For February 25th I'm going back 9 years to 2012 and another programme from York City's triumphant "march to the arch" in the FA Trophy. This time it's the 4th Round game away at Blundell Park, Cleethorpes, home of Grimsby Town.
City were pursuing their promotion dream, looking to finish in the Play-Off places and, for many supporters, the FA Trophy represented a Non-League distraction. Not so for manager Gary Mills who fielded the full first team in the Trophy run that season. Grimsby Town away represented one of the tougher ties that City could have drawn but they were excellent that day and won thanks to an 83rd minute goal from Scott Kerr in front of 3,662. Sadly it was to be Scott's final goal of the season (and indeed for the club) thanks to a torn cruciate ligament arising from a tackle by a Luton player in the FA Trophy Semi-Final which put him out for the remainder of the season including missing both the FA Trophy and Play-Off Finals played at Wembley. Scott's influence that season was such that he was the York City Supporters Player of the Season despite missing the crucial final weeks. One year later Kerr was released by new manager Nigel Worthington and joined.... Grimsby Town.
Another player in the City line-up that day was Ben Gibson, nephew of Middlesbrough Chairman Steve Gibson, who had signed for the club on loan from Boro only 3 weeks earlier. In total he made only 11 appearances for City but they included those 2 games at Wembley. Seldom can a player have enjoyed a more momentous loan spell than Ben Gibson. He subsequently signed for Burnley in 2018 for £15 Million but sadly his career trajectory has been downwards since.
The programme for this game was a very poor effort considering the £2 cover price. Basically (very) it was a single sheet folded into 12 (!) with one side featuring a fixtures poster which advertised the remaining home games (including one that had been postponed 2 weeks before!). I doubt that this had the Cod Army leaving their trawlers in dock.
CRB Match No. 1877
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