York City v Bristol Rovers: Despite off-field dramas 'we've got good enough players to really kick on in the Football League'
The importance of a football captain can often be open to question. They are not the big decision-makers their counterparts in cricket, for example, are. Many see them as just figureheads.
But on York City’s Football League return after a decade away, their captain could be hugely important.
With Callum Howe moving on in the summer, right wing-back Ryan Fallowfield has leapfrogged vice-captain Ollie Pearce into the job despite only starting four matches in last season's dramatic Conference-winning campaign.
The captain mattered that day.
Recruiting former Sheffield Wednesday, Rotherham United, Barnsley and Huddersfield Town right-back Jack Hunt hardly seems to have improved Fallowfield’s prospects of gametime, even if a hamstring injury will see him miss Saturday’s opener at home to Bristol Rovers, and probably the entire first four weeks.
But the Minstermen need all the steady heads they can get right now, on and off the field.
Things have taken a turn for the worse since April’s fairytale ending where York lost, then won, the title in the space of an incredible stoppage time at Rochdale.
Pre-season began fairly normally – a club record sale as Malachi Fagan-Walcott move to Heart of Midlothian, some tougher goodbyes as Howe rejected a new contract and ever-present goalkeeper Harrison Male moved on, and some promising additions.
Then came the bombshell, Maynard sacked over apparent artistic differences over how the football department was being run. Scott Lindsey replaced him with indecent haste, and copped dog's abuse from a hurting and confused fanbase when his first competitive game ended in a 2-0 League Cup preliminary round defeat to his previous club Crawley Town.
Lindsey says he gets it, but his refusal to clap the fans afterwards only poured fuel on the fire. Ridiculously, he is already a man under pressure.
So we wait with baited breath to see what the atmosphere will be like at York’s Community Stadium on Saturday with an extra 4,000 fans selling out the ground, particularly if – as their manager so loves to do – Steve Evans's title second-favourites stir things up by scoring first.
It will not be for the faint-hearted, and arguably not the inexperienced either, but Lindsey expects to have four or five Football League debutants in his XI and, without Hunt, only one – Ollie Banks – with 100 appearances at the level.
York-born Fallowfield, who made 59 league appearances across Harrogate Town's first two League Two seasons, will have a part to play whether he is on the field or not.
"I don't know exactly who's not got the EFL experience, but it's a challenge for them," says the 30-year-old, who played for North Ferriby between two spells at Harrogate.
"The experienced boys have got to be around them players, but we've got good enough players to take on that challenge and be able to really kick on in the Football League.
"We've got many leaders in our team that can quite easily step in and wear the armband as well."
Keeping the mood positive in Saturday’s opening stages could be hugely important.
"Everyone knows how the start of the season goes," says Fallowfield at the end of his first week as an official club captain. "The first 20, 30 minutes is probably going to be frantic but we've just got to manage that, get through that and then play the way that we play.
"I'm confident that we can win the game but it's not a given. We've got to really be on it.
"And we've got to be on it every single game this season."
And despite everything, the odds are still in York's favour, certainly over the course of the campaign.
Remarkably, since promotion and relegation replaced re-election in 1986-87, no team has gone straight back down the season after coming into the league. The bookmakers have York seventh favourites to win a division where finishing seventh brings a play-off place.
Despite all the turmoil, the basis of their squad is the one that won 204 points in the last two seasons.
"Clubs that are coming up from this league, some of them are doing two jumps," stresses Fallowfield.
"Bromley (with two promotions in three years) is a great example and Wrexham... I mean, they're very well backed but they've done it (going from Conference to Championship in consecutive campaigns). Stockport's another one.
"It speaks volumes of the top end of the National League, that teams are going up and they're doing really well.
"The recruitment's been good. It's a good group of lads. We had a squad capable probably last season as well, to be honest.
"But I think it's probably the right time and we're ready for it."