TODAY'S transfer deadline might not apply to York City due to their National League status but, to join in the excitement, we take a look at the club's top-five recruits during the January window since the system was introduced in 2002/03...
1 Nick Pope
Following an aborted, two-game loan spell with City in November 2013 due to injuries at his then parent club Charlton, Pope made the switch from the Valley for a second time in that season’s January transfer window. The impact he subsequently made, as a 21-year-old rookie, was extraordinary.
With his lanky frame, Pope’s handling and judgement of crosses was immaculate and he went on to keep 15 clean sheets in 22 outings, as the team, despite scoring fewer goals than in the first half of the season, were propelled from relegation candidates into the play-off positions. Proving it was no fluke, Pope went on to rack up 13 shut-outs in 22 matches the following season after joining Bury at the same stage of the campaign as the Gigg Lane outfit secured automatic promotion.
Now at Burnley, he is yet to concede a goal in this season’s FA Cup, during his three appearances in the competition for the Clarets this season. Do not be surprised if, at some point in the near future, he jumps ahead of England-capped duo Tom Heaton and Paul Robinson in the pecking order for a place between the sticks at the Premier League outfit.
Deemed surplus to requirements at Lincoln, where he had been captain, Kerr was brought in by Gary Mills three months into his first spell as City manager on January transfer deadline day 2011. The former Bradford City and Hull midfielder would become the heartbeat of Mills’ stylish Minstermen side.
Inspirational the following season, as City edged closer to their historic double-Wembley winning campaign, he was cruelly denied a first-ever career appearance at the famous stadium when he suffered cruciate ligament damage in a clash with Keith Keane during the FA Trophy semi-final, second-leg victory at bitter rivals Luton, which ended his campaign in March. He still won enough votes to be awarded the Billy Fenton Memorial Clubman of the Year award, ahead of a plethora of worthy candidates.
Kerr then returned to feature in the first season back as a Football League outfit, but struggled to yield the same influence on the team, having perhaps rushed back out on to the pitch a little prematurely. Released after Nigel Worthington replaced Mills as manager, he spent a season with Grimsby, before drifting into part-time football with the likes of Bradford Park Avenue, Hyde, Stalybridge, Spennymoor and Ossett Albion, where he played last season.
Billy McEwan swooped for the captain of North Yorkshire rivals Scarborough just before the window closed on January 31 2006 for an undisclosed fee. He went on to become an instrumental player as McEwan’s exciting young side secured a play-off place the following campaign, courtesy of a final-day, 20-yard volley from Bishop against Oxford in the final game of the regular season.
With the likes of Clayton Donaldson and Martyn Woolford wreaking havoc, Bishop was a steadying presence in the middle of the park. But he went on to turn down a new deal and left for Barnet that summer when the club failed to progress beyond the play-off semi-finals.
His departure, along with that of Donaldson, was keenly felt and would lead to McEwan’s dismissal, as the club struggled the following campaign. Bishop seemingly improved with age and enjoyed a spell in the Championship with Blackpool.
Spending the last three-and-a-half years at Scunthorpe, he is trying to guide the Iron back into the second tier of the English game again this term at the age of 35. His wife Frances, meanwhile, reached the final three of the BBC’s last The Apprentice series.
In the same transfer window that saw Pope recruited, Cheltenham skipper Penn was snapped up on a two-and-a-half year deal. He would go on to become a driving force in the Minstermen’s midfield, as the club stormed into League Two’s top seven.
Outstanding over the two play-off, semi-final legs against Fleetwood, Penn deserved more than the narrow aggregate 1-0 defeat. The following season, he would also score the spectacular goal against Morecambe that staved off the threat of relegation from the Football League.
Sadly, his City career ended on a low when, as skipper, he couldn’t rouse a struggling side under then manager Jackie McNamara to beat the drop last year. Despite being offered a new deal at Bootham Crescent, he stayed in the League with Carlisle, but is now plying his trade in the same division as the Minstermen, having signed for Wrexham following a loan spell at Gateshead.
Having previously played a key role during City’s successful fight against relegation in 2012/13, Reed returned for a second spell at Bootham Crescent during the following season’s January transfer window. He went on to form a highly-compatible midfield axis with Penn, providing forward thrust as the Minstermen made their unlikely charge into the play-off reckoning.
Joining Pope and Penn, Reed’s arrival also coincided with that of John McCombe and the permanent addition of loan signing Keith Lowe in what is widely recognised as the most-successful transfer window in the club’s history. Unexpectedly, though, Reed drifted out of the professional game at the age of 23 and would find himself playing for Darlington 1883 and Whitley Bay the following season.
He was last heard of playing in the Philippines United Football League last year before it folded.
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