Today I'm going back three years to 2018 and York City's home fixture against Leamington at Bootham Crescent, played in front of just 1,938 spectators. The featured programme cover is a special retro edition as City chose to celebrate programme covers from yesteryear as part of their anticipated final season at Bootham Crescent. This one mimicked the style of programme cover from the 1960's.
York had been relegated into National League North (the 6th tier in the English football pyramid) in 2017. It was the lowest level at which they had played since joining the Football League in 1929. The supporters, not surprisingly, expected an instant return to the higher level since York would have a significantly higher playing budget than almost every other side in the division. But, sadly, as we have found, it's not as easy as that. The money has to be spent wisely you see? It's about more than just throwing cash at the problem and waiting for things to get better. And now here we are in 2021 and still York are floundering around in the 6th tier with the prospect of promotion looking extremely challenging in their fourth season at this level. Several changes of manager have taken place in those four seasons as we have seen Gary Mills, Martin Gray, Sam Collins, Steve Watson and now, the latest appointee, John Askey being asked to deliver the promised land of higher level football. Five managers inside four seasons hardly reeks of stability does it?
Besides following York, I happen to live in Warwick, just a few minutes drive from Leamington's out of town Harbury Lane ground so I tend to take more than a passing interest in games between York and Leamington. If York have one of the highest playing budgets in National League North, then Leamington probably have the lowest. But Leamington are battlers and, they don't mess around making numerous managerial changes a la York. No, Leamington have had manager Paul Holleran in charge for over a decade and are enjoying the highest level of football that the club has experienced since the club were reformed at the turn of the century. Viva Holleran as the Brakes fans sing! As a result of York's fragility and Leamington's rude good health, I therefore tend to watch the games between the two clubs through my fingers!
Goalless at half time, the featured game provided a goals-fest in the second half. York drew first blood from the spot with a penalty, hotly disputed by the Leamington defenders, dispatched by Jordan Burrow. 1-0 quickly became 2-0 as Burrow picked up the pieces from a free kick knock down to fire home. York were now firmly in the driving seat and surely cruising to a straight forward home win? Well actually no, for this is York City and nothing is done easily by them. With 20 minutes remaining, Colby Bishop (remember him?) fired home to make it 2-1 and, with five minutes remaining and the fog descending, Bishop headed home Leamington's equaliser from a corner. I don't think that a single Minsterman (or Woman) would have been surprised to see York let it slip. The match video (attached to my blog) is amusing in that, by the end, the visibility is very poor, akin to watching a white cat in a snow storm. I always think that the cameras make things look worse than they actually are in person. The fog couldn't mask that this wasn't an acceptable result however and the boos rang out at the final whistle.
York ended the season in a more than disappointing 12th position, not even in the top half of a League that they were expected to dominate at the start of the season. Leamington would have been more than satisfied with their own 13th place finish however, just four points less than York despite a financial disparity measuring several hundred thousand pounds per season. Never mind, we go again. And again (and again...)
CRB Match No. 2275
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