We hear from our resident sports writer and York City F. C. fan, Simon Pattinson.
As I write this, I am still looking back at how on earth we managed to gain promotion from National League North! What a superb achievement and what a day it was for all York City fans to finally see the back of regional football and get back to a level where we at least belong in this current climate. It’s still not League football (where we should be), but it’s back on the right track from a time that represents a shambolic era for the club. Yes, Covid-19 may have potentially gotten in the way of promotion sooner, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that we have seen the lowest of the low moments over the past five years or so.
All that aside, John Askey is a hero as far as I am concerned. Askey has galvanised the club by completely rebuilding a side in the middle of a season, making players fight and making them fitter and as a result, we as the fans have shared the belief that this side has truly been set.
Since the retained list came out and despite the sad news of Pete Jameson joining Harrogate Town, there has been a real bond with this side that fans haven’t seen since the ‘Gary Mills 2012 Wembley twice’ era (coincidentally, it has recently been 10 years since that very special week!) I think the relationship between the sadly-now-departed Jameson with young fan, Jack, epitomised the togetherness that the fans had with this set of players. The pictures of Jack with the team will go down in history and we will be forever thankful to this group for getting the job done. Clayton Donaldson, another of the players who has now left the club created the ideal fairytale, previously returning to where it all started for him 16 years ago, under Billy McEwan. If he wasn’t already a club legend he cemented that for me, with his promotion and with showing real class and experience all season.
However, sentiment gets us nowhere and we wouldn’t necessarily be able to sustain what we want as a club going forward in the National League, with the players who have departed. In fact, this was the mistake I think that got us into a mess that ended with Gary Mills then losing his job in his first stint.
I think I say thank you from all fans to John Askey though – I said he is a hero, and that feels like an understatement for the miracles that he has performed. We were sitting in 15th place in January and only Gateshead, the champions of National League North, had bettered City by just 30 points by the end of the season. Just staggering! As we currently await players who have yet to sign new deals, we know that even despite all the hard work of last season, this is just the beginning for City, under Askey.
As I write this, Scott Boden, who scored 13 goals for Boreham Wood last season, is the first recruit and I think this will be a catalyst to make a big step up next season. If we keep the spine of the side we have offered deals to and add similar quality, I do believe we will do very well next season.
I have to also give a big shout to the York City Ladies who have announced Steph Turnbull as their new manager for the new season in their first-ever time in the FA Women’s National League. What a job from Chris Hamilton, who left for a new challenge at the end of the season after working wonders with the team. They not only achieved a double-winning season but lost only two games all season, scoring 105 goals and conceding only 23. York City as a whole feels like it’s only going one way.
Add a comment