York City win promotion - back where we belong (From York Press)
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York City win promotion - back where we belong
9:20am Monday 21st May 2012 in News
By Mark Stead, mark.stead@thepress.co.uk
Updated: YORK City’s second slice of Wembley glory in the space of just eight days has been hailed as the victory which “means everything” to the club.
More than 7,000 fans roared the Minstermen to the nail-biting 2-1 triumph over Luton Town in yesterday’s Blue Square Bet Premier play-off final which put City back in the Football League after an eight-year absence.
It completed a momentous week in the club’s history after Gary Mills’ men claimed the FA Trophy by overcoming Newport County at Wembley and plans for a new 6,000-seater stadium at Monks Cross were approved by City of York Council.
City’s promotion celebrations will continue in York today and the club’s communications and community director Sophie Hicks said the last week’s events were “slightly surreal”.
“Being back in the Football League means everything to the club,” she said. “It’s the day all York City supporters have been waiting for, and myself and all the directors are very proud that we have helped bring some pride back into this club. Our fans were absolutely outstanding against Luton for the way they got behind the team despite being massively outnumbered –like the players, they showed true resilience.
“It’s very emotional when you see how this has made so many people happy and it’s a complete vindication of the decision to approve the stadium plans, because sport in York is on the up.”
Mrs Hicks said it had been a “huge fight” to bring the club back from near-extinction and back into the League, saying: “We have had to fight for survival, for the ground and just to keep the club going – now it’s all come together in just eight days.
“There has been a lot of hard work involved, and it has all paid off. We have learned a lot from our years as a non-League club and this could really be the start of something. This team has made national headlines and put its home city on the map. Everybody in York and North Yorkshire should be very proud.”
City fan Dave Stevens, 32, from South Bank, said: “However long I support City for, there will never be another day like this. This win couldn’t mean more to the club, the players, the manager and the fans.”
Shaun Gilbert, 40, of Fulford, said: “It was unbearable to watch at the end because we knew how close we were to fulfilling a dream, but the scenes at the end of the match are just something nobody’s ever going to forget.”
Richard Robinson, 30, from Sherburn-in-Elmet, said: "It's just unbelievable - I can't get over it.
"We're back where we belong and it means everything to the club and the city to be back in the league."
Duncan Campbell, 58, from Acomb, said: "I was at Wembley when City won promotion in 1993, but this is better because it matters more.
"We belong in the league, especially with somebody like Gary Mills in charge, and although it will be difficult, getting there was the real challenge. We have the team and the manager to hold our own and put on a good show."
Hyla Campbell, 30, who was born in York but now lives in Nigeria and flew back to be at Wembley for the play-off final, said: "I still remember very clearly being at the Vetch Field in Swansea - a ground which doesn't even exist any more - for City's last game in the league in 2004, and now we're back. It's absolutely brilliant."
Neil Robertson, 38, from Tadcaster, said: "This is the end of eight years of hard work - first the FA Trophy, now promotion. Gary Mills has done a brilliant job, we have a really good team and I think we are going to do really well now we're back in he league."
Jonathan Linnen, 20, from Alne, described City's victory as "amazing", adding: "I've supported York City all my life and we've never seen much success, but now we've won twice at Wembley in the space of just over a week, and hopefully Gary Mills can take us up against next season." And Olly Wilks, 20, from Skelton, said: "There's no reason why we can't be pushing for a place in the top half of League Two next season."
Comments(74)
spockboy2
says...
11:14am Sat 19 May 12
Sick of hearing about fan base all I know is the 2-3k of real city fans will be there and that's all that counts.
Come on York !!!
redbluelion
says...
11:53am Sat 19 May 12
tricky1992000
says...
11:53am Sat 19 May 12
redbluelion
says...
11:59am Sat 19 May 12
tricky1992000 wrote:maybe if city had done what luton had and aranged to sell tickets for wembley from there own ticket office..the numbers would have been greater..but its also the cost unless your loaded with cash..kids need feeding bills need paying..simples..
Good luck York!!! in a city of 200,000 people, to only manage 7,000 fans is a bit embarrassing. Blackburn only has 100,000 people, and manages 20000 a game. This could be an indication of the club york could become. But how do you mobilize a city to get behind the club?
YCFC115
says...
12:31pm Sat 19 May 12
Some old bloke
says...
12:55pm Sat 19 May 12
Regarding the turnout for Wembley, there are all kinds of reasons, but basically York has become too posh.
Also, many real fans genuinely can't afford to take families down to Wembley twice in a week.
However, it doesn't matter, those that are there will make a hell of a noise and the large Luton crowd could work against their team, especially if City score first (remember the play-off semi-final two year ago?).
Let's be positive, we know how to beat Luton and our players had a practice match on the pitch last week.
I really can't see why Luton will be any harder to beat than Mansfield - and Luton won't be able to plough up the pitch before the game like Mansfield did, to stop us playing football.
purpleronnie
says...
1:54pm Sat 19 May 12
tommyinyork wrote:Clown !!!!!!
70000 ???? is that it, what a s*** amount of support. Mind you York's full of glory supporting man utd fans
What has Man Utd got to do with it?
ian923
says...
1:57pm Sat 19 May 12
Helliwell's Not a Donkey
says...
3:13pm Sat 19 May 12
Anyway its going to be a close match, 1 goal in it and that goal will be ours. I hope it doesn't go to penalties.
10/1 for Matty Blair to score first sounds a good bet.
TerryYork
says...
4:58pm Sat 19 May 12
tricky1992000 wrote:Clown. Blackburn's catchment area is 600,000.
Good luck York!!! in a city of 200,000 people, to only manage 7,000 fans is a bit embarrassing. Blackburn only has 100,000 people, and manages 20000 a game. This could be an indication of the club york could become. But how do you mobilize a city to get behind the club?
York's HOME attendance vs city size is actually the same as Man Utd! Same percentage!!
Now sit down.
tricky1992000
says...
5:36pm Sat 19 May 12
TerryYork wrote:where on earth do you get the figure 600,000 from? even the wider unitary authority area only claims 140,000. Unless you want to claim areas such as Burnley and Preston as part of the catchment area of Blackburn football club? who have their own respective football clubs and catchment areas. Now I know you disagree with me, but there is no need to call me a clown.
tricky1992000 wrote:Clown. Blackburn's catchment area is 600,000.
Good luck York!!! in a city of 200,000 people, to only manage 7,000 fans is a bit embarrassing. Blackburn only has 100,000 people, and manages 20000 a game. This could be an indication of the club york could become. But how do you mobilize a city to get behind the club?
York's HOME attendance vs city size is actually the same as Man Utd! Same percentage!!
Now sit down.
Even AndyD
says...
5:39pm Sat 19 May 12
Anyway - we've travelled down and are in a cosy Premier Inn where they #guarantee# a good night's sleep. Not sure its going to happen frankly, too nervous!
OLD - HEAD
says...
7:43pm Sat 19 May 12
Tug job
says...
8:56pm Sat 19 May 12
OLD - HEAD wrote:Oh, stop going on about the turnout - it doesn't really matter, it won't affect the players that much and we'll do out talking on the pitch. 3-1 to the men in red. Right, pub crawl in Balham/Clapham here I come! COYR
I will be there tomorrow, and probably like 95% of the fans going, I also went last week. We cant do anything about the poor turnout from York, so lets just get behind the team and hope that they can beat Luton again. Nervous is putting it mildly, I hope the ale helps me to sleep.
twang
says...
10:59pm Sat 19 May 12
Never mind on the pitch counts, COYR
yorkandproud
says...
8:29am Sun 20 May 12
twang wrote:York is not quite full of non York "born and bread", I was educated at Derwent Secondary Modern, and so I am not an "incomer" as you put it. I was taught to spell bred and unfortunately there too. I support neither Man U, Chelski, or Tottingham. Isupport the Reds. Come on City.
unfortunatley York is now full of non york born and bread, who have more allegence with, Man U or Chelsea or Tottenham, its the second biggest growing city in the uk, but only growing with incomers. Never mind on the pitch counts, COYR
BorderReiver
says...
8:54am Sun 20 May 12
Woody Mellor
says...
10:38am Sun 20 May 12
spockboy2 wrote:Sick of hearing it? Or dont like to admit to hearing it? Typical football attitude, and one of many reasons that I no longer follow the game.
Get well soon Steve Beck you are a legend at our club.
Sick of hearing about fan base all I know is the 2-3k of real city fans will be there and that's all that counts.
Come on York !!!
Woody Mellor
says...
10:42am Sun 20 May 12
Woody Mellor wrote:May I hastily add. Good luck today YCFC!
spockboy2 wrote:Sick of hearing it? Or dont like to admit to hearing it? Typical football attitude, and one of many reasons that I no longer follow the game.
Get well soon Steve Beck you are a legend at our club.
Sick of hearing about fan base all I know is the 2-3k of real city fans will be there and that's all that counts.
Come on York !!!
Yorklass2008
says...
10:42am Sun 20 May 12
marvell
says...
1:53pm Sun 20 May 12
Jazzper
says...
4:58pm Sun 20 May 12
smalon
says...
5:08pm Sun 20 May 12
Welcome back to the Football League from everyone in Watford.
Pedro
says...
5:10pm Sun 20 May 12
bjb
says...
5:12pm Sun 20 May 12
rambolanka
says...
5:13pm Sun 20 May 12
TheBurton
says...
5:19pm Sun 20 May 12
captaineagleeye
says...
5:22pm Sun 20 May 12
Garrowby Turnoff
says...
5:27pm Sun 20 May 12
Stuart Jones
says...
5:28pm Sun 20 May 12
yorkred
says...
5:29pm Sun 20 May 12
Congratulations well done and welcome back
farawayfan
says...
5:32pm Sun 20 May 12
KAT1965
says...
6:04pm Sun 20 May 12
Even AndyD wrote:If you look at the numbers we have had each time we have been to Wembley and then add in the fact that we were there last week - 7k aint bad. If you are in Rm 27 at PI Harrow - You will have a good nights sleep - I did.
7000 is a little disappointing - but obviously a lot of people chose to go to either the FAT of play-off final. Its a round trip of 400 miles and a lot of money - can't blame them really.
Anyway - we've travelled down and are in a cosy Premier Inn where they #guarantee# a good night's sleep. Not sure its going to happen frankly, too nervous!
The Curator
says...
6:08pm Sun 20 May 12
CHEERS Ted
redcar.smoggie@ntlworld.com
says...
6:12pm Sun 20 May 12
yorkred
says...
6:19pm Sun 20 May 12
redcar.smoggie@ntlwoHow do they get their every week from the far east,
rld.com wrote:
As a MBoro fan , congrats on your promotion . Nice to see a Boro player ( Gibson ) helping you out . Now DONT go and do a Darlington . Incidentaly , on fan base , the vast majority of Man U fans , live in the far east or London( same thing I suppose )
When they won the treble 250000
lined the streets of Manchester.
Urban myth , you rubber geordie
monkeyhanger
says...
7:00pm Sun 20 May 12
Woody Mellor
says...
7:54pm Sun 20 May 12
mandate
says...
8:18pm Sun 20 May 12
As an Oxford fan I would just like to say welcome to League 2 next season.
It was brilliant that you beat and silenced that arrogant and badly behaved rabble from Luton. We were sickened by how they treated your fans 2 years ago. So it must feel extra good for all decent YCFC supporters.
Oxford fans have a lot of respect for York City and their friendly and loyal fans, and we'll be looking forward to guesting your ground again.
ReginaldBiscuit
says...
8:20pm Sun 20 May 12
yorkred wrote:The Boro fan (like many Boro fans) is bitter.
redcar.smoggie@ntlwoHow do they get their every week from the far east,
rld.com wrote:
As a MBoro fan , congrats on your promotion . Nice to see a Boro player ( Gibson ) helping you out . Now DONT go and do a Darlington . Incidentaly , on fan base , the vast majority of Man U fans , live in the far east or London( same thing I suppose )
When they won the treble 250000
lined the streets of Manchester.
Urban myth , you rubber geordie
As much as the 10 commandments mean s0d all, so does the fact that support for a team is global. Yes, united are bottom in local support (http://www.telegrap
h.co.uk/sport/footba
ll/3078163/Mancheste
r-United-bottom-in-l
ocal-fans-survey-whi
le-Bolton-spring-a-s
hock-Football.html) but it is usually jealous fans of other teams who like to stigmatise and make obvious the fact.
Individuals have a choice as to who they pledge their allegiance with. A bit like people having preferences for sexual, edible and drinking inclinations.
Anyway, well done York. A great game to watch and try to hang on to Matty Blair (and the stadium). An outstanding player. Celebrate the night away and posh w4nks for everyone.
johnbarkingdog
says...
8:40pm Sun 20 May 12
Well done City you did us all proud
Even AndyD
says...
10:13pm Sun 20 May 12
Buzz Light-year
says...
10:28pm Sun 20 May 12
There's no-one can deny this is great news for York, footy fan or not. Which I'm not really.
Night Moves
says...
10:35pm Sun 20 May 12
Even AndyD
says...
11:17pm Sun 20 May 12
Night Moves wrote:In fairness, not much point two radio stations covering same matches.
I wonder if Minster FM will pay more interest in our local team now and not concentrate on carrying Leeds United commentaries???
Who cares though - back in league at last!
openallhours
says...
11:30pm Sun 20 May 12
Paul Ince would be my choice.
captaineagleeye
says...
11:49pm Sun 20 May 12
ReginaldBiscuit
says...
9:40am Mon 21 May 12
captaineagleeye wrote:Seconded.
I actually can't believe I just read that openallhours. GM is Brian Clough alumni and has a philosophy many current league clubs would pay many a penny for (and probably will try). I suppose the inane comment was a wind-up, right? I certainly hope so.
Gary Mills is a huge reason why City play attractive attacking football and why they are now in the football league. To achieve the success he has on limited resources is an outstanding achievement. The man's a great manager.
Look at all this rubbish being said about Di Matteo. The ECL and FA Cup and he still isn't good enough???? Pure madness if Chelsea appoint anyone other than Roberto Di Matteo.
opeanallhours is either having a laugh or being thick. Perhaps both.
tommycockles
says...
9:42am Mon 21 May 12
June 18th football league fixtures released.
LOVELY!!
YCFCFanBoy
says...
9:55am Mon 21 May 12
YCFCFanBoy
says...
9:55am Mon 21 May 12
deano72
says...
10:00am Mon 21 May 12
rogue84
says...
10:16am Mon 21 May 12
exiled_boro
says...
10:19am Mon 21 May 12
a throw away comment about man utd fans and your both up in arms, cant think why - do i detect a couple of armchair man utd fans as well as York fans i wonder?? why else would you bother about people having a go..?
anyway, at the risk of being called a bitter boro fan (god knows why, never heard of us having that reputation) congrats on going up to both York and Ben Gibson.
Hopefully us 'bitter' boro fans will have a trip to either bootham or the new ground in years to come be it friendlies or in the cup.
PhilipInYork
says...
10:24am Mon 21 May 12
Now can someone remove that ****'s comment from the opening post?
YCFC115
says...
10:28am Mon 21 May 12
openallhours wrote:You are complete and utter idiot, go and play on the A64.
Just got back from what was a truly fantastic day, and it feels amazing to be back in the football league. Never been a happy clapper, just a dedicated York fan. Now we're back where we should be, lets build the club in the right manner. Gary's done a great job, but we could do with a proper league manager to keep us moving forward.
Paul Ince would be my choice.
Koala
says...
10:30am Mon 21 May 12
The Legend Of Keith
says...
11:23am Mon 21 May 12
There are too many congratulations to make here, but Mr Mills (aka God) and his staff, Mr McGill (and co.), the players but ultimately the supporters who I believe drive this club forward. We may not be abundant in numbers, but our passion and partisan support is not often matched.
COYR. Job. Done.
BigCrompy
says...
12:15pm Mon 21 May 12
Absolutely, utterly delighted for you boys, still remember how tickled pink I was two years ago when you were the unfortunate victims. Tickled pink to have you back in the league, and it couldn't have come against a nicer bunch of bogan thugs from a nuclear wasteland.
And take no notice of those who criticise your fan base, I would imagine Oxford is a similarly sized city and we only took...well, 35000 to Wembley but I wouldn't worry about that too much.
Yorkie69
says...
12:20pm Mon 21 May 12
SbragiaIsOurHero
says...
12:21pm Mon 21 May 12
Some old bloke
says...
12:33pm Mon 21 May 12
johnbarkingdog wrote:I thought exactly the same thing. The supposedly neutral Blue Square report was obviously written by a bitter Luton fan.
Just been on the Blue Sq web site and read the match report. Dont know who wrote it or what match they were watching, but it was all about how unlucky Luton was not to win. It was nice to spoil there party and it sounded like the stewards were given a bit of extra pocket money from the Luton supporters
Well done City you did us all proud
R'Marcus
says...
12:45pm Mon 21 May 12
No do the complete job and get promoted in two years' time again!
bloodaxe
says...
12:58pm Mon 21 May 12
twang wrote:I hope that you're not a typical example of York born and bred, sorry, bread. Only growing with incomers ? You should be so lucky. Ask yourself why York is deemed to be so desirable. Could it be the charm of the indigenes ?
unfortunatley York is now full of non york born and bread, who have more allegence with, Man U or Chelsea or Tottenham, its the second biggest growing city in the uk, but only growing with incomers.
Never mind on the pitch counts, COYR
crazycarper1
says...
1:12pm Mon 21 May 12
Stracqualursi
says...
1:59pm Mon 21 May 12
crazycarper1 wrote:If you're a Luton fan....weren't you playing Stoke and Sunderland in the League just 5 years ago...next season it's Dartford and Hyde.
So it has taken York 8 years to get back in the league, I bet it won't take them that long to go back to the conference..
If England was a human body Luton is where you'd find the piles.
J_STAR_RAW
says...
2:52pm Mon 21 May 12
RooBeck
says...
3:40pm Mon 21 May 12
redcar.smoggie@ntlwoBen Gibson looks to be a very useful player and is comfortable on the ball and overall, quite classy. Would have thought that Tony Mowbray might have his eyes on him for promotion into his senior squad BUT, if felt that he needs another year in the lower leagues, then Gary Mills should get in now and do a deal with Boro, as this lad is definately one for he future and of course would now get league football at City and be able to travel down the A19 without having to leave home!!
rld.com wrote:
As a MBoro fan , congrats on your promotion . Nice to see a Boro player ( Gibson ) helping you out . Now DONT go and do a Darlington . Incidentaly , on fan base , the vast majority of Man U fans , live in the far east or London( same thing I suppose )
Oxford3000
says...
5:52pm Mon 21 May 12
Luton are back where they belong and so are York... Expect a big round of applause when you come to Oxford Utd.... Well done we think your wicked ;-)
Pizzamen
says...
5:57pm Mon 21 May 12
crazycarper1
says...
6:04pm Mon 21 May 12
Stracqualursi wrote:No, I live in York. Just stating the obvious. So shove ya piles back up ya own backside.
crazycarper1 wrote:If you're a Luton fan....weren't you playing Stoke and Sunderland in the League just 5 years ago...next season it's Dartford and Hyde.
So it has taken York 8 years to get back in the league, I bet it won't take them that long to go back to the conference..
If England was a human body Luton is where you'd find the piles.
Tug job
says...
8:36pm Mon 21 May 12
deano72 wrote:Okay, then, and we won't bleat on about JW being given offside when he wasn't, nor about the blatant handball, nor about Kovacs shoving our player off the ball - you gained three and you lost one. Run along now
I'm a Luton fan - just wanted to congratulate York on their win yesterday. Your supporters made a lot of noise throughout and you played some very good football at times (there is no point in us bleating about the "offside" goal, most of the hatters fans that I spoke to after the game agreed that you were the better side on the day). Good luck next season and with your new stadium.
Naboo the Enigma
says...
9:53pm Mon 21 May 12




tommyinyork says...
11:02am Sat 19 May 12