York City South - Chairman's Report / Chairman's Welcome
Chairman's Statement 2023/4
Who knows what this season will bring for York City. Probably another roller coaster season. Before the opening game at Wealdstone, optimism was high, but I’m afraid it didn’t last too long. I suppose one conclusion, given early season performances, is that the sum of the whole is currently less than the sum of the parts, it makes sense to me and gives me hope that better days are just around the corner, something I’m sure will resonate with many long standing City supporters.
It was so good to see so many familiar faces at Wealdstone and other early season games in the south this season.
For the 2023/4 season we have sponsored the away shirt of Olly Dyson. Last season, we sponsored Scott Burgess’ shirt and in an end of season raffle amongst our members, it was won by Clare Feasby.
Membership of our branch remains steady, last season we had 67 members (including life members) and our finances were strong.
As you many have noticed, our branch has undergone a few changes over the past few months. Ray Goodearl stepped down as Chairman and I have stepped in as Acting Chairman whilst we confirm our next chair. As ever, we are always looking for new blood to re-invigorate our committee.
I would like to thank Ray for his work as Chairman and all our members for your valued and continued support.
With our former Chairman Alastair Smith now a leading light at YCFC and YCST, branch committee man James Daniels has followed in his footsteps, so you might say that YCS is the development squad for YCFC.
I look forward to seeing you at games and branch meetings throughout the season.
Chris Forth
Chairman's Statement 2022/3 You will be aware that our YCS branch chairman Alastair Smith has recently been appointed City’s CEO.
On that basis, it is deep regret that he wishes to step down as Chairman of York City South.
Alastair has been a stalwart of our branch since its inception, serving as Chairman in 2 spells across 17 years. We wish him well in his new role and given the dedication he has shown our branch, then with him and Glen Henderson, City are surely in good hands.
I have agreed to become Acting Chairman.
YCS expect to arrange our AGM shortly when we will formalise the Chairman’s position.
As ever, all members are invited to stand for the position of Chairman or any other committee position.
If anyone wishes to serve on the committee, then please contact myself or any of our committee.
On the pitch, the new season has got off to an encouraging start. Off the pitch, the new found unity is very welcome whilst the more frequent southern away games has given our members more local opportunities to watch City. It has been good to see so many familiar faces at games and at our get together for the live screening of the Solihull Moors game in August.
Ray Goodearl
Plus a review of the year from Andy Naylor, our Treasurer.
It’s been an eventful year for our club!
January brought two 0-3 defeats, and despite a Clayton Donaldson equaliser against eventual champions Gateshead, City completed the first half of their league programme in 15th position.
February saw the start of a run of five consecutive league wins, and a superb late comeback from 0-2 down to beat Morpeth in the FA Trophy. It was the first time City had come from behind to win a match since 2020 and another sign that John Askey was moving the club, and team spirit, in the right direction.
March and YCS members had the chance to meet John and Kingsley James in the team hotel, the night before the dramatic FAT quarter-final win at Dagenham, when a 97th minute penalty equaliser from Donaldson set up a 7-6 win in the penalty shootout.
April was hectic with nine matches, of which only two were at home. Results fell away, but City stayed in contention for the play-offs. New international signing Maz Kouhyar arrived and scored his first goal. YCS enjoyed pre-match hospitality and presented our Player of the Season award to Pete Jameson.
May provided the most drama yet: a win against Fylde guaranteed a place in the play-offs and the late equaliser at Telford took us above Chorley to give us a home tie against them. The second half of the season had brought 11 wins, 6 draws, only 4 defeats, and much belief. Wins against Chorley and Brackley (away) set up a home final v Boston. A record LNER crowd of 7,448 saw City win 2-0 to earn promotion.
July revealed the dates of City’s 14 National League away fixtures in the south, but more importantly the change of ownership at the club. YCS Chair Alastair Smith was appointed CEO, and he joins Steve Beck, Josh Easby and Sophie McGill on the list of YCS members who have been directors of the club. Congratulations!
This season has seen City generally in the top half of the table, and occasionally in the play-off places. They performed well in a televised 1-1 draw away to promotion chasers Solihull Moors, enjoyed by several YCS members in the pub, or at the ground. The highlight so far is the 5-0 win at Barnet (who had topped the table earlier in the season). This was followed by an abject performance at Halifax, who were bottom at the time! Despite missing a penalty City scored their first ever goal at Yeovil in a 1-0 win, and they beat Bromley for the first time. On Tuesday Lennell John-Lewis scored a penalty then missed a good chance to put us 2-1 up, in what was nearly our first ever win against Boreham Wood. We can be reassured that John Askey and everyone at the club will work hard to do as well as possible, but that there will continue to be ups and downs along the way.
Sheephaven Bay Dates for your Diary: This year we have:
Andy Naylor
... and finally, Andy's commentary on the recent YCS accounts:
2020/1
On 1st May 2020 I took over as Treasurer from Ray Goodearl, and we had funds of £1,350.20 comprising £1,187.45 in the bank, £10.43 in cash and merchandise (badges) valued at £152.32.
Steve Watson had guided City to the top of NLN, but when Covid curtailed the 2019-20 league season City were placed second on points per game behind Kings Lynn, who were in freefall.
After lobbying for play-offs, in July a rusty City team lost to Altrincham, who had allegedly been illegally training together and playing practice matches. Thanks to City director Richard Adams, YCS had four flags displayed at Bootham Crescent during the play-off match.
YCS had several members present at South Shields in September for a pre-season friendly, but when the league began belatedly in October matches were again played behind closed doors. A limited number of fans were allowed at two home games in December, one being the 1-0 win v Guiseley on 28th December, the last at the Crescent. The historic goal was scored by Josh King, one of three players whose kit was sponsored by our branch.
Despite losing 3-1 against Fylde in the first match at the LNER, City were well-placed for the play-offs, lying eighth with several games in hand when the season was curtailed in February. City were in favour of continuing to completion, as happened in the National League, but too many NLN and NLS clubs voted against this due to financial concerns.
With the lack of matches and social events to attend, the branch did well to reach 52 members, of which 36 paid a membership fee (34 adults, 2 juniors). We had 11 Life Members and 5 Honorary Life Members, though sadly one of these passed away in February - John Catton, one of the branch’s co-founders.
During the season we supported the Vice-Presidents Draw, and won a £75 prize. We also sponsored the away kit for Alex Wollerton and Josh King, and the home kit for Scott Barrow. Thanks to Chris Forth, who continued to publicise the Easyfundraising initiative, our income was boosted by £168.37 and enabled us to achieve a surplus of £191.49 over the year.
On 30th April 2021 we had funds totalling £1,541.69 comprising £1,381.94 in the bank, £10.43 in cash and merchandise (badges) valued at £149.32.
2021/2
It was a great feeling to return to the normality of watching football in person instead of via the sometimes unreliable medium of streaming. There were even some fixtures in the south for our members to enjoy, though City didn’t win any of them (until May!)
They failed to score in the league at Gloucester, Kettering and Brackley, though provided superb drama in the FA Trophy quarter-final with a 97th minute penalty to earn a draw at Dagenham. The 7-6 win on penalties set up a one-leg semi-final at Bromley (surely a neutral venue would have been fairer?) where they succumbed to late goals after deservedly leading for an hour. The season seemed to be heading the same way as the previous one, with City just two points outside the play-off positions after their best ever result at Curzon Ashton (0-0) in November. However, the Curzon curse struck again, and Steve Watson was replaced by John Askey despite being the first manager in our history to win more than half of his matches in charge.
Fitness and team spirit began to improve, and some astute signings such as Maxim Kouogun and Mitch Hancox provided new hope. Our other league match in the south was at Hereford, where Maziar Kouhyar scored a late equaliser for the home side. Without that City would have had seven consecutive league wins, but the Afghan international later signed for City along with Lenell John-Lewis, another ex-Hereford player. The duo both scored in the crucial promotion play-off final against Boston United.
The easing of pandemic restrictions allowed us to hold our annual Darts competition in November, and an evening with John Askey and his team on the eve of the Dagenham cup match. We also had our first experience as a branch of LNER hospitality, with a pre-match meal before the Gloucester City game in April and the chance to present our Player of the Season award to Pete Jameson on the pitch afterwards.
During the season we supported the Vice-Presidents Draw, and sponsored the away kit for Josh King and the home kit for Scott Barrow and Luke Jones. Impressively, during our five seasons in NLN, York City South had at least one member at every competitive match, despite the many long journeys involved.
Our membership income was boosted by four new Life Members, and we are grateful to all who again showed their loyalty to the branch. This season we had 59 members, of which 40 paid an annual membership fee (36 adults, 4 juniors). We had 4 Honorary Life Members and 15 Life Members.
Our Easyfundraising brought us a further £238.00 income during the year. We ended with a surplus of £516.12. On 30th April 2022 we had funds totalling £2,057.81 comprising £1,898.06 in the bank, £10.43 in cash and merchandise (badges) valued at £149.32.
Andy Naylor
Chairman's Welcome 2021/2 Covid-19 has meant that our Branch has virtually been in hibernation for the last 18 months or so. Thank you to everybody who renewed their membership last season. We did continue to support City by sponsoring the kit of three players, namely Josh King, Scott Barrow, and Alex Wollerton. We should receive the signed shirts shortly and will hold a members' draw to win them.
2020/21 was York City South's 25th anniversary. Unfortunately, Covid meant that we were unable to celebrate this great milestone which was a real shame. However, we are now heading towards our 50th anniversary, which we will celebrate in real style!!
Looking forward, the 2021/22 season has started rather disappointingly following a successful pre-season. It is nice to see fans in the new stadium at last.
York City South are looking to support the football club financially again this season. We have already paid to sponsor three players' kit again, this year we are sponsoring the home kits of Josh King and Luke Jones, along with Scott Barrow's away kit. The player sponsorships work slightly differently this year, we will receive 2 match day tickets for each player sponsored and plan to raffle these to the members.
We have again subscribed to the Vice Presidents 200 Club Draw, and are also looking to have York City hospitality, hopefully at the Gloucester game on April 23rd 2022. We have been offered a deal of match ticket, sit down meal, and programme in our own executive box for £50 a head. The capacity of the executive boxes is 24 so please
email me (Alastair) to register your interest.
Now that Covid restrictions have lifted we plan to resume social events again, and hopefully we will have something of interest to everyone this coming season.
I am sure you are aware that we lost John Catton last year, one of the founder members of York City South. With John's friends, the Branch contributed to a wall tile which can be seen in the Fanzone at the new stadium. It is a nice tribute to John, reflecting his love of York City.
Let's hope that fortunes continue to improve on the pitch following the first win at Spennymoor, and that we get to meet again as the world hopefully returns to something a little closer to normality.
Finally, don’t forget to check our excellent YCS website maintained by Chris Forth for a mine of York City information.
Alastair Smith – Chairman, York City London & Southern Supporters Club. 29th August 2021
Chairman's Welcome 2020/1 Covid 19 has caused all sorts of problems to the world, and of course affected the end of the season for York City FC, despite a better season we unfortunately came second on PPG and then lost in the play-offs. At time of writing it appears that Steve Watson has made some astute signings, and if the season goes ahead as hoped then fingers crossed we can go one better and gain promotion.
York City South have also had our challenges due to Covid19. We have been unable yet to hold our AGM which is usually held in May, at this time we don’t have a proposed date for holding the AGM. However, we do have some changes on the committee.
Our Chair Derek Feasby has moved back to Yorkshire and has reluctantly relinquished his position, Andy Naylor, Vice Chair is moving to Scotland and feels that Vice Chair needs to be based in the South. Until we can hold an AGM I have stepped in as Chair, Ray Goodearl has offered to be Vice Chair, and Andy Naylor has taken Ray’s old role as Treasurer which we feel can be done from Scotland. We will all serve until our AGM and will then stand for election.
I would like to thank both Derek and Andy for their hard work. Derek has been Chair for the last 4 years and has worked closely with the football club and Vice Presidents as YCS have supported and donated monies to the club throughout the year. Derek will be sorely missed.
Andy has been Vice Chair for the last 12 years and has the honour of being our York City quiz winner the most often, by some margin!! At least now someone else will get the chance to win!
YCS donated £1,000 following the Altrincham postponement of our Hospitality Game in March, thanks to those who didn’t ask for a refund of the monies they had paid to enable us to do this. We also donated £1,500 in May 2019 (post 2019 AGM) to allow the academy to buy a state of the art camera system for the training ground. It was proving useful with the team top of their league when Coronavirus struck.
YCS would also like to thank Dean Kiely and Daniel Parslow for being our guest speakers. Deano had added many new stories to his repartee since his previous visit in 2003. At “Pizza With Parslow”, Daniel gave an insightful look at his career and enforced retirement following his head injury. As a result of the evening, YCS were able to donate £400 to Daniel’s testimonial fund. YCS would like to thank both Dean and Daniel for spending an evening with us.
We were due to present the James Walker Memorial Trophy, our annual player of the year award, at the fated Altrincham game. You voted Sean Newton as the winner and we will now arrange to present Sean the trophy as soon as safely possible.
See YCS history and YCS awards for more detail.
I would like to thank all our committee members for their hard work, and you all for continuing to be part of York City South. Season 2020/21 will mark the 25th anniversary of York City South, we will be looking for some innovative ways of celebrating this great achievement.
Let’s keep fingers crossed that we can kick off the new season in October, with fans present, and that we can kick-on from last season’s improvement to finish the job this time round.
Stay safe.
Alastair Smith – Chairman, York City London & Southern Supporters Club. 7th September 2020
Chairman's Report 2018-9 This year has been another disappointing one on the football field. At time of writing it does at least seem as if we have got ourselves a good manager (at the third attempt this season!) in Steve Watson. The signs are that, if he can recruit well during the summer, we may at last see York City emerge from the darkness of the past few years. Here’s hoping anyway!
From York City South’s perspective, it has been a much more successful season. Thanks mainly to the efforts of Chris with his excellent quiz book and Joel with his well-designed commemorative scarves, we have very sound finances. Membership has held up very well when you consider our circumstances of supporting a struggling football club in a regional league with clubs based many miles away from our members’ homes. I believe that we have had at least one member present at every match this season both home and away (perhaps excluding the N.R. Senior Cup games?)
Mentioning our financial position, we need to address the question of how best to help the club with a donation. I have emailed Steve Watson to ask for his ideas on this, and briefly spoke to him after the Leamington game as well. So far, I haven’t received a response (I’m sure the football side is a bigger priority for him right now!) but I’ll continue to pursue this. I also did invite him down to meet with us but I know this is likely to be possible only during the close season, if at all.
During this year, we have had quite a successful series of events. The annual quiz was held over from last year’s AGM due to lack of time and took place in September. It was won by vice-chairman Andy Naylor (no wonder they call him “statto”!)
In October, Dale Banton came down to talk to us in a meeting held over from March 2018 when we were snowed off. It was a good night, well attended and Dale had many interesting anecdotes to give us about his career from his time at West Ham onwards.
In November, Richard Adams came down as Board representative to go through the developments regarding the new stadium. Subsequent events have led to the opening of the stadium being delayed until at least this autumn so much of the club’s planning (and ours) has been disrupted. However, we have pursued our request for parking places at Monks Cross and we have purchased a mirror brick for the new mirror wall which will be in place at the new ground. As far as I can gather, we are not likely to get any positive response to the parking request as the Council has a fair few places designated for it as a priority. Parking is likely to cost £5 per game or £105 with a season ticket, plus £1 for the barrier token on each occasion if you don’t buy a season ticket. Of course, this coming season will probably have two “part-season” tickets sold to supporters as we move mid-season.
The Christmas social was moved to early January due to commitments at the venue and we had a pleasant evening, though thinly attended. Mike Brown, Chairman of the Supporters Trust, arrived unannounced from northern parts and proceeded to outline his thoughts on the relationship between the club and the Trust at this time. To no-one’s surprise, that relationship is very fraught! Our view was (and is) to stay as neutral as possible and to offer whatever help we can to promote the wellbeing of the football club rather than get into the politics of it all.
In February we held our annual Darts Tournament where patrons at the Sheephaven Bay have long learned to stay well clear of the area around the dartboard! Andy Naylor won our shiny new trophy, the Steve Beck Memorial Trophy, taking it from Ray Goodearl its inaugural winner.
March saw Paul Barnes honour us with his presence. Obviously, memories of the 1995 win at Old Trafford featured strongly, and Paul gave us an interesting outline of his career. His son, Harvey, is currently playing in the Premier League for Leicester City.
In the same month, the manager requested a meeting with representatives of all the Supporters Groups which took place in York. We managed to get one of our members to that meeting to show our support for the new management team.
The season was rounded off by our annual Hospitality Day at Bootham Crescent – presumably our last one at the old ground? We had a full attendance and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, although our curse continued with another defeat on the pitch! Our Player of the Year trophy was presented to Jordan Burrow and we also made a special presentation to Daniel Parslow in recognition of his service to the club (over 300 appearances).
More detailed reports on all these events are available on the website www.yorkcitysouth.co.uk
Once again, I am indebted to my fellow Committee members for their help and support. Special mention goes to Joel and Chris.
Joel Stern’s work in designing the scarves won him our Supporter of the Year Shield. Chris Forth once again raised good sums of money through his regular fanzine and continues to operate a website which is remarkably full of comment and information.
Hope once again triumphs over experience as we look forward to better times on and off the pitch for York City in 2019/20.
Derek Feasby – Chairman, York City London & Southern Supporters Club. May 2019
Statement Of Activity 2017-8 Any report I present is overshadowed by the very sad news of the death of our beloved Secretary and friend, Dot Goodearl. Our heartfelt condolences go out to our Treasurer, her husband Ray Goodearl and their friends and family. I’ll make a report but it's importance seems very diminished by our loss.
Well, we thought last season was disastrous. At least we finished it with a visit to Wembley and an FA Trophy success to console us after another relegation. However, this season’s offering has proved without a doubt to be the most catastrophic in the club’s history by quite a long chalk.
The way we finished the season by taking 1 point from the last 6 fixtures and playing the worst rubbish you can imagine ever seeing from a professional football team is inexcusable.
Our members had to endure regional league football based in the north, with the consequent extra travelling time and expense. In spite of this, at least one (and usually several) members of York City South were present at every single fixture league and cup. Commendable loyalty, though to be honest it speaks to our collective lunacy I’m afraid!
From the Group’s point of view it hasn’t been a bad year but I’m afraid I haven’t any figures as to memberships or finances due to losing Dot. When Ray is able to provide details I’m sure he will and I’ll forward them round the committee.
And our social media presence continued to increase (is that a good thing?!) with Chris’ remarkable website doing an excellent job in promoting the group and providing supporting links to the Vice-Presidents, the Supporters Trust, Radio York and Yorkpress.
The events we held during the year were largely successful, but less frequent due to two factors. We couldn’t have a “meet the manager” evening due to the nature of being in a regional league and the March guest speaker meeting was regrettably cancelled when we had bad weather on the day of the event which caused transport difficulties.
We did have one guest speaker, when ex-keeper Graeme Crawford joined us in October for an excellent evening’s chat. This was well attended and Graeme provided us with some great anecdotes from his time in the game. The Christmas get-together was quite low-key as some members had to cry off due to other commitments, but Ray once again entertained us with one of his quizzes, which are beginning to challenge Chris’ for degree of difficulty!
The Darts tournament was held in March, with Ray reclaiming his title. Unfortunately, the trophy wasn’t presented due to Joel being unable to attend at the last minute. That will be taken care of another time.
The Hospitality Box at BC was sold out and we had a good day, although hampered as ever by the actual football match! Jon Parkin was presented with the Player of the Year trophy and we had visits from Aidan Connolly and Daniel Parslow as well as Richard Adams, now not only Chairman of the V.Ps but also a new Board member after Jason McGill’s departure.
The coming summer would seem to be an extremely important time in the club’s history. We are on a knife-edge regarding the future finances of the club and/or its ownership. We will be debating some of the issues flowing from this tonight as per the Agenda.
I would close by thanking once again Andy, Ray, Dot, Chris and all my fellow committee members, past and present, for their invaluable help and advice during the year.
Derek Feasby, Chairman, York City London & Southern Supporters Club. May 2018
Statement Of Activity 2016-7 York City South has continued to support York City throughout the season as we celebrated our 21st year.
Despite the disappointing performances on the pitch, York City South members were present at every single game, some attending over 30 games from their London area bases and as ever, a strong contingent of York City South members were present at all the games in the south east. Branch membership increased slightly during the season to 63 members.
We presented our Player of the Season trophy, Sean Newton being our worthy winner, when we hosted a hospitality box against Braintree. 17 members and friends enjoyed the day.
Over the course of the season, we contributed in excess of £1,200 directly to the football club through our hospitality match, sponsoring Callum Rzonca’s home shirt and other activities including presenting Gary Mills with a £500 cheque when we held our meet the manager meeting in March.
Additionally, with over 10% of members holding season tickets and helping to facilitate transport to games for our members, the amount contributed indirectly from York City South members will have been far higher.
Bearing in mind that each home game means a minimum 400+ mile round trip, we estimate that York City South members travelled approximately 100,000 miles in total just to watch the Minstermen at home in season 2016/17.
Throughout the year, we held a number of social events. Radio York’s David Ward and Chris Jones both travelled down to London to be our guest speakers at 2 social evenings, whilst the Christmas social evening and darts night proved as popular as ever.
Additionally, we submitted a contribution to every edition of The Citizen matchday magazine.
In the autumn, we submitted a range of proposals to the club regarding improving the commercial and supporter experience of the club’s activities and are happy to note some have been taken on board by the club.
Our web site has received plaudits from several message board contributors and other sources for its quality and depth of insightful City related information, stats, history, stories and other frivolities. New pages on it provide links to promote the good work of The York City Supporters Trust and York City Vice Presidents.
Our reach continues to grow with our website receiving over 10,000 hits in the past year and our Twitter account now has 930 followers.
The York City Quiz Book, published in November 2016, has proved very popular with City fans everywhere, its mix of quiz and history making it a must read for City fans everywhere.
Finally, if anyone finds themselves moving South or is already living in the South of England and would like to meet fellow Yorkshire folk with a keen love of York City, then please email or contact through our website, Twitter or Facebook channels.
Derek Feasby, Chairman, York City London & Southern Supporters Club. April 2017
Statement Of Activity 2015-6 Following a suggestion at our AGM, the committee of York City South decided that it would be a good idea to release a statement at the end of each season, detailing the activities of the branch over the past year and how we have contributed to York City Football Club. The activities and success of York City South are generally a reflection of how the team is performing on the pitch. As we know, season 2015/16 was disappointing from that perspective and as such, as a branch we found it difficult to attract new members and to maintain a positive vibe at social events, particularly towards the end of the campaign. Over the course of the season, we contributed in excess of £1,250 directly to the football club through our hospitality match and sponsoring Dave Winfield’s home shirt. Additionally, with over 10% of members holding season tickets and helping to facilitate transport to games for non season ticket holders, the amount contributed indirectly from York City South members will have been far higher.
Bearing in mind that each home game constitutes a minimum 400+ mile round trip, we estimate that York City South members travelled approximately 100,000 miles in total just to watch the Minstermen at home in season 2015/16. We held a number of social events including; a pub crawl down London’s up-and-coming ‘Beer Mile’, a Christmas party with York City Bingo a highlight, our 3rd annual darts tournament where Secretary Dot Goodearl retained her crown, and took hospitality at Bootham Crescent for the final game of the season where we had a total of 20 members and friends in the Keith Walwyn suite for the game against Bristol Rovers. Additionally, we have submitted a contribution to every edition of The Citizen matchday magazine, and our web-master, Chris Forth, has continued to maintain his excellent collection of York City stats, facts, stories and histories as well as the entertaining ‘New Frontiers’ fanzine on
our website. Chris was awarded the Jim Fray Trophy for being York City South’s Member of the Year for his efforts. The York City South Committee decided against awarding a Player of the Year award this year, however we presented club Physio, Jeff Miller with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his 30 years service to the club when we attended Bootham crescent in April. Our reach continues to grow with over 800 Twitter followers and we were delighted to have been invited to submit a panellist for the Radio York debate with Jackie McNamara on ‘What went wrong this Season’ in May. We are grateful to committee member, Hyla Campbell for representing the branch so eloquently. Having stepped down at our AGM in May due to work and family commitments, I would like to welcome Derek Feasby to the Chair. I am certain that Derek will do a fantastic job continuing to raise the profile of the branch and to ensure that York City South is a key support to the football club through what will likely be another tough stint in the non-league. Finally, if anyone finds themselves moving South or is already living in the South of England and would like to meet fellow Yorkshire folk with a keen love of York City, then please email or through our Twitter or Facebook channels. Joel Stern, Chairman, York City London & Southern Supporters Club. June 2016
York City South, Acting Chairman
September 2023
Acting Chairman
September 2022
Treasurer
November 2022
Treasurer
December 2022