Sport Report Dec/Jan

Is 2022 looking like a hopeful year for York teams? Resident sports writer and York City F. C. fan, Simon Pattinson, gives us his take.

Hello and a Happy New Year to you all. I’m sure if you were like me, you will have been eating and drinking until your heart’s content as well as keeping tabs on the jam-packed sporting calendar we have at this time of year.
2021 seems to have been a bit of a blur really in terms of York City. What was meant to be a year full of optimism and hope with moving into the new stadium seems to have revealed more issues than not, and so far, the season couldn’t have gone any more wrong. Another year in National League North is looking a current possibility. The man we thought would take us up, Steve Watson, has been sacked and replaced with John Askey, who has said that the squad simply isn’t good enough.
Whether he can turn it around or not is the biggest question most fans are asking at the moment, or will it be a case that this season is just a write-off. It all feels a long way off yet as to how the season will conclude but right now I will not be holding my breath.
There is still a big cloud over the club that has yet again risen its ugly head between the fans and the current ownership at the club. Since the move to the new stadium, the clear issues and rift with the fans and the club hierarchy leaves something to be desired and quite frankly, until changes in some capacity are made, it doesn’t feel like a lot will change there as we head into 2022. I have said it many times already, and I will say it again, anyone who is currently happy with the club’s position and is happy with the club in general at the moment is part of the problem. This club should not be struggling in National League North, the decision-making and quality of the teams we have had over the last few years are part of the big problem and we should be competing much higher than this. It wasn’t all that long ago Jason McGill felt we would be challenging further up the leagues during the Nigel Worthington era. What has happened since is baffling beyond belief and right now the club needs galvanising somehow?
I just hope that in 2022 we can start to see something change, results begin to pick up, and John Askey can make the fans proud of the club once more. As we have learned, football is a big part of our lives, and we missed it last season. It’s great that we can be amongst our mates again, but to see us doing well again would make it a year to remember.
Over at York City Knights, they have become a steady side in the Championship in the last year, and it feels that the season ahead could be the best yet. Making some cracking signings and really putting fans at the heart of what they are doing. Could 2022 be the year they reach that goal of getting into the Super League? As always, it will not be straightforward with how strong the competition will be, but they are proving that they are not far off. What a year it could be for rugby in York, especially with the rescheduling of the Rugby World Cup the city could see some much-anticipated action later in 2022 with the quality of sporting action matching the quality the Community Stadium was built for.