Community the key word in York’s long trek back to The 92, reckons Colin Young
The contrast with Bootham Crescent couldn’t be more stark. On a recent match day, at the leisure complex surrounding the LNER Community Stadium outside York, families with wet hair, towels and takeaway snacks give way to the 6,645 supporters heading to City’s vital National League game with Sutton United.
Neck-and-neck with recent Football League members Barnet and Forest Green, the Minstermen are desperate to rejoin The 92 after nearly a decade away. During that time, after agonising successive relegations, York plunged down to the sixth-tier National League North for five humiliating seasons.
The stasis coincided with the decline and inevitable loss of Bootham Crescent, York’s home from 1932. There almost wasn’t a club at all, had it not been for the York City Supporters’ Trust (YCST), created for the salvation of the Minstermen in 2002, and raising £600,000 to buy the club from the administrator.
The YCST then sold 75% to Jason McGill. Making his fortune from manufacturing peel-back packaging for smoked salmon, McGill had recently moved his business to nearby Malton. His loan of nearly £1 million not only stabilised a club that had just dropped down to the Conference League, but prompted the initiative to find a site for a new stadium and set up the eventual sale of Bootham Crescent to housing developers Persimmon.
With York City Council keen on constructing a shared stadium for the Minstermen and rugby club York City Knights around a retail park in Huntington, north of town, all seemed back on track. York City even made the Conference play-off final in 2010, winning it two years later, both times before Wembley crowds of 40,000.
As arguments raged over the spiralling budget for the new stadium, a protected great crested newt reared its ugly head, pushing development even further back. York City, meanwhile, floundered in the National League North, and Bootham Crescent rusted. Fans still turned out in droves for the visits of Alfreton, Leamington and the like.
In December 2017, in the wake of back-to-back relegations, and a full ten years after the site had been selected, the first spade went in the ground. Two years later, with the stadium nearing completion, a sponsorship deal was agreed with LNER. Its branding right across the façade not only reflected York’s railway heritage, and the train operator’s first move into promoting football and sustainable travel, the key was in the name: Community.
Once the LNER Community Stadium had staged its first York game during the pandemic restrictions of February 2021, the 8,500-capacity arena slowly began to pay for itself by co-hosting the 2021 Women’s Rugby League World Cup. Nearly 7,500 watched York’s play-off win over Boston United here to regain National League status in May 2022.
Average gates ticked closer to 5,000 and a new community of football fan began to emerge, supporting a club that embraces families and young supporters. On match days, such as for this game with Sutton United, there’s an abundance of YCST-tracksuited volunteers at the LNER, beside the swimming pool and gym, library and coffee shop.
For once, the company spiel isn’t wrong. According to LNER, “As well as being home to York City FC, it is an important local hub for sports clubs and other organisations. We are delighted that we are able to play our part at an exciting time for the Minstermen”.
And, indeed, for the Ugglas. A family enterprise headed by the matriarch, Zimbabwe-born, Canada-bred, business-savvy philanthropist Julie-Anne, and her son Matt, a graduate in sports management from Southampton University, this unlikely dynasty snapped up York City in 2023, weeks after failing to buy Yeovil.
With his attempt to sell York in 2018, salmon-packaging mogul Jason McGill had fallen foul of supporters despite his 16 years of endeavour. To their credit, once he bowed out, the YCST put on record their appreciation of his contribution. After a brief ownership interregnum, the trust now holds 25% of the club, the mother-and-son co-chairmen 51% through 394 Sports.
Given the stadium, the tourist-magnet city and the fan base, the potential here is huge. What everyone now needs is promotion.
Adam Hinshelwood is the club’s 12th manager in as many years and although the former Brighton stalwart was a surprise choice, he has brought stability and a winning mentality. Supporting him is Director of Football Tony McMahon, whose behind-the-scenes graft pre-season helped lift York from relegation candidates in 2023-24 to promotion challengers in 2024-25. Head of Development and club legend Clayton Donaldson put in the hard yards in two stints at York and now oversees the under-19s.
It’s not all gravy. For the game with Sutton, York peg a goal back with seven minutes to go but can’t find a way through. The players from both sides then enjoy a good old skirmish in the centre circle on final whistle, with Yorkie the York mascot piling in and earning a yellow for his trouble.
As the LNER groundsmen unfurl the huge black pitch covers after the match (another substantial investment at this level) Hinshelwood reflects on a rare bad day: “I want to see that passion from the start of the game when you can do something about it. There’s no good doing it when you’re 2-0 down. It’s the hunger, the mindset that you have to play with from the outset. I’m sure that the players look at me and laugh because I keep on drumming it into them – but it’s so important”.
After taking 500-plus on the road to Boston and Oldham, York now face mid-table Dagenham & Redbridge to close the daylight between the Minstermen and the lead runners of Forest Green Rovers and Barnet.
But, as the pleasingly modest Matt Uggla tells The Press on the eve of the game, it’s a marathon not a sprint: “We stayed up on the final day last year so to be in this position is amazing. If it isn’t this year, then I’m sure it will be next year or the year after. This is a long-term project”.
And long-term is something York supporters know all about.
York City v Dagenham & Redbridge, Saturday, February 1, 3pm. LNER Community Stadium, Kathryn Avenue, Huntington, York YO32 9AF. Tickets here.
