it felt inevitable that a change would be made after the embarrassing defeat to Buxton in the FA Cup, a loss at Leamington and then yet another failed attempt away at Curzon Ashton which has sealed the fates of many of the managers during our time in National League North.
I have to feel for Steve Watson. He started in his position so well, and before Covid struck, his first full season in charge looked like he would be the man to get us out of the doldrums of National League North but since that season was curtailed and the limp effort in the play offs it just hasn’t worked out. Yes, he may not have had a full season in charge of the club during his time here and has battled some testing times, but his major downfall was disassembling the whole 2019/20 squad that almost brought success at the first attempt. Since then, the squads he has built, including this one, have not lived up to that. We’ve got one of the best budgets in the league, but we still haven’t seen any sort of consistency. This season has gone on with what feels like a rather big gap between ourselves and the top of the table. I get that some will say that there have been injuries and other issues off the pitch that have also not been a great help to Watson’s season so far but what cannot be ignored is the fact that the players that are fit were able to still get results in this division. I think one of the other key issues was not fully understanding the fans’ frustrations and why patience was so thin. But we cannot take away from the class act that he was and do wish him well for the future as he was a good guy, and I believe he will do well in his future jobs.
The club can change manager as much as it likes, but the real issue is that until Jason McGill either sells the club or makes an effort to re-engage with the fans and acknowledges the mistakes of the current board, then the success on the field will only go so far. As a club that has some of the greatest fans in the country, we all deserve so much better.
It feels a far-flung place from when one of York City’s true legends, Alf Patrick played. Alf passed away since the last time I wrote this column, at the age of 100. He played for City between 1946 and 1952, scoring 117 goals in 241 league and cup appearances – which puts him fourth on the all-time goalscoring list and the only player to score five goals in a league game. Not only was he a real gent, but he loved this club. He came from one of the great City eras. If only they could be performing at these levels now.
In the same month that we say goodbye to a legend, we also say a final goodbye to Bootham Crescent. Fans get to take a walk around the ground for one last time. Having been part of my life for 30 years, to see it finally disappear, will be a real shock for myself and other fans at the club. We just need to start seeing a turnaround for the club on and off the pitch for a brighter future.
Over in the land of York Knights, they have had a great offseason so far, not only keeping hold of key players but bringing in some real quality to strengthen for the new season including Masi Matongo from Hull FC and a real coup in Pauli Pauli from Salford Red Devils. As well as that, head coach James Ford has also committed to the cause, signing a new three-year contract, it feels that there will be pressure from the off for success in this new season. There has been a long term plan at the Knights that puts others to shame, but you have to say that if they are not at the top of the table competing, Ford’s job may be at risk. Here’s to another bright season for the Knights and putting York back on the map for its rugby, as well as the football.
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