IT would be fair to describe 2022 as a year of seismic change at York City.

12 months on from December 31, 2021, York find themselves in a new division, under new management and run by new ownership.

A return to the Vanarama National League was secured after five seasons away (to universal relief), John Askey was sacked (to universal condemnation) and Glen Henderson and the Supporters’ Trust took over from Jason McGill (to… well, more on that later).

Any City fan will tell you that following Minstermen matters both on and off the field, particularly in recent years, is an eventful proposition.

Yet even with that sizeable caveat, on January 1, could anyone have predicted such upheaval over the next 365 days?

On the pitch, less than two months into the reign of then-interim manager Askey, there was cause for New Year optimism thanks to a run of four wins in six matches to end 2021.

A 1-0 home win over Slough Town in the Isuzu FA Trophy began 2022 yet the league remained the overwhelming priority.

Back-to-back 3-0 defeats to Kidderminster Harriers and (worst of all) Bradford (Park Avenue), who would finish the season in 18th, left the club in a familiar spot: mid-table mediocrity in National League North.

The Park Avenue debacle prompted a rare public statement from then-chairman McGill. He apologised as “new lows” were hit and said that the “fans deserved better”.

Better quickly followed. City went on a remarkable 12-match running win, which included a 2-0 win at play-off rivals AFC Fylde and two epic Trophy triumphs over Morpeth Town and Dagenham & Redbridge.

Coming from 2-0 with 20 minutes left, York prevailed 3-2 over Morpeth before a 97th-minute Clayton Donaldson equaliser forced a penalty shootout that City won 7-6 in Dagenham.

From 15th at the end of January, Askey’s side were in the play-offs and the Trophy semi-finals - later losing 3-1 at Bromley - by mid-March. At the end of that month, Askey earned permanent manager status.

The run to promotion was far from straightforward though. Two wins in 11 matches featured in a bruising 3-0 loss at Alfreton Town and a drop out of the top seven.

York fought back to go unbeaten in their final five fixture and finish fifth, yet they remained stark outsiders in the play-offs.

Their best, it would turn out, would be saved until last. Three composed, professional and thoroughly-deserved victories were carved out, beating Chorley 2-1, triumphing at Brackley Town 1-0 before the promotion-deciding 2-0 win over Boston United at a packed-out LNER Community Stadium.

At last, after five long and painful years in regional football, York were back in the National League and a step closer to a Football League return.

Without wishing to sound cynical, it should not be forgotten that there were 1,000 empty seats in the LNER for that joyous moment.

A partial premature pitch invasion, the throwing of flares at opposition fans and the damage of seating during the Chorley victory enforced a limited capacity of 7,500. Sadly, many City fans missed the final-whistle jubilation of the play-off final.

Profound change off the field soon followed. After 16 years at the helm, the McGill era, that latterly divided the fan base, ended as the Supporters’ Trust purchased his 75 per cent stake.

The Hartlepool-born, South Africa-raised and American-based investor Glen Henderson was, hours later, revealed as the new 51 per cent shareholder, with the Trust holding the rest.

After the ostracisation of the Trust under McGill, a new “fan-centric model” of ownership was promised. Henderson has “all the right skills, business experience, football knowledge, resources, personality and energy to help us take the club forward,” Trust chairman Mike Brown said.

The new ownership’s feel-good factor translated into a supremely confident start back in the fifth tier.

A 2-0 opening-day win over Woking set the tempo for a run of just four defeats from the first 15 matches.

So strong was York’s start that Rochdale made an approach to Askey. He turned down the Sky Bet League Two side and signed a new contract at City in September.

“We look forward to creating more memories with John at the helm,” Henderson said.

Less than two months later, the chairman took part in an infamous BBC Radio York question-and-answer session.

“Spats” between Henderson and Askey were revealed and despite the latter's ‘Sir John’ status among the fanbase, the chairman nonchalantly said of his manager: “If it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out.”

There’s only ever one winner in a chairman-manager fall-out. A run of six matches without a win saw Askey sacked in November to the outrage of supporters and players, a number of whom expressed their anger on social media.

In a tearful farewell interview, Askey revealed that he had been “undermined” in his role by Henderson and that he was made to stand in front of the office printer that produced his sacking letter.

In the face of fan protests and anger, Henderson stayed silent, deleting his Twitter account.

In December, the chairman triggered the buy-back clause with the Trust and left the fans group to find a new investor. Henderson had decided to walk away… or, so we thought.

Eight days later, he U-turned on that decision, claiming to have offered his shares during an “ill moment”. The Trust state that Henderson has “no provision” to reverse the offer and they continue their investor search “unabated.”

In the background to the ownership row, 2022 ended with a dire 3-0 home defeat to relegation-battling Gateshead as new boss David Webb - the former Tottenham Hotspur academy coach and first-time manager - lost his opening match from the touchline.

Although closer to the play-offs (five points) than the relegation zone (eight points), a run of one league win in 11 has left fans fearful of an ensuing relegation battle in 2023.