IT might have staged the city’s first-ever Football League contest and once witnessed goalkeeper Jack Farmery save a penalty from Newcastle United legend Hughie Gallacher in front of 12,583 fans, but there remains no on-site record of the Fulfordgate football stadium ever existing.

Despite being the home of York City for a decade between 1922 and 1932, the location’s highly-significant place in local sporting heritage has never been visibly recognised and that is an oversight current club stadium development director Ian McAndrew wants to avoid as Bootham Crescent makes way for a Persimmon housing estate after relocation to Monks Cross is achieved next summer.

Persimmon have invited local residents to a consultation meeting regarding their project on Thursday, September 20, where proposals will be on view and members of the design team will be available for questions at St Luke’s Parish Hall in Burton Stone Lane from 3pm to 7pm.

That will mark the start of a three-week consultancy period, with the company accepting comments and responses until October 11.

While the planning application to redevelop Bootham Crescent will be made jointly with the football club, it is Persimmon who are in complete control of the development and McAndrew has encouraged City supporters to attend the consultation meeting to offer their input on how nine decades of football should be commemorated on the historic 4.24 acre-site.

More than two decades after Middlesbrough’s Ayresome Park stadium was bulldozed, there are still traces of the 92-year-old ground in the housing estate that replaced it.

Some of the ground’s original walls were retained and streets are named after Boro legends or different football themes.

Bronze sculptures are also situated in people’s gardens, representing key moments in history, such as a ball to mark the former centre circle and cast-iron stud marks where the boot of North Korean striker Pak Doo Ik knocked Italy out of the 1966 World Cup with a famous strike from the edge of the penalty area.

City supporters will, no doubt, have their ideas on what should be preserved and remembered by Persimmon, as well as what should join the club at their new home in Monks Cross, with McAndrew pointing out: “Bootham Crescent is an extremely valuable, residential site in York that’s in a great, almost unique location and we’ve started discussions with English Heritage and Historic England about how we reflect the site’s past as a much-loved football ground.

“That could be by the naming of streets, maintaining some boundary walls or keeping one of the turnstiles in its current place.

“There’s also a picture in the boardroom looking at the Main Stand from the Popular Stand and you could maybe put that on a display board or a wall in the position where it is drawn by the artist.

“At Clifton Moor, there’s a little board with a drawing where a Roman Camp was once situated, and our fans feel precious about Bootham Crescent.

“It’s been here 86 years and I think some would like to be consulted about what is going to happen here, because tears will be shed when we leave.

“It’s been an important place for us all and, while we will take all the memories with us to the new stadium, along with some important parts of Bootham Crescent – at Derby’s Pride Park they even have an old Baseball Ground turnstile in the café - we feel that all the football that has been played here needs some form of recognition on the site we are leaving.

“Persimmon have invited neighbouring residents to the consultation, which is obviously important, but I believe some of our fans would probably like to go along as well.”

The club are currently compiling a list of events that will be staged at Bootham Crescent to help fans bid farewell to the ground are to be made public in the imminent future and there will also be an opportunity for supporters to grab their own piece of memorabilia from the stadium.

McAndrew added that any delay in Persimmon’s planning application would not impact on the club’s move to Monks Cross, which remains on schedule for July.

The price for Bootham Crescent, meanwhile, has yet to have been decided upon but McAndrew is confident that will be finalised to both parties’ satisfaction.

“There is an arbitration clause if we can’t agree on a price, but we don’t want to get to that situation,” he pointed out.

“We want to agree a deal based on the market value but, if that doesn’t happen, there is a mechanism in place for an independent body to decide.

“That’s a last resort and I don’t think either of us will want that.

“I’m sure an agreement will be reached in due course.”

Factors that need to be taken into account on top of the current market value are the estimated six-figured demolition costs, although these could be mitigated by the recycling of concrete to help build roads at the new estate, while steel could also be used in the project as well.

Additionally, Persimmon have an option to buy the land at 90 per cent of the open-market value and will be mindful that, under the local plan, 20 per cent of the new build will need to include affordable housing, lessening their profit margins, although it is believed there are circumstances where that ratio can be reduced.