History in the making as York City finally step out at new LNER Community Stadium home
More than that, their first game since January 6 will be the even longer-awaited first at the LNER Community Stadium.
Fylde’s visit should, under normal circumstances, be an important Conference North game but in all probability will not be. The occasion is likely to be of greater importance than the match, and even that will be diminished by the absence of fans who have waited nearly two decades for this moment – some in anticipation, others dread.
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Hide AdAfter so many false starts, finally being able to say York City Football Club genuinely has a new home will be important.
“It was a big factor in me coming (in January 2019),” admits manager Steve Watson. “A lot of the players we spoke to in the summer, the stadium was a big draw for them as well.”
York first agreed to sell Bootham Crescent, their home since 1932, for housing in 2002 as an established Football League club. The intervening years have been hard, dropping into English football’s sixth tier. In 2012 outlying planning permission was granted, but only now is the Monks Cross stadium opening.
The first fixture has been pushed back from mid-October 2020 (drainage issues) to January 12 (a dispute over the lease and matchday arrangements) to the 19th (Covid-19 outbreak) to January 30 (two-week Conference North suspension to resolve funding issues) to Saturday (Farsley declined to raise a team because those issues had not been resolved) to tonight.
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Hide Ad“We were on the training ground on Sunday unable to do anything but there was probably a 13-degree shift on Monday so the weather shouldn’t be a problem and we’ve got two teams that want to play so fingers crossed nothing can stand in our way,” says Watson, who hopes to have everyone bar Josh King and Akil Wright available.
York’s players have not even been inside the ground yet.
“We’ve seen as much of the pitch as Fylde will have but that’s just this season summed up,” says Watson. “It’s a pitch that should suit two good footballing sides, so hopefully it’s a good spectacle and we come off the back of it with three points.”
Whether those three points amount to anything in the grand scheme of things is questionable.
York are eighth in Conference North, Fylde third, but in a points-per-game table they would be second and third respectively, pushing for automatic promotion. In reality, it is unlikely to be on offer.
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Hide AdThe 66 National League clubs are pondering whether to continue the season with no crowds and only loans to fill the financial void. Conference North clubs Bradford (Park Avenue), Farsley Celtic and Guiseley want the campaign voided but even if York and Fylde win the argument, time is running out.
York’s 30 remaining games is more than twice the number of weeks left in the season.
“The headspace is purely to do everything we can to take three points and whatever comes after it will come,” insists Watson. “We want to continue and whatever shape that comes in we will be ready for, whether it’s continuing as is or dropping a number of teams and playing a mini-league.”
As for what the new ground means for the club financially, chairman Jason McGill has reiterated his claim that without crowds of 4,000 to 4,500 they will continue to need a benefactor.
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Hide AdYork last had average crowds of over 4,000 in 2002-03, when they were 10th in the fourth tier. It was the 11th season this had happened since 1966. Last season’s average was 2,705.
“To have a successful football club that doesn’t rely on external support, that’s what you would need,” insisted McGill. “Previous chairmen have said the same.
“It does depend on negotiations with managers over playing budgets.
“The (other) options are going part-time, cutting a lot of staff and our foundation, which we don’t want to do because it’s been extremely successful and we’re very proud of what it does.
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Hide Ad“Very few football clubs break even without external support. Over the last 18 years the parent company, JM Packaging (owned by McGill), has financially supported the club through thick and thin. The new stadium will help to plug that gap a little bit because a lot of the costs have been moved onto other areas.”
Whatever the pitfalls, the problems ahead, the sadness at leaving Bootham Crescent and the weirdness tonight, a move needed to happen and in a matter of hours we should finally be able to say it has.
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