Richard attended the meeting and was open and frank with the group giving everyone an insight into many of the challenges, both on and off the pitch, that City are facing.
Richard and The Vice Presidents
- First saw City from the old enclosure as a 5th birthday present nearly 70 years ago.
- Played semi professional football until retiring through illness aged 26.
- Was working as an architect in Darlington in 1980 when YCFC chairman Michael Sinclair asked him to be a founder member of the Vice Presidents. When Jason McGill became club chairman, shortly afterwards, RA replaced David Cocker as VP chairman.
- Spent later career working for one of the country’s market leaders in the treatment of timber based products with fire retardant chemicals, used on many major projects in the UK, including many London Olympic venues.
- Now 33 or 34 VP who now raise around £30k - £40k every year, almost £500,000 in total. Events include 200 Club (raising £4,500 this season), Golden Goal, pre match lunches (they had 40 at the lunch on November 3rd 2018 and were turning people away), Christmas Hamper raffle (£2,000 raised) and the Golf Day. Events are open to all supporters.
- RA noted how the VPs had presented a cheque for £40k towards state of the art pitches at the training ground.
- RA really enjoying being a director, gives a different view and insight into football
The Playing Side
- Earlier in the week, RA had seen City beat Northallerton 4-0 (November 6th). At the time, Danny Parslow was struggling with an injury niggle (hence his non-inclusion that night) whilst he picked Wes York as the pick of the team that night
- City believe there are clubs with bigger NLN budgets than City.
- It is understood from public records that Wes York, Jordan Burrow, Kallum Griffiths, David Ferguson, Jake Wright, Sean Newton and Tom Allan are the players on 2 year contracts running to summer 2020. Equally, some of the players whose contracts were extended were previously on contracts that automatically triggered 2018/9 extensions
- RA noted that City had received offers for several players (noting Russ Penn was about to leave for Kidderminster to sign an 18 month contract). Probably believing an 18 month contract (at whatever salary) is better than just this season guaranteed with City – Ed
- Swindon FA Cup tie was the first overnight trip of the season for City. Given it was the FA Cup, there was an only a very minimal cost to City.
Farewell Bootham Crescent
- On the sale of Bootham Crescent, former directors Craig, Swallow and Webb and some smaller shareholders are owed a 6 figure sum for their shares, maybe as much as £500,000. £2m is owed elsewhere (YCC) and sale to Persimmon will be at a 10% discount to the market rate.
- Planning application for BC is ongoing as a joint BCH and Persimmons activity, still seeking to maximise value of the land but multiple stakeholders are involved.
- Plans are in place to celebrate the last home league game of the season with special guests and an awards dinner in the evening after the game. Commemorative shirt to mark the occasion and a 2 tier gold / silver programme.
- It is planned for a celebration match to be held at BC and for fans to be given the opportunity to play on the pitch.
- RA noted the seats in section A of the Main Stand are the oldest in the country. (Editor – I believe there were benches in the outer sections of the Main Stand until about 1970).
- Chesterfield’s sale of Saltergate memorabilia raised £160k (Editor - I believe they put all fixtures and fittings up for sale, including items like turnstiles, manager's desk, manager's toilet seat, seats in the ground and much more). The Bootham Crescent sale cannot be held until both YCFC and York City Knights are playing at MX.
Hello Monks Cross
- Club originally told June would be the date of handover, it has been brought forward to mid- May. It is hope YCFC will be able to gain access to the offices as early as April.
- At MX, 2 boardrooms have been identically furnished by York City Council, the rest is empty, so YCFC and YCK get exactly the same and can furnish themselves as they wish. YCFC have done a couple of good deals to provide furnishings.
- Briconomics are doing the name wall at MX, they’ve done work at other clubs, including Leicester City – these are covered on their web-site.
- YCFC still working out arrangements for MX but turnstiles will be unmanned, entry to the ground via electronic means (credit cards size, like an Oyster card). There will be a sales point for purchasing matchday tickets on the day.
- RA suggested park and ride would a viable option, with a good number of buses departing from the ground on the final whistle.
- There will be 400 parking spaces at the ground. Allocation details have not yet been confirmed. YCFC will be talking to other companies in the MX area to understand options to use unused parking spaces in the area on match days.
- There will be much more hospitality within MX, including sponsors’ boxes and 3 catering areas seating 400 diners. The fanzone, which will be covered thanks to a recent £50k donation, will show Sky Sports and offer a range of alcohol, other drinks and food.
- The first game at MX will be a City game, with YCK continuing at BC until the official opening game for YCFC.
- At MX, NHS will have a significant presence, it is hoped that YCFC can upsell additional facilities to them.
- YCFC talking to various bodies (YCC / FA / FSIF) about putting rail seating in the ground behind one goal, but at the moment are unable to get agreement from all parties. Therefore the stadium will be finished as per the agreement and planning consent as an ‘all seater’ venue.
