First of all thanks for sending the fifth issue of the fanzine, I found it an interesting read. Before I go any further though, I shall explain my York connections. I was born in Fulford, lived in Heworth and when I was 10 moved to Leicester. Now I am a student at Southampton (not clever enough to get in at York) yet I have managed to maintain my loyalty to York City and consider myself a true Yorkie. Although attending games is difficult whilst living in this part of the country on a grant!

Anyway, I have written a letter which is quite long winded really which I suppose you could consider for the fanzine. Also, I have written an article on the away games and grounds I have managed to get to this season. I hope you like my articles and hopefully other people will be encouraged to send in their reviews of away games attended as I believe it would prove to be an interesting feature.

As a Yorkie in exile in Southampton, I get a limited opportunities to go and see my beloved York City. When I have though, the supporters and players alike always do the club proud. Of course Wembley springs to mind where our fans were magnificent, but also Hartlepool (away), Bournemouth (away) and Leyton Orient (away) are games I have managed to attend and even in defeat the support by the fans has been great and its clear it does have a positive effect on the players.

In Southampton, the Saints fans are probably the worst in the country and seem only to be happy when things at the club are going wrong so that they can have a good whinge. Their vocal support for the team is virtually non existent and the loudest noises are usually the booing of the players and, of course, the chants of "Branfoot out".

Even when they picked up last season and won 5 games on the trot, the support was very muted. Such fans do not deserve a Premier League club and until they start to get behind their team quite clearly things at The Dell will get worse and their better players will continue to leave.

York have had bad times and have loomed very close to the trap door to the GM Vauxhall quite recently, and yet in such circumstances our fans were never as bad as the Southampton fans and we are now being rewarded for our loyalty. Somehow, I don't see any rewards coming Southampton's way for a long time, in fact it may not be too long before York are playing the Saints in the same league!!

Now City have been promoted, there are some new grounds to visit whilst watching City on their travels. Some we haven't been to for many years.

Myself, at the time of writing, I've attended the following and this is what I thought.

Bournemouth Lost 1-3 Memory Good T.C. goal Away End View quite good / small terrace York Contingent Around 200 Home Fans Not very loud Attendance 3,000 odd Nearest Pub Can't remember its name, 500 yards from the ground, karaoke machine, near the park.

Leyton Orient Lost 0-2 Memory Fantastic 40 yard run by Jon McCarthy in the first half (still didn't score though!) Away End Big uncovered end behind goal, same size as home end York Contingent Around 300 standing, 50 seated Home Fans Only sang in East Stand (along touchline) seats, all 5 of them! Very quiet Attendance 3,600 odd Nearest Pub In Leyton centre, on corner of street directly (200 yards) from main entrance to ground. Real Cockney pub, Anita Dobson lookalike behind bar.

Hartlepool Won 2-0 Memory The CONSTANT singing of our fans. Excellent!! Away End Quite big, open terrace behind goal York Contingent Guess 1,900! Home Fans Small singing contingent in seats to left of us Attendance 3,000 odd, more YORKIES than Pool fans Nearest Pub Went to the chippy in Pool instead, lovely chips.

Decent grounds that are worth a visit this season include Home Park, Plymouth; Valley Parade, Bradford; Boothferry Park, Hull; Turf Moor, Burnley (one of the best grounds outside the Premier Division, or so they say); Vetch Field, Swansea; Leeds Road, Huddersfield (the big one, its not a great ground but hopefully there will be a big York turnout); Vale Park, Port Vale (good away end) and Goldstone Ground, Brighton (nice day out).