By Far The Greatest Team, That The World Has Ever Seen (York City F.C.)

Member Name: jeff2000

Product:	York City F.C.
Date:	25/03/02 (544 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Super Alan Fettis, John Batchelor

Disadvantages: They lose all the time

Now I haven't been a Minsterman all my life, no far from it in fact. Before December 2001 I had never been to the fortress that is Bootham crescent, and thinking about it, never seen them play in any capacity at all, not even on the tele. But on a cold Saturday in December that was all set to change. Me and the Bird, sorry, my lovely girlfriend and I were both rather bored on a Saturday morning and so decided to make the trek over to York from Leeds and watch some quality football, or failing that, go and see York play (boom, boom). Since that fateful day we've attended all their home games and even travelled to two of their away matches, you could say that, like a fish, we've been hooked by them.

For those not in the know, York are currently languishing at the foot of the Nationwide Division 3 table, not exactly a quality team you may say (obviously you never seen them play), but since their recent takeover by touring car racing tycoon, John Batchelor the future is certainly looking a lot brighter for the pride of North Yorkshire.

For those of us who don't know, just before Christmas the previous owner of the club, Douglas Craig, announced that unless a new owner could be found before 1st April, York would resign from the football league at the end of the current season, this obviously caused the harden fans much angst and soon a supporters club was formed, with the aim of securing the future of professional football in York. They protested outside the ground and used various money making schemes to try and raise the £4.5 million that Dougie wanted for the York team and their ground. Despite their best efforts, raising that much money was always going to be a bit of a task, even for Yorkie the lion, and it looked like they would need some kind of wealthy saviour to step in and save the club from certain doom.

Initially there was quite an interest in taking over the club, York do not have the massive loans that some teams
do and their seasons losses are not anywhere near as much as many others, and with such a quality team, people could see a lot of potential in the club and the city, and so felt that they could take the Minstermen to the top of their profession, or at least mid-table division two. As time progressed a clear favourite emerged from amongst the bidders, and as the other offers fizzled away John Batchelor stormed though. Finally, after what seemed longer than the car journey home after losing, his takeover was complete, the football club's future was secured and York would live to fight another day.

Now that the new Chairman is firmly in place he seems to have some big plans for the club, he see's York as a big city with a small club, with large untapped fan base that could be so much more. He is currently attempting to locate a suitable site for the club's new super ground, a 15,000 all-seater stadium suitable for all kinds of functions, such as Peter Andre concerts and the like. As we're lucky to get 3,000 at the moment I'm not sure how well this venture will turn out, but I'm sure we'll see. The reasons given for leaving the Crescent are that the ground needs to be used 7 days a week to make the club financially viable, at the moment is used on for football matches and this is seen as money that needs to be made.

I for one will be sad to move grounds, I know I haven't been going long an I can see the arguments for switching grounds but Bootham Crescent has a lot of history behind it and I don't like sitting at matches, I'd much to prefer to stand. I think in all-seater stadia the atmosphere can be a bit lacking, especially when they're nearly empty, and it's just not the same without getting trampled on every time we score a goal. But nevermind, it would never do for us to be winning the champions league, which we surely will soon, to a capacity of 9,000, so I'm sure this new stadium must be goo
d for the club as a whole. Apparently the two suitable sites have now been chosen and the new plans will be released shortly, which is nice.

For those inspired by this review, which I'm sure some of you will, Bootham Crescent is situated close to the city centre in the Clifton area. There's a helpful map on the website too. It has a capacity, as I've already said for those of you not paying attention, of around 9,000. The home fans are seated on either side of the pitch and behind one of the goals, here is situated the David Longhurst stand, where all us hard types sing songs and the like, it's under cover and has two, yes, count them, food outlets. The away fans are put in absolute luxury up the other end of the ground, with no roof covering their end and block of seating, but the fencing blocking their view more than makes up for any weather discomfort they may feel, and they've got a five star restaurant as well, well, that what it looks like from the other end of the ground, anyway.

Entry is a very reasonable tenner, apart from us scabby students, who get in for a super deal of the century £6. How's that for the best offer you've ever seen in your life, eh? Kids get in cheap as well, but you'll have to pay a couple of quid more if you want the pleasure of sitting down. I wouldn't recommend this though as you're sure to be on your feet for the whole game anyway with the exciting football being played out in front of you. The programme's only £2 and is packed with all kinds of fun about the team and all news associated with it. Oh, and York play in red and dark blue, in case you were getting confused with Arsenal, who play in red and white, easy mistake to make, isn't it.

And if you're gonna go, you better learn this handy information about the some of the stars of the team, so you can start some banter with an old man at half time, what could be more fun?

In Goal, it's th
e one, the only, yes, it's super Alan Fettis. At 32 years of age, and hailing from Northern Island this man even has some international experience (25 caps), more than any of the rest of the team can say for themselves. Having taken a step up from Blackburn to come and join the Minstermen, he hasn't missed a game all season and to be honest is one of the best players on the team. He may look a bit of sight with his cycling shorts and curling hair, but the crowd love him and without him I'm sure York would be even further down the table. And his cap's great too. He also got awarded club man of the year last season, which I'm sure he was so overjoyed about he cried all night.

Our top scorer this season has been Michael Proctor, a young lad (21) on loan from Sunderland, he's had many teams watching him and I'm sure he'll go far in the future, if he learns the offside rule that is. Unfortunately he's been suffering from hamstring problems recently, and that's why we haven't been scoring many, but when he gets back I'm sure the push for promotion will continue. There have also been reports that he has been attacked by a large rodent, that he managed to overcome and now wears the skin of on his chin, however these reports are yet to be confirmed.

We've got a couple of rocks in defence, Mike Basham, Graham Potter, and to a lesser extent, Chris Brass. They usually put up a good fight before being overrun in the second half, they also seem to score more goals than the attackers (Proctor excluded), and Basham's always good for a fight, should there be one going.

The midfield's pretty useless so I won?t mention them.

The other attackers that really should learn how to shoot include Alex Mathie and Lee Nogan. Mathie's the worst, as well as being rubbish at shooting he's rather plump and if the ball doesn't appear at his feet then you can forget it. Having played for Ipswi
ch he seems to think he's rather good. Unfortunately he's not. Nightmare.

Now you know all about the players you better learn a brief history of the club, I'll let you skip the section if you want, but only if you promise to nominate me for a crown, because I'm sure I deserve it.

We were founded in 1922 and entered the football league in 1929. They had a magnificent debut season, finishing 6th, the highest they would finish til the 1950's. Unfortunately in 1959 they failed to get many points (what a surprise) and were to become one of the founding members of division 4. After yo-yo ing about for a few seasons they were finally promoted to the dizzy heights of division 2 in 1973, but were sadly relegated just 2 seasons later, and then again and then they finished bottom of division 4 and had to re-apply for league status, which I'm sure must have been very encouraging for the fans at the time.

Not a lot happened or a few years before they managed a superb season and actually won something for the first time in their history, and what better thing to win than the division 4 championship, most probably the highest accolade in football ever. In 1983 York were the first ever club to reach over 100 points in a season. Just brilliant. Fast forward through many years of not doing a lot and finally in 1999, after years of trying, we got relegated back to Division 3, falling into the drop zone on the last day of the season, well. You've got to give the others a chance, haven't you. After another disappointing season (what a surprise), Terry Dolan was appointed manager and he's taken us through to the present day.

As you can see York have probably the best history ever and surely deserve to be top of the premiership. We did beat Man Utd in the FA Cup once, probably our best moment to date, but I'm sure that's all to change soon. The highest attendance ever at the Crescent was 29,000, a far cry fr
om the 2,700 that were there on Saturday, but nevermind. Surely everyone will be wanting to watch them play soon, or at least watch Yorkie the lions touchline antics.

Well, that's it, everything you never wanted to know about the best club in the world, but were too bored to ask. I love going to watch York play, I'm not sure why, but I'm sure you would too. Give them a go, you might like it, you never know. You'll get to sing songs and give lots of abuse to the referee, who is always wrong. The pies are very nice too. I don't think we've got much chance of success any time soon, but with the new owner at the helm it sounds as though he wants to give the club a good background, make it financially viable, and then once the money starts rolling in we can start to strengthen the squad, and then, who knows?

FACTFILE:
Nickname: Minstermen (what a nickname, I'd like to meet the genius who thought of that)
Colours: Red shirt and blue shorts.
Mascot: Yorkie the lion
Chairman: John Batchelor
Manager: Terry Dolan
Ground: Bootham Crescent (currently) Tel: 01904 624447
Capacity: 9,000
Price: £10 / £6
Rivals: Scarborough, and anyone else in Yorkshire as well.
Website: www.ycfc.net

Summary: