1 Chairman Jason McGill’s unswerving loyalty towards Jackie McNamara has made him a target for the fans’ ire

With the Minstermen’s players having displayed top-ten form since the turn of the year and manager Gary Mills the architect of that reversal in fortune, there was no on-pitch outlet for the Bootham Crescent faithful to direct their frustration at when the final blast of referee Thomas Bramall’s whistle signalled the unthinkable. Instead, a band of around 40 fans chose to call for chairman Jason McGill to leave the club in a car-park protest with their chants aimed in the direction of the boardroom.

It was sad to see McGill castigated in such a way, given his unquestionable love for the club and the millions of pounds he has pumped in to ensure its continued survival. The City of York Council’s dreadful handling of the community stadium saga - as we speak the process to find a new contractor to build it appears no closer - leaves him sweating on whether he will ever see any of that money again, having loaned it to the club on a penny-by-penny basis after waiving his right to any interest despite exceeding his agreed financial obligation.

McGill’s level of exasperation, therefore, when the worst happened cannot be over-stated. Having consistently handed managers budgets that were competitive to achieve the club’s aims at the start of each season during his tenure, back-to-back relegations are a cruel reward for his commitment to the City cause.

Judging by fans’ reactions amid the fall-out from the weekend, though, where McGill has clearly lost the support of the Bootham Crescent supporter base is in his continued loyalty towards former boss and current chief executive Jackie McNamara. The ex-Celtic captain and Scotland international is believed to have been advised to stay away from the Forest Green game and, whether the club can ever become united and move forward together whilst he is still on the scene, will now come under great scrutiny.

With McGill on record as describing the club’s summer recruitment drive as “awful” despite providing the then manager with the division’s third-biggest budget and McNamara's successor Gary Mills repeatedly stressing what a diabolical mess he inherited, the 43-year-old Glaswegian will forever be associated with the failures that have heralded the dreadful reality of sixth-tier football. Off the pitch, meanwhile, the club is in desperate need of stability and strong leadership.

Rumours of staff being suspended and, in at least one case, reinstated should be confirmed and ideally explained and the likes of physio Jeff Miller, who tendered to David Longhurst as he tragically lost his life on the pitch during close to 30 years of loyal service to the club, simply cannot disappear as if unnoticed.

York Press: 2 Late goals have proven costly right to the very end

There was a painful irony when the news came through of Danny Lowe’s stoppage-time equaliser for Guiseley, given that 12 points were lost by the Minstermen in the first half of the 2016/17 campaign during the last five minutes of matches. Late levellers against the likes of Boreham Wood, Braintree, Chester, Sutton and Guiseley have, in the final analysis, proven so costly, along with the winners scored by Matt Tubbs for Forest Green and Tranmere’s James Norwood on December 3 – a date when, significantly, less than two months into Mills’ reign, that trend ended and was even reversed to an extent by Sean Newton against Barrow and Scott Fenwick and Yan Klukowski’s last-gasp heroics at Sutton.

York Press: 3 Clubs can no longer rely on sub-standard sides to save their skin in non-League football

Having just won the title with Cheltenham, as they bounced back to the Football League at the first attempt, Dan Parslow’s assertion that standards in the Conference had risen in the four years since City were last in the division was challenged in some circles. But, whereas the league’s leading teams might not be any stronger than those clubs who occupied the higher reaches in the past, the disparity between those at the bottom is nowhere near as wide.

That was evidenced by the fight so many of the Minstermen’s rivals put up to survive when, in the past, there always seemed a handful of teams who just did not possess the necessary means to pick up sufficient points. From the two first teams to be relegated, Southport’s Louis Almond scored two of the best opposition goals witnessed at Bootham Crescent in recent seasons and North Ferriby worked as hard for their 1-0 win on New Year’s Day as any team had during the campaign.

Therefore, once City could not give themselves the best chance of survival by taking three points against Forest Green, it didn’t really come as a surprise when Guiseley had done their bit to secure survival. With half of National League North clubs boasting four-figured average attendances and two - Stockport (3,477) and FC United of Manchester (2,660) – attracting higher home gates than at Bootham Crecsent this term, the depth of quality in English football remains a great peril to clubs who, with one or two inadvisable decisions, can find themselves in the same predicament as the Minstermen.

York Press: 4 There is little more Jon Parkin could have done to avoid a first career relegation

Parkin’s two finishes bore all the hallmark of a master marksman with Championship pedigree, as he snaffled up chances when easier ones were missed by team-mates. The 35-year-old veteran’s double took his tally to 11 in the Minstermen’s final 13 league games.

In total, he contributed 15 following his arrival in December from League Two Newport, where he had netted four times in nine starts, leaving him one short of hitting the 20-goal mark ahead of City’s FA Trophy final at Wembley. He is already the club’s top scorer for five seasons and, heading City’s assist table with nine this term, demonstrates the commitment to the cause shown by the ex-Stoke and Hull striker, which was also illustrated by his impassioned goal celebrations at the weekend.

York Press: 5 Sam Muggleton can kick a ball too

The most memorable contributions from City’s long-throw specialist on his first start for the club will remain the two balls he hurled against the crossbar during the opening five minutes and his hand-propelled assist for Parkin’s second equaliser. But, in this contest, the former Leicester academy hopeful also proved he could play a bit.

Forcing Sam Russell into a decent save, releasing Vadaine Oliver for a great chance through the left channel and making some telling tackles, Muggleton ensured that sacrificing the consistent Alex Whittle in order to benefit from the former’s touchline talent was a risk worth taking.