Today I'm going back five years to 2017 and York City's visit to North Yorkshire near neighbours Harrogate Town in what was coined as the "Betty's Tea Room Derby". How genteel! However, there wasn't very much gentility amongst the near capacity crowd of 2,800 that day. In fact the York fans present (surely the majority of the crowd?) were pretty angry and weren't afraid to let their feelings be known.
I had been to Wetherby Road to watch York previously. Back in the good old days, City had played little old Northern Counties East League side Harrogate as a regular pre-season friendly and I'd seen City win 2-0 there in 1983. The stadium that lay before me now bore absolutely no resemblance to its 1983 precursor however. Clearly there was some serious funding going on at Wetherby Road with improved facilities matching an improving team stride for stride. Former Chairman and former Leeds United director Bill Fotherby had sold the club to the father of Town's manager Simon Weaver in 2011. Simon's father, Irving Weaver, conveniently a multi millionaire, has owned the club ever since and his son is now the longest standing manager in the top four divisions of English football, having been in position for 13 years. I can't imagine that he will be sacked anytime soon!
If there was ever a fixture to really spell it out to York City that they had never had it so bad nor sunk so low, then it was this one. York had suffered successive relegations (thank you Jackie McNamara) and now found themselves in the sixth tier of the English football pyramid: the National League North. This was unprecedented and, whatever position they finished in that season, York were about to record their lowest League position ever. Not only that but they were about to rub shoulders with Harrogate Town, a club that had never before played at the same level as York. Indeed, Harrogate had only decided to go full-time two months earlier and were the proverbial new kids on the (professional) block.
For most City supporters, there was no bitter rivalry with Harrogate. "The Sulphurites" (great nickname derived from Harrogate's historic status as a spa town) were that other club who received coverage every Saturday afternoon on BBC Radio York. They were a team that York fans didn't really care about one way or the other. We patted them on the head in a condescending manner and smiled at their travails. Now here they were, opponents on the field! And it gets worse. Town were reputed to be rather good. Promotion challengers with an experienced side who, unlike York, were geared to make an assault on the upper reaches of National League North. With Harrogate having the distinct home advantage of a 3G pitch we journeyed to their Wetherby Road ground with a deep sense of foreboding. It wasn't misplaced.
The first goal in the featured match came in the 15th minute but was somewhat bizarre. York had a shot well saved by Harrogate's keeper James Belshaw and the play quickly switched up to the other end of the field with Jordan Thewlis running clean through with just York's keeper, Jon Worsnop, to beat. To say that Thewlis's dive was theatrical would be to besmirch the good name of thespians everywhere. The only person that bought it was the referee who also booked Worsnop for his troubles. It was ridiculous and cries of "Cheat! Cheat!" rang out even as Joe Leesley converted the penalty to make it 1-0 to Harrogate. In the 51st minute Harrogate had a second. This time Liam Agnew's shot took a wicked deflection off a York player which totally wrong-footed Worsnop. York had given as good as they got up to that point but, at 2-0 down, York heads seemed to go down and there was just no way back for the Minstermen. At the end of the match it was sad to hear City manager Gary Mills being told by more than a few members of the crowd that he was "getting sacked in the morning" and the chant was, in any case, incorrect. He lasted another seven days.
York were supposed to be "on loan" to National League North for just one season but nobody appeared to have told the players. City never looked to be in the frame for promotion, this from a league where 2nd down to 7th place went into the end of season Play-Offs. City finished in 11th place, well off the pace. Harrogate on the other hand went from strength to strength and finished as runners up to automatically-promoted Salford City. Harrogate proceeded to comprehensively win their Play-Off Final 3-0 against Brackley Town and take their place in the fifth tier for the first time ever. Two seasons later they were promoted again, this time into the Football League. Daddy must have been pleased!
CRB Match No. 2176
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