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Issue #60
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Issue #59
City Fanzines – Terrace Talk To Y Front City has a long history of fanzines. This issue (Issue 59) sees “Y Front” move ahead of “Terrace Talk” as City’s most prolific fanzine. So, it seems appropriate to take a look back at the history of City’s fanzines.
Most City supporters would name “Terrace Talk” as City’s first fanzine. Perhaps so, but the official Supporters Club had started to produce their own publications over 30 years earlier.
Whilst not what many would consider to be a fanzine, the Supporters Club produced a facts and figures pamphlet in the 1949, various branch, notably Pocklington, produced annual handbooks and in April 1968, the SC issued “Robins”, a more fanzine style product covering City and wider football, sadly it lasted just one issue. Perhaps the daddy of all their work is the1972 booklet celebrating 50 years of York City.
For many years, until around 2007, the Supporters Club produced a range of fanzine style publications. Many were driven by Ray Wynn, Rob Havercroft and David Quinn. They included a regular review / newsletter in the 1980s which became annual handbooks and “Win, Lose Or Draw” / “For The Record” in the 1990s. Guest contributors included Douglas Craig, Malcolm Huntington, Tom Kelly, Alan Glasby, Barry Parker, Alastair Yeomans, Dave Batters, Monica Hartland, Paul Bowser, Andy Naylor and Steve Mann and Gary Beckett. The Supporters Club were also responsible for “Red”, a Junior Reds’ publication during their mid 1990s hey days and in 1997, a short lived “The York Citizen” which raised funds on behalf Of City’s Youth Development Fund.
"Terrace Talk" is often regarded as the first of the fanzines of the early 1980s phenomenon and spawned hundreds, maybe thousands, of pale imitations across the country, even further afield and across other sports. "In The City" followed, out of the York Nomads Society stable.
Launched in November 1981, the first issue of “Terrace Talk” had a real DIY feel, it consisted of one sheet of A4 paper folded over. It was the work of Frank Ormston, Mick Kettlewell and the York Nomad Society. That first season saw 6 issues. Although in later seasons, the links became TT and YNS became less pronounced, they were still closely allied and TT was able to draw upon a large pool of regular contributors, probably more than any of the subsequent City fanzines.
It was always the hardest hitting of City’s fanzines and in regular conflict with the club. From September 1984, it was banned from being sold on club premises.
Come 1986 and it was featured in the Sounds music paper, when it was referenced as a "magazine" in an article in Sounds headlined "Terrace Talk" which covered the football fanzine culture. The cross over was continued with photos of Ted Chippington (pictured at Bootham Crescent) following features on York bands The Redskins and The Shove.
A regular feature “Pies & Police” drew nationwide acclaim and was copied by many.
One article "Roof The Shippo", was written in response to plans to improve the Main Stand (offices and hospitality) and turnstiles. Complete with the iconic front cover of Princess Diana holding an infant Prince William with an "I'd sell my Grandmother to roof the Shippo" speech bubble coming out of his mouth it lead to the formation of the Roof Appeal.
Sadly, after over 8 years, issue #58 in December 1989 was the last ever issue. By the end, it cost 20p for a well produced 20 or 24 page issue. The bar had been set high.
August 1989 had seen the first issue of “In The City”, it was to run for nearly 4 seasons and saw 11 issues. Starting at 16 pages, the last issue had 28 pages and cost 50p. Authors, the husband and wife team of Dave and Jackie Wells, formerly prominent members of the Terrace Talk team, continued in the vein of TT related features from number of well known supporters of the time (and still today) with particularly good accounts of following City and England away from home. For me, it still reads well today.
February 1991 saw a one off issue of “The Shippo Shout”.
Within a few months of the demise of “In The City”, “new frontiers” hit the streets. The first issue was in November 1992 and it ran for 14 issues until it expired in 1995 when everything seemed to be rosy with City, but it was days before the sale of Jon McCarthy, the start of the “where’s the money gone” era, Manchester United and the turning of Craig from hero to villain. It cost 50p and typically had between 20 and 28 pages. Of all the City fanzines to date, it had a more ”City history” stance than any of its predecessors. It raised over £2,000 for City’s Youth Development Fund. Re-appearing in 2008, there were sporadic issues until 2022 (issue 36), a mix of free downloads and £2 paper copies.
“Are You Watching Johnny Ward?” appeared in 1994, 2 issues and elsewhere I once wrote, “not much content, a lot of white space”, but it was well illustrated. Neither of its authors are known to me.
Late 1996 saw 4 issues of John Catton’s “Oh, What A Shambles”, they followed John’s earlier annual away day guides. Its contributors included Jon Rawnsley, Phil Howden and Alastair Smith.
It must be remembered that all these were in the pre internet era when “official” club news appeared the newspapers and match day programmes. The supporters had no voice until fanzines came along, so fanzines were a means of communications.
Later, “A Chunk Of Yorkie” never hit the streets and in 1999,” No One Calls Us The Minstermen” lasted for just one issue.
City fans had to wait until 2002 when the Andrew Leathley fronted “Ginner’s Left Foot” saw the light of day. It ran for 10 issues until 2005. The main aim was to help keep spirits up during the dark days of Batchelor and Craig, it was laced with lots of humour and raised essential funds for the Supporters' Trust. Andrew’s later works included one issue of “RaBTaT” (Red and Blue Through and Through) and an excellent "Goodbye Bootham Crescent", published under the GLF banner in November 2020, its 56 pages included many personal recollections from City fans and former players.
It wasn’t until April 2016 that "Y Front" was launched with Chris Topping spotted as a celebrity seller. After a slow start, just 8 pre covid issues, it became prolific during covid and now there are 12 issues a year, all year long. Recent issues have seen a more varied range of articles. To mark its 50th issue in January 2025, there was a bumper 60 page issue. It is available at nearly every City home and away game and is supported by a very active social media presence.
2018 saw 2 issues of “The Happy Wanderer“, a glossy production and heavily history orientated.
All of these fanzines offered an independent viewpoint, often holding contrary views to those of the club, but over 40 years after the first one appeared, you will still see many of the people behind the fanzines still on the terraces supporting City. Take a bow Frank, Dave, Chris, Andrew, Michael and all those others who have the well being of City at the forefront of their actions.
New Contracts City are to be applauded for giving Ollie Pearce, Joe Felix and Alex Hunt new contracts. All 3 have been stand out players for City. They will join the likes of the 2025 summer signings, plus MFW and Josh Stones with long term contacts.
Whilst all 3 deals were announced as “multi year", it is not unreasonable to assume they will extend to 2028 (and maybe longer), all possibly with an extra year, exercisable by City.
It is common place, when signing a new contract for it to kick in straight away. The player will receive an immediate pay increase and an assurance of extra length on his contract. The players are rewarded and City lock in the players’ value. Any future suitor will possibly have to offer more, both in terms of a transfer fee and wages.
For Ollie Pearce, there was some summer speculation of interest from both Fleetwood and then Huddersfield, both of those clubs later went out and announced high profile striker signings.
For all 3 is was a well deserved thank you for their efforts over their time with City and came just weeks after Adam Hinshelwood’s departure. All 3 continuing to perform in exactly the same manner for Stuart Maynard, no thought of downing tools when their former mentor was replaced.
Who is next?
With 8 new signings in the summer, it is reasonable to assume they all have multi year contracts, so by my reckoning we have very few first team squad members nearing the end of their contracts. The likes of Callum Howe, Ryan Fallowfield, Harrison Male and Mo Fadera might be the few exceptions.
With such a strong core already contracted for next season, City could play hard ball and exercise caution over if and when they offer any more new deals. Even more so, as we’re a long way from the end of the season and there is no certainty over which division we’ll be in next season.
A few weeks ago, who would have thought that Callum Howe would be considered by many to be the weakest link in a back 3. He, Fallowfield and Fadera might all be considered to be worthy of no more than another year. Male might be the most worthy of a longer extension.
The good news is that most of City’s own bomb squad are likely to be out of contract next summer.
With City’s forward thinking we have a strong and settled squad. Gone are the days of chopping and changing the squad every season, we are now in an era of squad evolution, long may it continue.
A Second Home It started in 2015 with a request by Paul Bowser to York City to do a series of programme articles capturing the history of Bootham Crescent as City’s days at the old stadium drew to a close.
Summer 2015 was the expected start of a 12 month construction period that would see City in their new ground in time for the start of the 2016/7 season.
His initial research soon identified much information that had never previously been made public. Programme articles soon developed into a book.
Little could anyone imagine all the delays. Given judicial reviews, build contract issues, an extended construction, a long drawn out snagging period and covid, York City weren’t in the LNER until early 2021. Then the club’s upcoming centenary, subsequent changes of ownership and Paul’s desire to document what happened after City quit Bootham Crescent all transpired to make setting an end date for the book become a moving target.
After almost four years of researching and writing, the first part of a planned 2 book homage to York City FC and the club's Bootham Crescent ground was published in March 2019. It ran to 281 A4 sized pages format, with over 240 rare images, many in full colour, newspaper cuttings and items of memorabilia including the wonderful cover shot taken in 1934 of the original entrance gates to the club car park.
It covered the period up to 1960 and for context includes details of earlier attempts to set up a club in York and the club’s early Fulfordgate days when supporters’ wives would knit socks for the players.
The surprising residency of baseball in 1937 gets its own chapter, as does the logistics of packing the ground during the cup runs of 1938 and 1955. All the ground changes are captured in rich detail, and provide a fascinating insight of bygone days, and the wider events which impacted on York City’s fortunes.
From ticket pricing to cup-tie allocations, turnstiles to floodlights, dugouts to disciplinary notices, canine pitch invasions to five-minute flags, the glass bridge, finances, contracts, rent levels and leases, crowd disorder, it's all here and so much more. There are many fascinating details that have perhaps never previously come to light.
Paul’s original intention was a 2 part book, but as time progressed, it some became apparent that Book 2 would be a weighty volume, hence the decision to split the second volume into 2 separate books.
Book 2 (published in July 2021), it was slightly bigger at 285 pages and ended with City’s first visit to Wembley in 1993.
Finally, in July 2025, Book 3 was published and ran all the way through to May 2025 in 369 pages at £35.
For Paul, Book 3 was the hardest to write, being the most contemporary, he was keen to be accurate and to ensure many contentious events and people were put into a true and representative light.
In total across the 3 books, the 935 pages far surpassed the 728 pages of the 1995 book “The Sandgrounders, The Complete League History of Southport FC” by Michael Braham and Geoff Wilde, believed to be the biggest ever book detailing one football club’s history.
For Paul, it was the end of a 10 year journey. Given escalating print / paper costs and any perceived reduction in people’s attention spans, will any future club history exceed its size?
The books have something for everyone, no doubt people’s age will influence which is one’s favourite book, whatever, the detail goes to a far deeper depth than many previous works.
Interesting, the move to Bootham Crescent in 1932 took just 3 months from start to finish whilst the departure from Bootham Crescent took nearly 20 years. The very reasons that were cited for the 1932 move of wanting a more accessible city centre site were one of the reasons for the departure nearly 90 years later when the land locked nature of the ground prevented any possible expansion.
For Paul, whose City supporting career covers just over half the time City called Bootham Crescent their home, he can recall when over 11,000 packed into the ground and marvels at how the ground record attendance of 28,123 was achieved in 1938 in the days when health and safety were not a consideration but grounds were probably safer than in later years. He details how the 1932 3 mile move was largely supporter driven, often by horse and cart or wheelbarrow as anything of value was carried across York to Bootham Crescent, the terraces that helped to secure the record attendance being soil and ashes piled high at the back of the ground.
Paul never intended it to be a club history, but given Bootham Crescent was entwined across 90 years of City’s existence, the book does re-tell City’s history, possibly in far greater detail given Paul’s own archives, his unrivalled access to Wilf Meek’s personal papers, he covered City for the Yorkshire Evening Press for nearly 5 decades and was a club director and authored the club's programme for nearly all of that time. Add in Paul’s own painstaking research of newspaper archives, including Boston Spa, Bradford (home of the YEP archive) and Colindale, City’s own director’s minutes’ books, copies of Football League submissions as well as access to fellow football historians included, I doubt if any club history book has been better researched.
Whilst David Batters’ ”A Complete History”, was ground breaking, Paul’s books feel a lot more personal, they contain many never before or rarely seen photos and include programme covers and tickets stubs rather than the “stock” photos which David’s book could draw upon.
Along the way, many historic facts were challenged, it became apparent that City were formed a day earlier than previously thought and long standing mysteries were resolved, the original York City sign that was positioned above the car park entrance was located, rusting away, after 40 years of neglect. Match details could be challenged and anomalies identified.
As someone who did some work to support Paul, it was only with the use of computer technology rather than David’s pen and paper that many issues could be identified.
Equally, the extended end date coincided with the passing of one key figure in City’s departure from Bootham Crescent and Paul was able to reveal the identity of the much maligned person behind 2 large anonymous donations to the York City Supporters Trust.
For many supporters, as with the club, Bootham Crescent was indeed a second home and the books reflect this. They are a worthy edition to the York City bookshelf. As Bowser says, "everyone likes a happy ending", unfortunately, the May 2025 Oldham play off defeat didn’t provide it. Defeat cost City the chance to return to our first home, the Football League.
Read more.
The House Of Stuart As we welcome Stuart Maynard to City, it is time to look back at the Stuarts (and Stewarts) to have played for City.
Pride of place goes to Alan Stewart, the first, and the only one to cost City a fee. £500 from Huddersfield in 1949. A commanding centre half, he was a regular for City, when fit, for most of his 8 years with the club. He missed the whole of the 1952/3 season through injury and in City’s 1955 FA Cup replay, he ended up on the right wing, inventing the role of the heavily bandaged and bloodied centre half over 30 years before Terry Butcher reprised the role in full red and white colour. He announced his retirement at the end of the 1956/7 season, just days short of his 35th birthday having scored just once in 231 games for City. It would have been many more appearances but for his injuries. It was more appearances than all the other 10 Stuarts / Stewarts put together managed for City and one more goal than 6 of them managed between them.
His last season overlapped with the City career of John Stewart, or James as he was nicknamed after the film star of the time, he made his debut on New Year’s Day 1957 and as they say in cricket, he didn’t trouble the scorer again, leaving for Darlington at the end of 1957.
10 years later, Stuart Alderson and Stewart Fellows saw City service during the 1967/8 re-election campaign. Both hailed from the north east. Alderson scored 5 in 20 games from the right wing whilst midfielder Fellows was limited to 2 appearances as a substitute. Unable to save City from re-election, they ended up at Ashington and Kings Lyne respectively.
They were followed by Stuart Walker, a keeper who made 2 appearances as Graeme Crawford’s deputy. I have vague recollections of a moustachioed figure who was badly at fault for the goal that City conceded on his debut. He came from and returned to Tadcaster. However, he made a Wembley appearance in 1986 as Castleford’s physio in the RL Premier Challenge Cup Final. Coming back to football, he was a physio at Aston Villa, Derby and Chester.
Next up was Stewart Ferebee, a young striker. His junior career was spent with Borussia Monchengladbach where his father was a civil servant in Germany. Returning to England, he joined City from Harrogate Railway Institute, failing to score in 13 appearances as City struggled in Division 4. He was released in 1981. He later spent time with Scarborough and returned to League football with Darlington and Halifax (20 games, no goals). Outside the Football League, he was as a regular scorer. My memories of him are as a light framed scrawny youngster.
As Ferebee exited, Stuart Croft arrived. He was strange one. Coming up through the ranks at Hull, he was a regular, usually at levels above City. He joined Portsmouth in March 1981 and moved to City that summer. Made captain by Barry Lyons, he was a regular until November when he decided travelling from his East Yorkshire home every day was too much. He left City (and the professional game) for Bridlington Trinity.
Stuart McKenzie was next up. A YTS product (ask your Dad), he showed promise as a right back as the Denis Smith era came to an end. Unfortunately, injury problems ended his professional career and he retired in 1988. His last City game was the famous "we’re going down and we’re gonna party” win at Brentford in May 1988 after 39 appearances. He went onto play non league football for several years, including gaining a FA Vase winner’s medal at Wembley with Guiseley.
He was followed by 2 more YTS players. As City unravelled under John Batchelor, Stewart Wise, a young centre half got his chance, playing 35 games, that number possibly says more about City’s dire financial situation rather than his ability. He was joined by Bryan Stewart, a left winger who showed some promise. Come 2006, he rejected the offer of a new contract for a career outside professional football. Interestingly, given City’s finances, 2 other players also rejected new contracts that summer, both instead joining Harrogate. For readers of Wikipedia, you need to ignore the claim that he scored 23 goals for City, 3 was nearer the mark.
He must have regretted his decision to leave City as in August 2008 as he was invited back for a trial in a reserve team game. He didn’t regret it for too long as Scunthorpe Reserves beat City by 8-0 and he was never seen again.
Our most recent Stuart was Stuart Elliott. A journeyman Geordie, he was signed in from Northwich in 2007 and spent a season with City managing to get sent off on both his debut (on of 4 City players to do so) and last appearance when alongside Tom Evans and Darren Craddock, he was one of 3 City players to be sent off.
All in all, not a great selection, we just have to hope that Stuart Maynard is the best of the bunch.
Next week’s history lesson, the Norman Conquests.
Morecambe It was good to see Morecambe’s season start late after their protracted takeover was finally competed.
Founded in 1920, for many years Morecambe played in the Lancashire Combination before becoming founder members of the Northern Premier League in 1968 and earning promotion to the Conference in 1995 when Marine’s ground failed to meet regulations. Quickly they established themselves as a leading Conference side after many seasons as a struggling NPL side.
Many of us recall 2007 and their promotion to the Football League, for those too young, it is not worthy of a recount here.
Never a wealthy club, in the Football League, they largely got by on a small budget in the basement division. In recent years, Jim Bentley became a legend as their manager as the club punched above their weight. Their only promotion came in 2021 via the play offs, relegation followed 2 years later.
Off the pitch, in 2010 they moved to their new ground. I vaguely recall it briefly being imaginatively named Christie Park after their original ground before becoming the Globe Arena after a sponsor deal.
For many years, the original Christie Park had become dilapidated. As far back as 1985, the time of another time of financial crisis for the Shrimps, it was in a poor state, their FA Cup replay with City was moved to Manchester City’s Maine Road ground. Just 1,305 fans saw Ricky Sbragia and Keith Walwyn score in City’s 2-0 win. At the time, I recall, many fearing a tough night for City. I didn’t. Having seen the draw, Morecambe defended well but offered absolutely nothing going forward. I didn’t think they could raise their game 3 days later and with the onus on them to attack, they’d struggle. City were 2 up after 8 minutes, it was a comfortable win for City. The win set City on a run of 4 victories over non league sides before coming up against Liverpool in Round 5 for a second successive season.
It wasn’t the first time that City had beaten Morecambe at Maine Road. In 1966 we beat them 1-0 in a second replay at Maine Road. Older readers will remember the days of unlimited replays and for younger readers, we used to have replays when a cup game was level at full time.
In league games, we’ve met 14 times, City have 5 wins and 5 draws. Few players have taken a direct route between Morecambe and City. We sold lanky striker Vadaine Oliver to Morecambe in 2017 and in early 2020, Adam Buxton played 3 games for City on loan from the Shrimps.
In May 2018, Morecambe were sold to Jason Whittingham’s Bond Group Investments. They bought Worcester Warriors a year later. Since September 2022, they have been trying to sell Morecambe, it was around this time that Worcester Warriors went into liquidation. Whittingham and his partner, Colin Goldring, were disqualified as company directors, so were forced to stand down as directors of Morecambe, but were able to maintain their shareholding via Bond and appointed a new set of directors, some would say “puppet directors”.
For Morecambe, prospective suitors came and went.
In March 2023, players' wages were paid late, with funds invested by Sarbjot Johal, who was aiming to take over the club. Tyson Fury, a local resident, is often linked with the club and in 2025, fans hoped for a deal with Panjab Warriors. It appeared on and off with press reports suggesting Whittingham was difficult to deal with, especially when he appeared to pull plug in favour of a deal with Jonny Cato, a face and name apparently unknown to everyone apart from Whittingham.
The late payments of wages in March 2023 resulted in a suspended 3 point deduction. It was activated in April 2024 and Whittingham was fined £10,000. In December 2024, Morecambe received a suspended 2 point deduction for 5 failures to report non payment of monies owed to HMRC.
Wages again went unpaid at times during the first half of 2025. The 2024/5 season ended with relegation from Division 2.
Given the precarious finances, summer 2023 had seen all 14 out of contract players released. A year later, 16 players departed leaving just 5 first team squad players, it was late in July 2024 before any new signings were announced after talks with 4 potential buyers, with one deal reaching "an advanced stage", a transfer embargo was lifted and Morecambe signed 15 players. It seemed like the Football League were bending over backwards to save the club.
Come summer 2025, just 9 players were retained. By the time Morecambe ceased all football operations on July 30, the majority had left, terminating their contracts for non-payment of wages and the National League had suspended Morecambe and postponed their first 3 games of the season.
Under EFL regulations, no ownership rules had been broken. The new owners were deemed “fit and proper” in 2018 and there is no requirement for them to re-confirm their eligibility. Reading was a little different, Dai Yongge committed a criminal offence and that is how the EFL were able to force him to sell his interest in Reading. Being disqualified as a company director isn’t a criminal offence.
Morecambe's woes continued as the landmark Football Governance Bill received Royal Assent in July 2025 establishing a regulator to oversee the men's game in England's top five divisions.
The Act grants greater powers to a body that is independent from government and football authorities, and Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said the bill would make a difference to clubs like Morecambe and "can't come soon enough".
It remains to be seen how the Act is implemented and how effective it will be. The spin suggests that it will make a significant difference because the regulator will have a much tougher owners and directors' test and will also be able to compel owners to sell up if the club is placed at risk of harm.
Will the ‘fit and proper’ test for an owner be fit and proper?
There has been much talk about the requirements for chairman to re-certify as fit and proper on a regular basis (annually or every 3 years) and / or to place a bond to cover a club’s projected losses.
The first is difficult to implement if a chairman hasn’t committed a criminal offence. The second asks the questions of how much, how often and what for how long. That said, that is effectively what happens now as chairman cover the losses at the end of the year, usually via loans, many which are eventually written off.
Equally with bonds, who puts the money up? In City’s case, we have the YCST owning 25% of the shares and providing 2 directors. Would the YCST or those 2 directors have to make a contribution to the bond? In another way, the bond is only providing funds up front rather than covering losses at the end of the season.
Football regulations mean the EFL / PL consist of 72 / 20 clubs, it is the clubs, not the chairman and directors who are subject to sanction.
Clubs are punished for their owner’s failings and the fans suffer.
Whilst Morecambe’s protracted takeover was finally completed, they celebrated their “opening day” with a win. Since, they’ve stayed largely on the sports pages whilst struggling to build on that win.
Whilst Morecambe have never been considered to be one of City’s traditional foes, everyone should be happy that another little club has overcome rogue owners and lives to fight for another day. Let’s hope City can overcome some of that fight when Morecambe visit the LNER on November 15.
Issue #58
Hinsh After a disappointing end to the 2024/5 season, unsettled summer and slow start to the 2025/6 season, Adam Hinshelwood was sacked ("parted company" in official parlance) on August 28, 2025 after going unbeaten in the opening 4 games of the season.
His last game was a drab 1-1 draw at Woking who previously had had been pointless and goalless in the season. Post match, Hinshelwood became embroiled in a heated discussion with a fan when City's team applauded the travelling supporters. For a man with high principles, a man who always wore his heart on his sleeve, perhaps that fan was the final straw. In his post match interview, he appeared upset that his players appeared not to be listening to his instructions.
Co-chairs Matt and Julie-Anne Uggla said, “We would like to thank Adam for everything he has done for the club since his arrival early last year. We wish him nothing but the very best for the future. We look forward to announcing the new manager in due course for this next chapter for the club.”
Some felt it had been coming since the end of the 2024/5 season whilst to many it was a surprise.
City had started the new season slowly, one win in an unbeaten 4 game opening to the season, but generally, the team’s play lacked the sparkle of the previous season, an influx of ”solid professionals” adding a new backbone to the side but the team did not click.
Trouble had been brewing since the Oldham play off defeat. Matt Uggla’s interview suggested Hinsh’s best side was unclear and was followed by, Hinsh’s rumoured long dalliance with the vacant managerial post at Notts County and the slow start to the new season all added to the long running saga of Hinsh’s new unsigned contract. One knowledgeable source suggested that Hinsh was offered a new deal at the start of 2025 and on at least 3 times he told the club he was ready to sign, then changed his mind, most recently around the start of this season.
Adam Hinshelwood always came across as a thoroughly likeable man, a man of the people with no airs and graces, he apparently shunned an offer of a media training whilst with City, if so, that might have counted against him when “bigger” clubs were sniffing around. His personality wasn’t that of a typical manager, maybe he could have been more circumspect in some of his interviews immediately post match. Throughout the 2024/5 season, he was regularly named (with a host of others) in the betting market for many managerial vacancies.
His style of play often pleased many fans, playing football on the front foot, taking the game to the opposition and often naming 5 attack minded players on the bench, that would allow City plenty of options to attack a weary defence with fresh and effective legs late in a game.
For all of Hinsh’s strengths, at times, he was out thought by tactically more astute managers.
Sometimes, cries of “gerrit forward” could be heard, Hinsh’s style involved playing from the back, drawing opposition on and then springing the trap, exploiting gaps. A few teams found a way to successfully combat it, others, Barnet and Oldham included, just used big and muscular players to overrun a slighter City side.
The summer 2025 signings were received with near universal acclaim, at least until the season started. Ash Palmer lasted one game before lack of pace at the back saw Hinsh learn his lesson and move MFW back into the centre and Joe Felix to right back. We never got to see whether Hinsh had learned the lesson of setting up in far too adventurous formation for some tough away games.
Equally, we’ll never know what happened to his bench. This season, he used only 3 substitutes in every game, 2 fewer than in most games last season and , whether with was a more cautious approach with 3 (not one) defenders on the bench, we’ll never know why.
In some ways, perhaps his biggest failing was with young players. On his arrival, a strong advocate of promoting youth players, he struggled to integrate any into the first team. He offered first professional contracts to 2 scholars in summer 2024, both had left the club by Christmas and during the 2024/5 season, only one academy player, George Grumley got any first team game time, that was just 3 minutes. His younger signings included Leone Gravata who was consigned to oblivion after his debut whilst Mo Fadera showed glimpses of promise. None of his young loan signings can be said to have progressed at City. Hs desire to promote youth seemed short lived, perhaps his realisation that City had struggled to promote youth players for more than 20 years.
Hinsh will always be fondly remembered for the 2024/5 season, exhilarating football that resulted in 96 points and 95 league goals, both only surpassed during the 1983/4 season. Before that, he brought the club together as we reached National League safety in his first 2 months.
Whatever, it meant 2 successive City managers from the south, both departed, presumably in the case of Hinsh, to return south and to newly expected first grand child.
Fanzines – The Production Originally, fanzines were non professional, authors unpaid and were non official produced by fans.
Some very early fanzines, especially of the punk genre, were hand written or stencilled. One copy would often pass through many pairs of hands.
Office photo copies were introduced towards the end of the 1970s, they were a boon for the fanzine editor. It was often a case of how much photocopying you could do without drawing attention to yourself. Then, it was a production line process to sort the pages into order and manually staple them together.
Early fanzines were mainly independent of the club with which they were associated, indeed one definition of fanzine might include being banned by the club.
Throughout most of its life, Terrace Talk was banned from sale within Bootham Crescent. In the days of new frontiers, (tag line “all profits to City’s Youth Development Fund”), no ban existed, although in the latter days, the jobsworth stewards were watching carefully to ensure we never took a step beyond the main gates into the car park.
The very first football fanzines were club based, although shortly afterwards, When Saturday Comes and Off The Ball, which were A4 sized affairs, spread their tentacles across the nation. OFT’s Adrian Goldberg (now often seen on BBC TV) consulted Frank Ormston and Terrace Talk to learn some of the does and don’ts of fanzine publication. Several other fanzine editors contacted Frank and Terrace Talk for advice from as far away as Swansea and London.
By the end of the 1980s, there were around 200 different fanzines in existence, most Football League clubs were represented plus various non league clubs and a few rugby clubs as well.
Fanzine editors would often swap issues and friendships were formed. Terrace Talk and Leyton Orientear were particularly close, the fanzines would raise football sides and play a game on the morning of the game, drink together before and after the game. Club barriers were broken down and a better understanding of rival clubs was gained. This was at a time when hooliganism was rife. Thatcher and her cronies were intent on introducing a membership scheme across the 92.
Some might say that fanzines and the Football Supporters’ Association were starting points for the gentrification of football.
Over the past 40 years, when a club has been in trouble, fanzines have often mobilised action. When City were in financial trouble, fanzine culture rallied behind City.
Whilst fanzines concentrated on football, they also covered other subject, mainly music and popular / youth culture. Famously, Terrace Talk got a lot of nationwide publicity for its “Pies and Police” ratings.
Without naming every fanzine, Bradford City’s City Gent and Notts County The Pie were particularly well received as was The End, largely authored by Pete Hooton of The Farm, perhaps its stance was culture first and football second. Another favourite of mine was Hit The Bar, the work of a handful of Blackpool Borough rugby league fans.
As a rule of thumb, the smaller the club, the better the fanzine. I’m sure Y Front would agree with that.
Unfortunately, the golden age of the fanzine is now well behind us.
Nowadays, some fanzines are now very professionally produced publications (sometimes known as "prozines") and available on the high street. Others went down the internet (“e-zine”) route and some retain their “against modern football” stance when it comes to production.
Some of the original authors have progressed into paid journalism and authorship whilst others have gone down the broadcast channels (including Fan TV) and podcast routes.
Maybe that explains why the quality of football writing in the national media has risen exponentially over the last 40 years.
Players Who Played For Darlington & City In 2022, in relation to poser in When Saturday Comes, I replied with details of the players who played for both for City and Darlington. The original WSC correspondent noted 46 players had played for both Nottingham Forest and Derby County since 1970. He asked was that a record?
Challenge accepted. I quickly came up with a list of 81 players who’ve played for York City and Darlington in the same period. They include Marco Gabbiadini at the end of his career and David Stockdale who played for both clubs at the start of his career.
Pride of place, if it is indeed an honour, went to Gary Himsworth, a glutton for punishment, who had 2 separate spells with both clubs and managed a spell with Scarborough in between.
The majority of those players took a direct route between the clubs. In the early days, it was a one way road, indeed in the late 1970s, Darlington regularly fielded 5 ex City players in their line up, locally they were nicknamed “York City Reserves” . In recent years it has been a much more 2 way road trodden by many largely nondescript players.
Since the original research, the number has increased, both due to more research and later players joining the list. In April 2025, at least 117 players have played for both clubs, the list is maintained on the York City South web site, see the City Players, Scorers and £10.9m transfer fees and counting link and the “Darlo” column towards the extreme right.
One of the more recent additions to the list is Scott Barrow, who joined Darlington, initially on loan in January 2024, and was voted their 2024/5 player of the season.
Cedric Main, his teammate at City and Darlo holds a unique place in City’s history. He is the only player to join City on a free transfer, play no games but leave for a fee.
Going through the list, you could name a fairly decent City XI, although with most City representative sides, there is a dearth of central midfield candidates. David Stockdale, Michael Ingham, Chris Evans, Steve Senior, John Stone, John Mackin, David McGurk, Steve Tutill, Ricky Sbragia, Scott Barrow, David Ferguson, Ben Purkiss, Barry Lyons, Nathan Thomas, Adrian Moke, Dennis Wann, Marco Gabbiadini, Lee Nogan, Peter Duffield, Jimmy Seal and Chris Jones might be amongst the 23 man squad.
Off the pitch, a number of management and coaching staff have associations with both clubs. 3 managers have managed both clubs.
The first was Dick Duckworth who managed both clubs in the 1950s after playing for City Pre WW2. His last game as City manager was against Stockport in October 1952, 3 days after he had been announced as Stockport’s new manager, it was a win win game for him and a home win for City. He was followed by Martin Gray (incidentally, he is one of those who have their name suffixed with “@(footballer)” in wikipedia for the avoidance of any doubt of his profession) and Steve Watson.
Other coaching staff of note with City and Darlington connections include Billy Horner, one of Tom Johnston’s City coaches who I’ve always credited a getting City super fit, Harry Dunn and Tony McMahon.
In May 2008, Steve McClaren (an ex City schoolboy) had a brief spell coaching at then League Two side Darlington when assisting his former Derby County and Oxford United teammate Dave Penney.
Personally, I yearn for a return to the years where the York – Darlington road returns to a one way route.
Wise Owls Don’t Give A Hoot Sheffield Wednesday’s financial woes are the most high profile of those affecting several Championship sides.
Owned by Dejphon Chansiri since 2015, when he bought the club for £37.5m from Milan Mandaric, they have suffered cash flow issues for some time.
Mandaric owned clubs in the USA, Belgium and France before alighting on Portsmouth and Leicester. In England, both clubs achieved on pitch success but off the pitch, some of his dealings were questionable. He acquired Sheffield Wednesday in 2010. Apart from the 3 English clubs all playing in blue, it is difficult to know where his true allegiances really rested.
On his arrival in 2015, Chansiri said promotion to the Premier League within 2 years was his aim. 10 years later, their journey is still not at an end and has taken a detour via Division 1.
A 12 points deduction in 2018 for breaching PSR rules didn’t help. He followed the example set by others of selling the ground to himself, currently the club pay him £2,575m a year in rent.
Many of us will recall when City’s ground was sold to a company controlled by the chairman. Many called foul but the authorities said no rules had been breached and waved play on. It was a warning of what clubs could do to circumvent the rules. Similar transactions are being increasingly used, clubs selling asset to themselves or associate parties, seemingly to circumvent rules.
Sheffield Wednesday’s financial woes came into focus this year. March’s wage bill was paid late, at the time, Chansiri blamed an earthquake in Thailand meaning he couldn’t release funds from Bangkok. By the end of July, wages had been delayed in 4 months out of 5.
Wanting out, some reports stated that Chansiri had put over £100m into the club and was seeking to sell at a price to cover his input, he is unwilling to put further monies into the club.
Before Wednesday, in recent years, other Championship clubs had suffered from similar issues. Dai Yongge at Reading and Mel Morris at Derby spring to mind. I might consider one to be new school and one to be old school, but the common factor was that they gambled, seeing promotion to the Premier League as an end to their financial troubles.
Their gambles failed, the owners lost interest and the supporters were the ones who were left to worry about their club’ existence.
Historically regulation has focused on owners being “fit and proper” on appointment, there has never been a focus on tomorrow. The authorities are almost powerless to get rid of an owner.
With most clubs running at a loss, financial accounts include a statement from the auditors along the line of despite losing money, they see the club as a going concern. In the latest Wednesday accounts, the debt owed to Chansiri is acknowledged with the auditors noting “the director’s use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate”.
Only recently have the authorities taken limited steps to reduce the ability to cover debts.
With the Football Regulator Bill receiving royal assent in July, it remains to be seen what will happen. Along the way, the Premier League has tried to block it.
It remains to be seen how the regulator will work and how much power it will truly hold.
There is talk is of chairman and directors having to prove there are fit and proper on a regular basis, rather than just at the time of appointment and also to place a bond to cover expected outgoings. In some ways, that is only covering upfront what they now cover when the accounts are published.
Until proper regulation happens, clubs will continue to live beyond their means, hoping for promotion to solve all their problems.
(City) Shorts City Shirts / A Team Of 11 Ollie Pearces I’m slightly disappointed by the rather bland nature and colours of this season’s kit. Red, blue and black, admittedly, the runes are a talking point, but I don’t see the unusual colour or design feature. I do rather like the new dracula / goth inspired Whitby shirt. I’ve often wondered whether City could do similiar? How about an image of, say Keith Walwyn on the shirt, even better, an image of Ollie Pearce, enough to put the frighteners on the opposition when they see 12 Ollie Pearce’s lining up against them.
Barnet Late July saw the Barnet Council issue a refusal notice for Barnet FC’s plans to return to Underhill.
Ben Brookes Not sure how long I’ll be able to watch his youtube videos. He said he had no footage of Marine to include. Perhaps with that weekend being City’s pre-season weekend away, I’d have been keen to see the antics some of the players got up much later that evening, at most clubs, far more interesting than match footage.
Wealdstone Their search for a new ground rumbles on. In May 2025, they signed a 3 year exclusivity contract with Hillingdon Council to explore sites, one and 2 stops further along the tube line than their current ground.
Squad At the time of writing (a week before the Sutton game), with have 25 contracted players at the club with another 6 out on loan. Not sure what an ideal squad size is, but I’d suggest it is not much less. With an 18 man match day squad, that allows a little room for injury and maybe a couple more out on loan. Cut it too fine and you’re leaving yourself short and expecting players to play too much. Given Hinsh’s success with loanees, not much, I wouldn’t want to have to bolster the squad with too many young loanees.
Conor McAleny or Lewis Richardson? Discuss.
(City) Shorts (2) Anyone But United Are Newcastle taking over that mantle from Manchester. Seems link none of their top summer transfer targets wanted to play for them, even Alexander Isak joined the ABU club
City Shirts (1) Michael Ingham wore the number 24 jersey in a City record 8 consecutive seasons (2008 – 16).
PSR Seems like Newcastle, despite their unlimited wealth are struggling to spend it, some blame PSR, others ask who wants to go to Newcastle. If their owners were serious, perhaps they would do what many owners do to improve their PSR position, build a new ground or extend St James Park. For all the goings on at Old Trafford, Sir Jim quickly identified the need to increase revenue, a 100,000 ground was mooted, a site was identified and talks with central and local government officials to smooth the way towards compulsory purchase orders and government funding were held. Meanwhile, nearly 4 years into their tenure, hardly a word out of the Saudis on the subject. Perhaps, after the World Club Championship success with Al Hilal reaching the quarter finals, they will put their money into that club to fulfil their aim of world class football.
City Shirts (2) Chris Smith has the biggest drop in shirt numbers across successive seasons (30 (2010/1) to 4 (2011/2)).
Douglas Craig When I run short of ideas, Michael sends me a list of potential topics. I was quite proud of the balanced piece I did on Jason McGill, but when he suggested Douglas Crag, I immediately dismissed it, I don’t think I could find a good word to say about him. The idea was binned alongside some of Michael’s other ideas.
City Shirts (3) Mark Kitching has the biggest drop in shirt numbers (34 (2015/6) to 3 (2025/6)) across 2 consecutive seasons of his City career.
Issue #57
We Go Again Last season, after a strong second place finish, City find themselves favourites for the title this time around.
What could go wrong? Quite a lot, especially considering from the 2023/4 plav off teams, only 2 teams (Barnet & FC Halifax) achieved a 2024/5 top seven finish. Good (or bad) summer recruitment can mean a lot. Indeed, how many City supporters predicted 96 points for City last season? Very few, if any, I suspect.
We Go Again It is not uncommon for teams who go close one season to struggle in the following season, a hangover from a disappointing finish to the previous season, and in the case of many National League sides, they peaked once, lost star players and struggled. Teams like Solihull Moors, Altrincham and Aldershot might be considered to be such clubs.
The Lure of the Football League (1) Whilst we might wonder why any player would want to leave City, for players, any club is just a staging post on their footballing journey. The lure of a Football League career and money are ever present temptations. Whilst rumours linked Ollie Pearce to Huddersfield and Fleetwood, no doubt other City players are also coveted by Football League clubs. A recent report suggested that the average weekly wage in League One is £8,400 per week, that’s tempting, very tempting. I’ll be happy when the transfer window is shut and our squad is intact.
The Lure of the Football League (2) Unfortunately no transfer window exists for managers.
THE LNER Lure. Aka The York Factor Like it or not, many other clubs will consider City to be a big club. For many opponents, a game at the LNER, to many, a big and modern stadium when compared to some grounds at our level, is the highlight of their season. Even if not awestruck by the LNER, many lesser clubs will come with one aim, that is to frustrate (by whatever means necessary) to stop City from scoring. No doubt at the same time raising their game. It has been a common theme of the last 21 years ever since we found ourselves outside the Football League. It is down to City to overcome such teams and tactics and build a formidable home record.
Injuries Remarkably we were relatively injury free last season, no major injury crisis, no real long term injuries. Left back was problematic but otherwise our key players were all nearly ever present, Male, Felix, Howe, MFW and Pearce included. Would we cope if 2 of those were out for 6 months?
The Owners The Uggla / Ford partnership works well, all seemingly happy with our direction of travel. What might happen if one wanted out, plenty of clubs have run into a financial crisis when the funds provider has thrown a wobbly.
SCMP (Salary Cap / Squad Cost Management Protocol). A Football League consideration for several seasons is now coming to the National League. The NL sell it as raising standards and improving financial governance to address a concern of FL clubs who argue there is no cost control in the NL. It remains to be seen how it is implemented, a new twist in the FL is that clubs have to doubly cover losses over the SCMP limit from this season. To date, SCMP has not impinged on many clubs, so it could be argued it is a toothless regulation, even if owners seem happy to stump up to over the losses.
Southend They were the surprise late arrivals in the play offs. They started the last season as one of the title favourites but due to a summer 2024 takeover, they were weeks, maybe as much as 2 months behind other clubs when the season kicked off. They had a slow start to the season and suffered a 3-0 defeat at the LNER just before Christmas in a game that City largely dominated. They came good in the new year, sneaked into the play offs and 2 away play off wins saw their season finish at Wembley in June. They’ll fancy themselves for the title this season.
Dark Horses Who will surprise everyone following a good summer’s recruitment? Personally, I’m not seeing anyone, indeed, if pushed, I could even argue it is City that have had the best summer recruitment in the division by adding plenty experience and proven quality to an already strong squad.
Thunderball We saw how Barnet and Oldham got the better of us last season. Hopefully, the summer recruitment has seen us sign some big warriors to go with our little warriors, so hopefully we won’t lose out again due to a lack of physicality.
Squad Dynamics Undoubtedly the 2024/5 squad had a strong bond between all the players. Many contributed that to the team’s success. Will such a spirit continue to flourish? Ever club has a revolving player door, this summer out went Lenny, I lost count of the number of times his positive impact on the rest of the group was noted whilst incoming are a number of players, including the Chesterfield duo and Hiram Boateng who are stepping down from the Football League. I trust City have done their due diligence on the incomers and we haven’t signed any big time Charlies.
For most of last season, everything went right, despite a wobble or 2 along the way, we exceeded all expectations. Let’s hope we can say the same again come April 2026.
(City) Shorts 8 Second Rule Great to see the new 8 second rule get embedded in at the Women’s Euros. Guess what, keepers released the ball within 8 seconds and no one complained. How long before a Premier League prima donna says it is not right claiming an increase in effective ball in play time.
Pain Threshold Whilst I’m talking about the Women’s Euros, do women have a higher pain threshold than men? Only on very few occasions did we see a player prone or rolling around on the ground waiting for the referee (or the teams) to stop play whilst the player to get up unaided.
Alex Newby Welcome to the first footballing twin to play for City since David McNiven in the 2000/1 season. Then, his twin Scott was a seasoned defender who had the better career. Let’s hope that Alex’s career exceeds that of his twin, Elliot who is at Barrow.
Clean Sheets. In City’s entire history, only 12 keepers have kept more league clean sheets in their City careers than Harrison Male did in his first season. With 19 clean sheets, it is not unreasonable to expect him to overtake at last 3 and maybe as many as 5 more keepers during the 2025/6 season.
Tyrese Sinclair He set a City club record last season. In the first season of 5 substitutes at City’s level (and Hinsh’s attacking philosophy), he was subbed off a record 33 times in a season.
The Next Record? Surely Mark Kitching will set a club record for the longest gap between first and second City appearances, it is over 9 and a half years since his City debut in the infamous 1-5 defeat to Accrington in November 2015, his only appearance in a one month loan spell.
Fanzines – The History Rather surprisingly, fanzines can be dated back to the end of the nineteenth century. USA sources cite those as being based around local literary clubs and societies before spreading their net to cover different genres, science fiction is often cited as people reached out to connect with like minded individuals.
Although given the technology available at the time, they will have been very small print runs and limited circulation.
It was the 1970s when fanzines took hold in England, punk rock being the main driver. In 1976, Sniffin’ Glue was the most prominent, founded by Mark Perry of the band Alternative TV. Mark Perry released Alternative TV’s first single as a flexi disc giveaway in Sniffin’ Glue. Others followed, a cheap way to get your records distributed.
In its early days, punk rock struggled to get much media coverage, the punk fanzines, many written by band members with limited and local circulation, gave vital publicity to bands or musical genres, local gig guides with record / gig reviews included.
Football fanzines tend to come and go, various publications jostle to claim they were the original and depending how you categorise them, there might be more than might one who have that claim to fame.
Earlier, published between 1972 and 1976, Foul had a cult following, the Private Eye of its time. Scour the second hand bookshops today and you might find a glossy A4 Best Of Foul.
Later, a fission in the Meadowbank Thistle’s supporters club saw the older members set up their own supporters club, called The Brake Club, after the old brake van in which they held their early meetings. In 1978 they began to produce their own fanzine, mixing music, humour and lifestyle with football. Originally named Cheers, it morphed into AWOL. It is generally acknowledged to be the first club fanzine of the modern era.
Down south, City’s Terrace Talk, first published in November 1981 and Wanderers Worldwide (Bolton Wanderers) were the standard bearers. Dozens, even hundreds of different publications followed, almost everyone had a one team focus. Some were short lived, others were more enduring. Terrance Talk produced 58 issues before disappearing at the end of 1989.
In London, the Sportspages bookshop on Charing Cross Road provide a focal point, its falls covered by piles of around 100 different fanzines. When Saturday Comes and the fledgling Football Supporters Association also provided focus points for supporters.
For City, Terrace Talk came about when there was virtually no “independent” voice for supporters, the official Supporters Club being very much “inside the club”.
One of the earlier drivers was the club’s own travel club, both the high prices and frequency of late cancellations due to lack of demand and throughout the decade, Terrace Talk ran many campaigns aimed at keeping the club honest and airing the genuine concerns of many supporters.
Elsewhere, launched in 1984, the longest running current fanzine is The City Gent produced by Bradford City supporters.
The mid to late 1980s were the golden era of the fanzine, pre internet, they provided fans a means to communicate with each other and to provide an alternate fan based view in an era when the “proper press” was very much in the pockets of the clubs, a mouthpiece for the clubs.
For City, Malcolm Huntington of the Yorkshire Evening Press was a regular on the team bus to away games, once being briefly banned from the bus when he offered mild criticism in the paper.
Fanzines allowed rival supporters to unite at a time when football had been dragged down by hooliganism with the Thatcher government wanting to implement a football membership scheme.
As the 1990s arrived, the era of the fanzine was in decline. The home produced (often with the help of the office photocopier) fanzine, complete with letraset kit, cut up newspaper headline letters and glue stick was coming to an end.
In its place, we had a reducing number of more professionally produced fanzines with over the years, others shifting to become internet based, podcasts or fan TV channels.
Footnote: WSC #401 noted Arsenal’s London Supporters Club’s Gunflash (which dates back to 1950 with a season off in 1985/6) and Hit The Bar (Carlisle United’s London Supporters Club London Branch publication, with a continuous print run from 1975 (issue #312 is due in July 2020)) as being older, some purists might argue with their Supporters Club origins that they’re not “proper fanzines”, but with such long histories, they more than merit a mention.
The Rise Of The Debutant It is interesting to look at City’s debutants. Lewis Richardson and Junior Luamba recently became the 1249th and 1250th players to play for City.
Formed in 1922, all the way through to 2003, 800 players made their City debut. That is about 10 debutants per season. Since then, the rate of debutants has doubled, it is now about 100 debutants every 5 years, about 20 a season. This season, a relatively successful season has seen 18 debutants.
Whilst not all were debutants, in the calendar year of 2016, City used a 63 different players, but it does help to illustrate the rapid turnover of players as new managers, first Jackie McNamara and then Gary Mills fought unsuccessfully to avoid successive relegation campaigns.
Heritage # Year Player 1 1922 Bernard Acklam 100 1926 Dicky Merritt 200 1934 Arthur Turner 100 1926 Dicky Merritt 200 1934 Arthur Turner 300 1949 Jack Price 400 1961 Tommy Heron 500 1972 Mike De Placido 600 1984 Hugh Atkinson 700 1995 Andy Warrington 800 2003 David Stockdale 900 2008 Leo Fortune-West 1000 2013 Ryan Bowman 1100 2017 Hamza Bencherif 1200 2023 Nathan Thomas Increased substitutions, poor results and a succession of short lived managers have all contributed to the ever increasing number of debutants. Substitutes were first introduced 1965, initially one named and one used, but only for injury reasons. Over the years, the number substitutes allowed has gradually increased. From August 2024, City could name 7 substitutes and use 5 in league games.
Last season, loanee Sam Fishburn wore the number 40 shirt, the highest ever shirt number worn by a City player.
Meanwhile, on 3 occasions has one shirt number been worn by as many as 4 players in the same season. Shirt number 24 was given to 4 different players twice in a single season, each wearer having left the club before it was re-allocated, that was during the 2000/1 season and against during the 2016/7 season. Last season (2023/4), City’s number 19 shirt was worn by 4 different players (Dan Pybus, Aiden Marsh, Luke Daley and Billy Chadwick).
About the only commonality between those 3 seasons was the lack of on field success.
I for one welcome the return of fewer debutants, it invariably means a settled and successful side.
Issue #56
Football Finances
March saw a raft of clubs filing their annual financial accounts. Very few made a profit, many made big losses.
In March 2025, City’s accounts for the 12 months to June 30, 2024 (the first Uggla season that ended with the arrival of
Hinsh and a narrow escape from relegation) saw City announce a modest loss of £235,431 (calculated as the difference between the current “profit and loss reserve“ and the figure for a year earlier). That is nearly £5,000 lost in every single week of the year.
In the 2 previous years, City reported a gross profit of £1,121,159 (2022/3) and £535,622 (2021/2).
Those are the hard facts, but given the size of City and many other clubs, they can file accounts with contain very limited detail. So much of the following is pure speculation.
394 Sports, the Ugglas holding company reported a loss of £2,154,555, again accounts don't allow any further breakdown, but it can possibly be assumed to cover some of City’s expenditure.
The most recent (2023/4) City accounts did not even include income or expenditure statements. A year earlier (2022/3), turnover had been stated as £3,846,725.
How was that number derived? For income, think gate income, commercial / sponsorship income and broadcast / prize money as the 3 main sources. If, and it is a big if, City had sold 2,500 season tickets at £300 each, that is £622,500 after VAT is deducted. 3,000 sales on each match day would generate around £1.3m. In total, less than £2m. I said, if, and these numbers assume all tickets are full price paying adults, take away concessions and all sorts of other deductions and City might struggle to net £1.5m in gate receipts. Other income will include commercial / sponsorship income. When I look in City’s commercial brochure, add in broadcast / prize money, I struggle to see how City might breach £2m in income.
For 2023/4, I don’t see any material differences in expenditure or income from a season earlier (the Henderson year). The wage bill might have increased a bit, gate money will be a bit higher and prize money / broadcast income will be up, say £100,000, given City reaching Round 2 of the FA Cup and the Wigan game being on BBC TV.
On the debit side, by far the biggest expense will be wages. Add in 6 figure numbers for each of rent, stewarding, away match travel and the pennies soon become millions.
If as rumoured one player was on £4,000 a week, that’s well over £200,000 as an annual cost. I repeat, I’m afraid it is all speculation given the level of detail shown in the accounts.
Any shortfall is made up by generous owners (or selling assets). Maybe the 394 Sports losses bridge the gap between income and expenditure.
The most recent accounts show a loss which is far less than many similar clubs. Certainly sources, much more informed than myself, have suggested City have incurred record losses, such numbers are not visible in the published accounts.
In Southend’s 2023/4 accounts, they reported a £2.65m loss, down by £100,000 on the previous 12 months, whilst the club's annual turnover fell from £2.93m in 2023 to £2.52m. Many might consider Southend to be a club of a similar size (and situation) to City so it is interesting to see their financial numbers. Mouth watering losses but not unknown amongst non league clubs where other losses included Oldham Athletic (£3.2m), Forest Green Rovers (£3.2m), Yeovil Town (£2.8m) and Hampton & Richmond (£1.2m).
However, it is not uncommon for clubs to report even bigger losses as they progress up the Football League.
Such losses included Fleetwood (£9.2m), Stockport County (£7m), Salford (£5.3m), Port Vale (£3.8m), Doncaster (£3m), Harrogate (£2.5m) and Wrexham (£2.5m).
Such losses make it a daunting prospect to become self-sufficient by selling players. Division 2 players don’t get transferred for a seven figure fees on a regular basis.
Indeed, it would take 2 or 3 such sales every season for clubs like Doncaster and Harrogate to break even. Imagine losing your best 2 players every summer.
Promotion to the Football League would see a club benefit by about £1.5m in central funding and open up wider commercial opportunities.
So despite FFP / PSR, many clubs continue to make losses but that doesn’t seem to stop the ongoing flow of new investment enjoyed across the divisions.
Charlie Wright Larger than life, Charlie Wright spent nearly 2 and a half years as City manager before being sacked in March 1980. On the face of it, he cannot be judged a success.
Born in Glasgow, his football upbringing took a similar path to many, the competitive worlds of Scottish schoolboy and later “junior” (think amateur) football.
His footballing career nearly ended before it started. A keen road racing cyclist (some said that was his favourite sport), he considered moving to Belgium, then as now, a hotbed of cycling to pursue a career in that sport. As with others, a chance call from a club, Greenock Morton, lead to him turning out for them as an amateur. On the basis of one game (and glowing reports), he turned professional with Glasgow Rangers. At Rangers, he failed to make a first team appearance. He moved south to join Workington and later played for Grimsby, Charlton and Bolton, before he retired 15 years later in 1973 with 535 league appearances behind him.
During his playing career, he did his mandatory National Service. Based in Hong Kong, he was selected for their national team to play Peru, he saved a penalty and was named "Player of the Year" in Hong Kong, an accolade also won by City's reserve keeper, some would say City's best ever reserve keeper, Mick Granger, a few years earlier.
It was towards the end of his career that I first became aware of him. He was playing at Bootham Crescent for either Charlton or Bolton when he engaged in proper 2 way friendly banter and quick and funny quips with the City fans behind the goal.
At Charlton, prior to Wright, their fans and many others, would name Sam Bartram as the best uncapped keeper in England, much later, Charlton supporters held Dean Kiely in similar high goal keeping esteem.
His playing career ended at Bolton where he made 109 appearances, he was first-choice goalkeeper and was a key part of the team that won the Third Division title under Jimmy Armfield in 1973, below them, City were finishing just outside the relegation zone for a second successive season.
Wright was forced to hang up his gloves through injury but subsequently joined the Trotters' coaching staff and become youth-team coach. Goalkeepers are probably more vulnerable to serious injury than any other players on the park. Charlie was no different. He suffered from a bad back, cracked ribs, numerous broken noses, concussion and a fractured jaw. On more than one occasion, he was knocked unconscious and hospitalised.
However, it was the battering that his spine took that meant he had no choice but to hang up his gloves, "my back was knackered, the doctor told me that, if I had been a horse, they would have shot. I was 37 at the time. It was a big disappointment. I was as enthusiastic as ever and with my experience, I could read the game two moves ahead, I would have liked to have played on till I was at least 40", he said.
In goal, he was strong, courageous, had quick reflexes and could catch or deflect the ball from whatever angle, height or speed it came at his goal.
Out of goal, he was a likeable man, chirpy and extrovert, he was well known for his colourful language and big moustache. His chatty nature often came to the fore on the pitch, happily chatting with both home or away fans behind the goal. Indeed, that once resulted in a Charlton manager issuing him with “no talking” order for fear of his chat distracting him from the game.
Charlie's agility, reliability and enthusiasm meant he was well remembered by fans of all the clubs he played for.
"Great goalie for Bolton and a real character. Loved by the fans, Charlie was another superb player recruited by Jim Armfield.”
“Charlie had an excellent season in 71-72 and was a fine stopper. unassuming player but part of Jimmy Armfield's legacy at bwfc."
He was appointed City manager in November 1977 when City were in the doldrums after 2 successive relegations under Wilf McGuinness. In his first season as manager, City successfully applied for re-election before improving to a respectable 10th placed finish. The following season, City struggled and Charlie Wright was sacked in March 1980, City finished that season in 17th place.
At City, his time is possibly best remembered for the 1978/9 FA Cup run where victories at Blyth (the previous season’s giant killers when they reached the last 16) and at home to Scarborough and Luton. Surprising (or not), City attracted a bigger crowd for the Scarborough game than they did for Luton. Round 4 saw a tie at Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest, reigning English champions and just 4 months from away from their first European Cup triumph. City tamely exited the cup with a 3-1 defeat on an ice rink, Barry Wellings scored for City. It was a brief return to the big time for City after the heady days of Division 2 (Championship) just a few years earlier.
For City, his signings included Peter Lorimer, Neil Warnock and Derek Hood whilst he gave debuts to youngsters John Byrne and Gary Ford. With money very tight, his sales included Gordon Staniforth for a then club record of £120,000 and Chris Topping for £20,000.
Not many City managers have blooded 2 youngsters as talented as Byrne and Ford, indeed, few have blooded 2 together.
Sadly, Wright’s time with City cannot be judged to be a success on the pitch, but given the financial constraints he was working under, he stabilised the club and some might say, laid the foundations for 1984.
His jovial nature united City and pulled us out of the doldrums,
For Graeme Crawford, when speaking to York City South, he fondly recalled Charlie Wright. Despite Crawford’s City exploits over the previous 5 years as he helped City into the Championship, Crawford remembered how much he learnt about the art of keeping after Wright was appointed City manager, he said it was the first time anyone had really coached him in keeping techniques, including the art of positioning and angles.
After City, Wright returned to Bolton where later, in 1985, he had a spell as their manager and later a spell as a club manager in Norway. Later, he moved back to south London where he ran a successful transport cafe (“Charlie's Place“) for 15 years before retiring to the south coast. "It was hard work but rewarding. From one day to the next, you never knew who might walk in through the door. Our customers ranged from tramps and drug addicts to business people and film stars", he said.
I’m afraid that his managerial record only added to the old adage that goalkeepers don’t make good managers.
Sadly, Charlie Wright died in late December 2024. A few days later, he was remembered at Bolton with a minute's applause and black armbands and by City during our annual minute's appreciation for those of the City family who we had lost during 2024.
Tainted Love The big question on Merseyside is will Trent Alexander-Arnold’s legacy to be tainted if he leaves for Real Madrid with a secondary question being why have 3 demi gods been allowed to run down their contracts.
Firstly, it depends how you measure legacy. To the player, trophies, caps and honours are firm measures of legacy, they possibly won’t say it, but wealth and fortune are also measures and as Johnny Thunders once said, you can’t put your arms around a memory.
Many players have only temporary ties to the club they are leaving and so realistically, you can understand when they move on, legacy and fan reaction isn’t an issue. In the case of the Liverpool 3, I’m sure it’s a bigger wrench for Trent than the others given he’s spent all his life on Merseyside.
Looking back, I don’t think I’ve ever thought that a City player has tainted his legacy when leaving the club. Disappointment yes, in my time, Pat Lally and Keith Walwyn’s departures were possibly when I felt the most disappointment, they both moved to other clubs in our division. John MacPhail, Paul Barnes, Richard Cresswell and Jon Greening and others moved on, all had outgrown City as they moved up the divisions.
Maybe it is just me, a supporter of a club that seeks greater status, but knows its place in the pyramid, where many players have already tainted the club‘s legacy well before they leave City, rather than a supporter of a big club who wants it all and more.
Others ask why the 3 Liverpool demigods were all allowed to run down their contracts at the same time. Basically, none of the 3 wanted to sign a new contract 2 years ago, no one can force them to sign if they don’t want to sign.
Its common practice for clubs to put out feelers to players nearing the end of their contract (historically about a year out, nowadays in many cases, often 2 full years or more before the end of a 4 or 5 year contract, barely halfway through their current contract). At that stage, if discussions go well, and I’m sure with increased wages and juicy signing on fee, a new improved contract could be signed and the existing one ripped up. If not, discussions can go cold or stall completely.
A player is actually “losing out” by not agreeing an early new contract, “losing out” despite already being on a mouth watering contract.
Imagine the outcry, if 2 years ago Liverpool had announced TAA wouldn’t sign a new contract and was for sale. Equally, such an announcement could sour player / club relations and damage both the club and player’s bargaining position with each other or other clubs.
Back at the LNER, with Callum Howe (and others) 2 years into their original contracts, I hope City are starting to consider his future, At 31, he falls into the Van Dijk / Salah envelope, his best footballing days might be considered to be behind him. Clubs need to weigh up a lucrative new contract against the great unknown of when an ageing players’ form will suddenly tail off.
An additional dynamic for City when talking new contracts is that City don’t yet known which division they‘ll be in next season.
I for one would never begrudge a player from holding out until late in the day to agree a new contract, frustrating for the fans but the players are just looking after number one, something we all do.
8 Second Rule I’m not expecting great things from the new 8 second rule in which keepers are supposed to release the ball. The old 6 second rule fell into disuse, supposedly, referees felt the award of an indirect free kick for transgression was too large a penalty so didn’t enforce it.
Now, keepers have 8 seconds and the referee is supposed to give a signal and a countdown. Does that mean that keepers can’t be trusted (or are unable) to count up to 8 for themselves?
If properly applied, I like to think the rule will mean keepers releasing the ball before the opposition have got themselves properly organised. It will suit the teams and keepers who are tactically astute, hopefully meaningful game time will be increased, favouring teams who like to play football, rewarding teams who want to play on the front foot and to move the ball more quickly.
No more keepers lying outstretched on the ground, like a beached whale, surveying the whole pitch in front of them for a good 15 seconds and often taking over 20 seconds to put the ball back into play.
Will the referees properly implement the rule? Maybe for a couple of weeks before they fall back into their old ways as players complain about the extra effort involved as the game speeds up.
Now if only we could come up with a solution for keepers who go down with cramp after 20 minutes.
Everyone For Hinshball? In a previous article I wrote about how little impact some of our loanees had made whilst on loan at City during the 2023/4 season. Were they good enough, were they ready or were they just slow learners.
Undoubtedly, some were not good enough, but increasingly, I’m thinking can players make a quick impact when they arrive mid season?
We signed Marvin Armstrong. In the doldrums at Barnet, admittedly they were higher up the table than City, but he arrived and immediately “got” what Hinsh wanted him do. Alex Hunt had a mare on his City debut in Neal Ardley’s last game. At the time, I’d have been happy if he never played for City again. He was totally ineffective before being pulled off at half time. Dropped to the bench, he didn’t see game action again until Hinsh’s fourth game.
Before he left, Neal Ardley had indicated we wouldn’t see “his team” until the 2024/5 season, no doubt a combination of making changes to the side but also pre-season would allow him a solid block of time to impart his ideas on the team.
He never got the summer he craved. Hinsh replaced him.
The majority of Hinsh’s signings were done early in the summer and the team hit the ground running this season. The new players fitted into the side seamlessly.
Paddy McLaughlin was quoted as saying in Hinsh’s early days, how he drilled into the players what he wanted, it may have taken him 4 games, but results started to change. Paddy went onto say that in pre-season 2024, Hinsh had time to really make his philosophy stick.
Hinsh appears to be obsessive, meticulously working with his players, so they always knew where to be on the pitch, both in and out of possession.
During the 2024/5 season, it was often noted how players popped up, out of position, trying to create overloads, a key element in Hinsh’s tactical set up, but other players spotted this and were prepared to cover for teammates who’d gone forward.
In Hinsh’s early days, some players fell by the wayside, deemed surplus to requirements, I wonder how much was down to footballing or mental ability, were they not good enough or unable to take on board Hinsh’s tactical requirements.
During the 2024/5 season, we saw several new arrivals. How many were successful?
I’d say Malachi Fagan-Walcott and Lewis Richardson can be judged as successes. Whilst MFW quickly settled into the side, Richardson improved the longer he was here, in a similar way, Cam John who arrived as a pre-season triallist, new to Hinshball improved across the season.
Of the others (including David Ajiboye, Mo Fadera, Jordon Garrick (triallist), Jeff King, Junior Luamba, Luca Thomas and even Josh Stones), none can be said to have been successes. I’ve included Josh Stones, a big money signing, largely consigned to the bench, he can’t really be named a success, although given a full summer, I’m sure we’ll see a different Stones next season.
So for the mid season arrivals, it was generally no, Hinshball wasn’t for them.
Maybe to play Hinshball, you need to be an early summer signing and get indoctrinated during pre-season training.
Ricky Sbragia A journeyman Scottish born defender, Ricky Sbragia was an apprentice with top flight Birmingham City. Despite a handful of appearances, he couldn’t establish himself in their side and moved onto Walsall in 1978 for £15,000. In his first full season, they were Division 4 runners up and he earned a £35,000 summer move to Blackpool. He was unable to establish himself in their Division 3 side and was released in 1982.
Denis Smith made him one of his first City signings. Released, he wrote to several clubs asking for a contract. Few replied, Rochdale were prepared to offer him a 2 year deal. He drove from his Blackpool home to Rochdale, turned straight around and went home without getting to the Spotland ground. City’s initial offer was only short term, but he eventually agreed a one year deal, albeit on less money than Rochdale were prepared to offer.
Sbragia was an ever present in his first season and then missing just one game in City’s 1983/4 Division 4 championship winning season.
He was a rock at the heart of City’s defence, the quiet, cultured and unflustered man alongside the more flamboyant man, first Denis Smith and then John MacPhail.
In the 1984/5 season, again he was a regular on the team sheet, until he succumbed to a back injury received in the Liverpool FA Cup replay. It was an injury that was to trouble him for the rest of his playing career.
Recovering, his injury, he was to play on for another 2 seasons before announcing his retirement in the summer of 1987.
One high spot of his career was his goal against Liverpool in the 1985 FA Cup tie, but he’d probably say he was at his best when defending.
In total, he made 179 appearances for City, scoring 10 goals, the club where he enjoyed the most playing success of his career.
As a player, perhaps Sbragia didn’t get credit he deserved. He had a good footballing brain and could read the game. Used to being an “old school“ centre back at his previous clubs, Smith got Sbragia to stay on his feet and pass the ball (the opposite to what his previous managers wanted him to do), but Sbragia’s preferred style of play.
Until his back injury, he was just as important to City’s side as John MacPhail and that is high praise.
On retirement, he joined City’s youth coaching staff. Largely known as “Youth Team Manager”, he also briefly held the title of “Reserve Team Manager” and gained his coaching badges. He guided City’s youth team to the quarter finals of the 1992/3 FA Youth Cup.
In his time at City, his young charges included Richard Cresswell, Jon Greening, Graeme Murty, Nick Culkin and Darren Williams who all left City for decent fees. Around £3m in total.
In early October 1994, he accepted an offer to take up a youth team coaching role at Sunderland. Douglas Craig told Sbragia that he turned down initial interest from Sunderland stating Ricky was happy with City, however Ricky asked to speak to Sunderland.
For most of his coaching career at City, it is believed that he was on a week by week contract. However some other reports suggested he'd recently signed a 3 year contract with City, in all probability, it was offered by Douglas Craig when the Sunderland interest came along. Whatever, Sbragia indicated that Craig was largely unaware of the youth set up. Sbragia was much closer to director Colin Webb whose remit included the youth set-up.
He spent 8 years at Sunderland working with the youth team and later the reserve team.
In 2002, for once in his life, he put out feelers and applied for the vacancy as Manchester United’s reserve team coach. Sir Alex Ferguson recalled how he’d been impressed with the passing style of Sbragia’s City youth side at Old Trafford in 1993 FA Youth Cup tie. Moving onto Manchester United, he had 3 years as Reserve Team Manager before a spell as Bolton’s first team coach. Staying in the top flight, he re-joined Sunderland’s coaching staff in November 2007 and was, rather reluctantly, appointed caretaker manager a year later following the departure of Roy Keane. A couple of 4 goal wins and the job was his on a permanent basis, guiding Sunderland to Premier League survival on the final day of the season before resigning as manager, although he remained at Sunderland as Chief Scout, in April 2011.
5 years coaching Scottish age sides followed, initially as Under 17 coach, progressing with the side up to Under 21 level.
His next and final role saw him return to Manchester United in July 2017 as Under 23 manager under Mourinho and then Solskjaer before being sacked in May 2019.
When coaching City’s youth side, he had a real affinity with his young charges who looked up to and respected him. On the pitch the 1993 FA Youth Cup quarter final and being runners up in the 1994 Northern Intermediate League were the high spots, both in his time with City and the history of youth football at York City.
For one, Graeme Murty noted how Sbragia always showed tough love, but always with an important lesson for a young player to take on board.
In the 1990s, when selling new frontiers, Ricky was one of the few City personnel who regularly bought a copy, thrusting a one pound coin into my hand and telling me to keep the change for the next issue. Next issue, invariably it was another one pound coin and the same instruction.
Footnote: In 2014, he was a very late candidate when Russ Wilcox's appointment as City's manager was about to be confirmed.
Notts County Insider Revealed, the inside story of how Notts County appointed their new manager.
On May 17 (2025), County lost their play off semi final to AFC Wimbledon which prompted the start of their end of season review initiated by their ownership consortium, led the Danish brothers Christoffer and Alex Reedtz, the brains behind statistical football analysis company Football Radar.
5 days later, head coach Stuart Maynard was sacked after 16 months in charge after he failed to guide them to promotion from League 2 following a poor end to the season. The owners in their ChatGPT written platitudes said, “after being unable to achieve our aim of winning promotion this season, we share the disappointment felt by everyone connected with the club, while football is a game of fine margins, and Stuart undoubtedly faced numerous challenges over the course of the campaign, neither results nor performances reached the levels we believe the team was capable of - particularly during the defining period towards the end. We have parted company with our head coach who leaves with our very best wishes and gratitude for his considerable commitment and dedication to the role”. They went on, “alongside our recently-appointed Head of Football, Roberto Gagliardi, our work is well underway to identify the correct coaching team and new signings to join us on these important next steps of our journey.”
They drew up a list of criteria for their next manager, the criteria being cheap, plays attacking football, promotion of youth players and a record of success.
During the heatwave, deliberations were held outside at County’s training ground. Their database throw up a plethora of Scandinavian sounding managers and a short list was drawn up. One intrepid journalist, spying from a tree saw a list of names on post it notes on the white board. His report saw the bookies form a market and all the usual suspects (and many more besides) were quoted at ridiculously short odds.
Essentially, it was a re-hash of the market the bookies had just binned following the appointment of David Hughes as Newport’s manager, a name that had caught the bookies by total surprise. The County list was spiced up with various Scandinavian managers, Dean Brennan, Des Buckingham, Adam Hinshelwood and managers of a local standing including Sam Allardyce and Neil Warnock.
Day by day, the market fluctuated wildly as people put their change from Poundland’s big rival, the 99p shop on the outcome.
Hinsh was quickly ruled out by the selection panel, they noted he had a similar background to the outgoing manager Maynard, in achieving nothing and had no FL experience whilst last season, he gave youth players just 3 minutes of game time. County’s player scouting team backed up the brothers noting that their number one target Maz Kouhyar was not rated by Hinsh.
That said, on May 25, Adam Hinshelwood and his young son were spotted in the Trowell service station on the M1 just outside Nottingham having a celebratory cuppa and coke after Jack's 2 goals in Brighton’s 4-1 win at Spurs. The national journalist, billeted to Nottingham for the duration of County’s manager hunt spotted them and Hinsh was quickly promoted to 2/1 favourite for the job.
As County dithered, Hinsh’s odds lengthened as the odds for a flurry of Danish managers and coaches were shortened. However, on June 2, again the journo spotted Hinsh and all his family at Trowell, this time he spoke to Hinsh but doesn’t believe him when he’s said they’re breaking their journey home after a weekend break in Brighton with son Jack. Having drifted in the market during the week, Hinsh is installed at odds on 4/6 favourite.
With Hinsh back at favourite, the brothers Reedtz take a second look at Hinsh. Again, they don’t see a fit, speaking to their colleagues at Chesterfield they firmly believe that Matt Uggla wouldn’t let Hinsh leave cheaply. In addition, they believe the recent departure of Tony McMahon means that Hinsh has far too much autonomy to what they envisage for County's next manager.
As candidate after candidate rejects County, the brothers widened their statistical study, this time taking in additional expert analysis from Oddschecker, BetVictor and SkyBet.
What do the bookies know? They had Des Buckingham 8/13 clear favourite for Cardiff, 2/1 for Notts County and 9/4 for Plymouth. Sounds like a man in demand. His agent has been busy down the bookies. They know nothing. In the last three weeks they had Hinsh, Steffen Højer, Tobias Solberg, Des Buckingham, Leam Richardson, Joao Alves and Jack Wilshere all as odds-on favourites. Possibly more, and some of them more than once. I never once saw Martin Paterson mentioned, but given they often named 50+ managers, I might be mistaken.
Finally, one brother turns to the other and says, “there are lies, damned lies, and statistics, pass me a pin”. Job done.
Oh! Brother The summer signing of Alex Newby added to the list of City’s footballing families, but not the first twin to play for City. It remains to be seen whether he comes face to face with his twin Eliot of Barrow.
For the record, It would not be the first time brothers have faced each other in City games. When Alan Little was our manager, he faced Stoke managed by elder brother Brian during the 1998/9 season) whilst last season was a first for City when they came up against the Lisbie twins (Kyreece and Kyrell) playing for Braintree in March.
David McNiven lead City's strike force during the 2000/1 season, his twin brother Scott was a pro and their Dad, David Snr, was a top flight striker (briefly) with Don Revie's Leeds side and spent most of his career at Bradford City.
However pride of place must go to the 4 Kay brothers from Great Ouseburn. Between them, Thornton Lambert Kay, Eric Newbald Kay, Frederick Robert Kay and William Arthur Kay made a grand total of 8 appearances (no goals) between 1923 and 1926.
Of the brothers who’ve played for City, possibly Marco and Riccardo Gabbiadini are the best remembered, certainly Marco. A young starlet, his class was obvious when he made his City debut under Denis Smith, he found his scoring boots after an £80,000 move to Sunderland. A £1.5 million transfer to Crystal Palace saw City net a healthy sell on fee. Younger brother, Riccardo made just one appearance as a substitute for City before Sunderland gambled on the family gene coming good again, this time it didn’t.
The 1980s might have been a golden era for home grown City brothers. Brian and Albert Chippendale and Nigel and Adrian Costello came through City’s youth ranks. Between them, they made just 17 City appearances (most as substitutes) and scored one goal, Brian’s goal in City’s League Cup defeat at QPR in 1984 before finding their level in non league football.
Well before my time, City fielded several sets of brothers. Pre 1929, George and Joe Harron were followed by England schoolboy internationals George and Tommy Maskill and Joe and Reg Baines. Reg had 3 spells with City stretching over 14 years to 1938 and City’s run to the quarter finals of the FA Cup. In total, he scored 93 goals in 140 games, between times, he was twice poached by bigger clubs.
The Tait brothers (Barry and Peter) had brief City playing careers in the late 1950s. Barry returned as part of the youth coaching set up during the heyday of the youth production line in the early 1990s.
Looking ahead to the new season, Callum Howe will hope to face his brother Dec when City play Scunthorpe having been denied the opportunity in the FA Trophy last season.
Finally, City’s Assistant Manager, Gary Elphick is the elder brother of Tommy who had a long career (playing and coaching) with Bournemouth.
I’m afraid with that list of brothers, City don’t reach the heights of other footballing families, the likes of the Allen clan, the Charlton brothers or Morgan twins. However, the 4 Kay brothers, give us a claim to fame, even if between them they totalled less than one twentieth the number of City appearances as Roy Kay (no relation).
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