Season preview: Chairman eyes Capital One Cup money-spinner (From York Press)

Season preview: Chairman eyes Capital One Cup money-spinner

6:00pm Wednesday 8th August 2012 in Sport

YORK City chairman Jason McGill is dreaming of a big Capital One Cup second round tie if the team can negotiate a way past Doncaster Rovers on Saturday.

With 13 Premier League clubs – all those not involved in European competition – entering the competition at the second round stage, City could be just one tie away from landing a money-spinning clash against a top-flight team.

For the last eight years, the Minstermen have needed to fight through three rounds of FA Cup ties before that was a possibility and managed that twice when they were pitted against Stoke and Bolton.

On the importance of another cup run, McGill added: “Very simply, the potential rewards available from the cup competitions in the Football League are a world away from what they are in the Blue Square Bet Premier, which is important because it’s still going to be a challenge to put a budget together with the restrictions that are imposed at this level.

“You can only spend 55 per cent of your income on your playing budget and we still have limited money-generating potential at Bootham Crescent. That’s why a new stadium with improved corporate hospitality remains absolutely vital to the club.”

McGill also has fond memories of City’s most famous night in the League Cup when Alan Little’s side caused one of the biggest-ever shocks in football by coming away with a 3-0 second round, first leg win at Old Trafford against a Manchester United team featuring the likes of David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Gary Pallister and Phil Neville.

The Minstermen later completed a 4-3 aggregate win when Eric Cantona and Peter Schmeichel were recalled for the second leg and McGill remembered: “The Manchester United game has a particular resonance for me because it was the very first football match my wife, who was then my fiancee, had ever been to.

“She thought all York City games were going to be like that. Unfortunately, the reality struck when we got involved in the running of the club.

“But that result is still unprecedented really for a club like York City at Old Trafford. When we got promoted at Wembley, I would say that feeling was better and you have to love every minute of these games and what they mean because they come along so infrequently in football. When they do, you have to make the most of them.”