YORK City football club is asking fans to suggest names for the four apartment blocks which are to be built on its former Bootham Crescent ground.

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

We've already looked at some of the great City characters from 1932-1946 (the early years at Bootham Crescent) and 1946-1960 (when City reached the FA cup semi-finals and Bootham Crescent was redeveloped).

This week we turn to the period 1960-1993, when City played two seasons in the old Second Division.

Club historian Paul Bowser says City started the 'Swinging Sixties' with its fortunes at a low ebb. But things improved following the appointment in October 1968 of manager Tom Johnston. He rebuilt the team, and re-signed forward Paul Aimson for a second spell at the club, which helped earn promotion in 1970/71. Bootham Crescent became a fortress, with City unbeaten at the ground in 32 consecutive league matches between February 1970 and April 1971. There were also two successive FA Cup runs to the fourth round.

City established a foothold in the Third Division over the next two seasons, then surged to promotion to the second Division in 1973/74. Suddenly, Bootham Crescent was hosting the likes of Manchester United.

Johnston left City in 1975, and the league position slumped under his successor Wilf McGuinness with back-to-back relegations in 1975/76 and 1976/77. With financial losses mounting, the club was facing extinction before local businessman Michael Sinclair became chairman in 1978. Sinclair worked hard to turn around the club’s fortunes off the pitch, then appointed Denis Smith team manager in 1982.

"City played a thrilling, attacking style of football under Smith, especially from the autumn of 1982 until mid-1986, with the likes of Keith Walwyn, John Byrne, and Gary Ford prominent," Paul Bowser says. "The team became the first in Football League history to rack up 100 points during the 1983/84 season." City fans also enjoyed two successive runs to the FA Cup fifth round, hosting Liverpool twice.

City’s ups and downs continued, with relegation back to the fourth tier in 1988, but after four seasons in the doldrums the club bounced back via a promotion play-off final on a nail-biting afternoon at Wembley Stadium on 29 May, 1993.

Key figures from the period include:

Tom Lockie

York Press:

From player to trainer to manager, Lockie was central to the playing fortunes of York City for more than 40 years.

He joined the club initially as a centre half, and made 32 league and cup appearances in 1933/34 before joining Accrington Stanley. He then returned to City in 1936, first as reserve team trainer then first team trainer.

He was trainer during the 1937/38 FA Cup run to the quarter finals, and worked alongside secretary Billy Sherrington managing team affairs on an interim basis during the celebrated run to the semi-finals in 1955. Lockie was later to manage the club between 1960 – 1967, leading the team to promotion in 1964/65.

Barry Jackson

York Press:

A mainstay of the City side between 1958 – 1970, Jackson was a popular player who progressed from the reserve side to become an imposing figure at the heart of the City defence.

His rugged style of play gained him an almost cult-hero status, and he was a member of the promotion sides of 1958/59 and 1964/65. He went on to make a club record 539 league and cup appearances. At times he even deputised as a centre-forward, scoring 10 goals.

Jackson was awarded a testimonial in 1970, and was released from the club that summer. The affection for him was evident 37 years later when he was voted City’s all-time favourite player by the Players’ Union, the PFA.

Wilfred ‘Wilf’ Meek

York Press:

The Press archives of York City owe much to one man – Wilf Meek. Meek was a keen advocate of association football in a city that was seen as a rugby stronghold, and he was appointed by the Gazette Newspaper Group to cover the club’s fortunes from its formation in 1922. Writing under the pseudonym of ‘Citizen’, Meek chronicled the daily events of the club for the Yorkshire Evening Press until his retirement in 1968, rarely missing a match.

Tom Johnston

York Press:

Tom Johnston with Ron Spence

Scotsman Johnston is the only manager to have ever won two promotions for the club. His achievements make him arguably the club's most successful manager, says Paul Bowser

After a playing career in the Midlands, and managerial spells at Rotherham and Grimsby, he joined City in October 1968 with the club languishing in the lower reaches of the Fourth Division. The club won promotion in 1970/71. They were promoted again, to the old Second Division, at the end of the 1973/74 season.

City held their own and were in 15th position when Johnston accepted the role of general manager at Huddersfield Town in January 1975. The club retained its league position to the end of the season. But thereafter results slumped and three disastrous seasons followed, further highlighting Johnston's achievements.

Paul Aimson

York Press:

Paul Aimson scoring a goal in 1971

Aimson scored 113 league and cup goals for the club in 248 appearances, and was top scorer in four of his six seasons at the club.

Initially joining City for the 1964/65 season, Aimson scored 30 league and cup goals in only 48 appearances to help the team to promotion. He left for Hull City in March 1966 but returned to City in August 1969 to great excitement - more than 6,000 turned out for his 'second debut' against Exeter City. Another haul of 30-plus goals the following season helped City to promotion at the end of the 1970/71 campaign.

Aimson is considered by many to have been the best centre-forward ever seen at City, says Paul Bowser.