York City's FA Cup heroes of the 1950s...

Persimmon Homes is expected to start work on redeveloping the old ground (home to York City for 89 years up until 2021) later this year. 

The club, which is 100 this year, wants to put forward suggestions of City heroes from each of four different periods in its past which the blocks could be named after.

To help you think of suggestions, last week, we looked at some of the great City characters from 1932-1946, the early years at Bootham Crescent.

This week, we look at 1946-1960 - the period when City reached the FA cup semi-finals and Bootham Crescent was redeveloped.

Club historian Paul Bowser says City, like other football clubs, experienced a post-war boom, with average attendances topping 10,000 for the first time in 1948/49, with two of the three highest-ever league attendances at Bootham Crescent recorded that season - 21,010 against Hull City in April 1949 and 19,216 against Rotherham United in November 1948.

"The latter match saw a wonderful individual goalscoring performance by Alf Patrick, who became the only City player to ever score five goals in a Football League fixture during City’s 6-1 romp," Paul says.

The club’s finances improved during the 1940s, to the extent that City were able to buy Bootham Crescent in October 1948. Ground improvements were undertaken before the decade was out, including concrete terracing.

The highlight of the 1950s was undoubtedly the FA Cup performances of the team dubbed ‘The Happy Wanderers’, however.

City reached the semi-finals of the 1954/55 competition, before bowing out one step from Wembley to eventual winners Newcastle United after a replay. Along the way City disposed of a Blackpool side featuring the legendary duo of Matthews and Mortensen, and overcame Spurs 3-1 in one of Bootham Crescent’s most-celebrated afternoons in February 1955 in front of a sell-out crowd of 21,000. A fifth of the city’s population -21,000 - made their way to Sheffield for the first semi-final, and another 12,000 for the midweek replay at Sunderland.

Between them, the 13 players involved in that team racked up 3,409 appearances for the club during their careers and scored 509 goals.

Here are five key players from the 1946-1960 era...

Alf Patrick 1921 – 2021

York City's Alf Patrick retrieving the ball in January 1952 

Local lad Alf signed for the club in 1946 after serving with the Royal Engineers. He netted a career total of 117 goals in only 241 appearances. Leading scorer in each of the first four post-war seasons, he shares the club record of six hat-tricks.

He retired from football in 1955, and spent some time helping with the third team which competed in the Yorkshire League. He reached the age of 100 before passing away in 2021. There was a minute’s applause during the Buxton cup tie in November 2021, the ninth-minute timing coinciding with his shirt number.

Tommy Forgan 1929 - 2019

York City keeper Tommy Forgan in action against Notts County in March 1955

A mainstay of the City defence from the summer of 1954 until the latter years of his City career, goalkeeper Tommy is fondly remembered for his assuredness, allied with great athleticism. Although he missed the opening two rounds in the 1954/55 FA Cup semi-final run, Tommy returned for the third-round tie at Blackpool and saved a penalty that famous afternoon. He was a member of two promotion-winning sides in 1958/59 and 1964/65, before leaving City in 1966. He emigrated to Perth, Australia eight years later, and was the last surviving member of the semi-final team.

Norman Wilkinson 1931 – 2011

Norman Wilkinson in the 1954/55 season

Norman enjoyed a 12-year career at City, joining in the summer of 1954 from Hull City for a reputed fee of £10. He went on to make 401 League and Cup appearances for the club, scoring a record 143 goals in the process.

An unselfish player, he was noted as being a prodigious header of the ball. He was the youngest member of the 1954-55 FA Cup semi-final side, scoring four times during the run, and a member of two promotion winning teams.

Norman was part-time throughout his City career, combining scoring goals with being a shoe and boot repairer.

Billy Fenton, 1926 – 1973

Billy Fenton swoops to score City's second goal in the FA Cup fifth-round gamne against Spurs as Alf Ramsey rushes across in vain to try to stop him

Billy enjoyed a stellar career for City, making 278 appearances between 1951/52 – 1957/58 during which he mainly operated on the left wing. He was a thrilling player who was a firm favourite with the crowd.

He scored a club-record 31 Football League goals during his first season. The goals continued to flow in the seasons that followed. Remarkably, given that he was not an out-and-out centre-forward, Billy scored 124 goals – the third highest tally in the club’s history.

Like many in that period, Fenton combined his playing career with a career outside of football - he was a draughtsman by trade. His sudden death in April 1973 was the catalyst for City to introduce the ‘Clubman of the Year’ award in his honour.

Arthur Bottom, 1930 – 2012

Arthur Bottom running out for his final appearance at Bootham Crescent in September 1959 

Few players had such an impact on the club during a relatively short stay as Arthur Bottom, his record of 105 goals in 158 League and Cup matches spanning fewer than four seasons.

His entry into City folklore was immediate, scoring a hat-trick on his debut at Wrexham at the outset of the 1954/55 season, and he became one of City’s most prolific marksmen.

More famously, he scored eight times during the team’s run to the FA Cup semi-finals, bagging the winner in the quarter final at Notts County and the equaliser in the first semi-final against Newcastle United in his home town of Sheffield.

A long running email newsletter, established by New Zealand-based City fan Josh Easby in 1997, was named in his honour. ‘There’s only one Arthur Bottom’ continues to be enjoyed by subscribers known as ‘Arthurites’ some 25 years later.

• To suggest the name of a City hero one of the planned Bootham Crescent apartment blocks could be named after, visit rb.gy/shq7i2