WHAT does York City manager Nigel Worthington take from his year in the Bootham Crescent hot-seat? Steady progress.

The former Norwich and Northern Ireland chief marks 12 months in charge of the Minstermen on Tuesday and much has changed over those 365 days.

Coming into a side that hadn’t won in 11 games and endured a desperate fight for survival until the last day of the season, Worthington was pragmatic about the rebuilding job facing the club.

With a vastly different squad, which has only a handful of veterans from the side that won promotion in May 2012, and a side sitting around mid-table in Sky Bet League Two, he is upbeat about the future.

“I have thoroughly enjoyed it,” Worthington said of his first anniversary. “It has been good working with the players. It has been good working with the chairman and directors and the people who work at the club.

“There have been a lot of changes on the playing staff side of things, which we had to make, and I think that gradual development – trying to improve and make things better – is very important. At the end of the day you still have to win games.

“Obviously we are not one of the Premier League boys where you can go and spend ‘X’ amount of millions on players.

“You have got to wheel and deal, to do your business very, very cleverly and shrewdly. The chairman and I work well together. We look to do the best for the club and the best for the team.

“Touch wood, that’s what we are doing.”

Near two decades in football management has taught Worthington not to look too far ahead. Never one to reminisce too strongly, either, he said his focus was simply on the next nine weeks and, specifically, on Exeter City today at Bootham Crescent.

“The immediate thing is to make sure we get past 50 points to ensure League football,” he added. “That’s number one. After that, I think there has been steady progress.

“We must keep our eye on the ball, keep the work ethic, keep the positive vibes throughout the football club and the players and let them go and express themselves.

“We have good footballers in the club but we have to encourage them to express themselves in the right area of the pitch and that’s what we are trying to do.”

Following a hot-seat career that began at Blackpool and later saw him take Norwich to the Championship title and a spot in the Premier League, Worthington insisted his principles of management have remained the same.

He explained: “I think management is management. You can go from one extreme, where you are spending millions on players to looking at signing players for nothing.

“At the end of the day, it is about getting players who are going to perform in the team, whether they cost millions or nothing.

“Overall, the players that have been brought in have performed. Any manager will get one or two wrong, that’s part and parcel of the job, but as long as you get more rights than wrongs you are okay.”

With a new stadium continuing to be an exciting prospect and York’s future in the Football League now looking stable, Worthington is optimistic about what is ahead for the club.

But he said hard graft will be required if he is to achieve his aims.

“I think there is a hell of a lot to look forward to at York City,” he said.

“Again, the immediate future over the next nine weeks is very, very important.

“We can’t overlook that and we must keep our feet on the ground and keep the work ethic there and the drive towards winning games.

“Thereafter, the chairman is working extremely hard to try to get the new stadium on the go with the council and other people so there’s a lot to look forward to but there is still a hell of a lot of hard work to be done as well.”

 

listen to ‘- Steve Carroll talk about York City Diary’ on Audioboom

 

Defensive stalwart on the way up

KEITH Lowe has moved three points clear at the top of The Press Player of the Year standings.

The former Cheltenham centre-back jumped ahead of previous fellow joint-leaders Josh Carson and Wes Fletcher following The Press man-of-the-match display during last weekend’s 0-0 home draw with Southend.

Lanre Oyebanjo (two points) and Russell Penn (one) were also recognised as our second and third-highest rated players respectively against the Shrimpers.

The two bonus Player of the Month points were shared between Lowe and Michael Coulson after they polled the same number of man-of-the-match votes from visitors to The Press website or followers of the @daveflettpress Twitter account.

John McCombe, meanwhile, will be presented with his Player of the Month award before this afternoon’s home match with Exeter.

To be in with a chance of presenting The Press Player of the Month for March with his prize – a framed photograph – before a game at Bootham Crescent, vote for your man of the match from today’s game or tweet your choice to @daveflettpress

 

The Press Player of the Year latest standings: Lowe 24 points, Carson 21, Fletcher 21, Oyebanjo 19, McGurk 18, O’Neill 14, Brobbel 11, Montrose 11, McCombe 10, Jarvis 9, Parslow 8, Ingham 7, Pope 7, Smith 7, Coulson 6, Bowman 5, Chambers 5, Davies 5, Penn 5, Clay 4, Puri 2, Whitehouse 2, Kettings 1.

The Press Player of the Month for February final standings: McCombe 11, Lowe 6, Carson 4, Oyebanjo 4, Penn 4, Coulson 2, Fletcher 1.

Goals: Fletcher 13, Jarvis 9, Bowman 6, Carson 4, Brobbel 3, McCombe 2, Own goals 2, Coulson 1, McGurk 1, Montrose 1, O’Neill 1.

Assists: Coulson 7, Bowman 5, O’Neill 5, Carson 4, Brobbel 3, Fletcher 3, Jarvis 3, Clay 2, McGurk 2, Smith 2, Cresswell 1, Davies 1, Fyfield 1, Hayhurst 1, Ingham 1, Montrose 1, Oyebanjo 1.

Bad boys: Montrose ten yellow cards; Oyebanjo, Whitehouse both six yellow; Bowman two red, two yellow; Carson, O’Neill, Lowe, Smith all four yellow; McGurk three yellow; Cresswell one red, one yellow; Davies, Fyfield, Hayhurst, Jarvis, McCombe, Penn, Platt all two yellow; Chambers, Clay, Coulson, Parslow, Reed all one yellow.