FORMER York City mascot Steve Ovenden has opened up on his experience donning the Yorkie the Lion costume, after becoming the first to wear it.

Ovenden was the original Yorkie the Lion after becoming the club mascot in the 1990’s, after deciding to write to the club about the position following a drab defeat away to Reading on a Tuesday night.

Yorkie has since gone on to become a recognisable figure amongst the York community.

Ovenden sat down with the York Hospital Ball podcast to explain how his tenure as Yorkie came about, and his first experience at Bootham Crescent too.

“I can remember it being really cold the first night I went to Bootham Crescent!” Ovenden told York Hospital Ball radio.

“But I was really taken by the lights, the smell, I couldn’t tell you who we played, it was 79/80 and I remember it being pretty poor.

“I got to meet people like Jimmy Walsh when he was injured, Ian McDonald, but by the time you’re 14 and Dennis [Smith] has arrived that season when we’ve just finished eight and missed out and something was happening, but nobody could have expected what happened the year after.

“Just a series of games, my personal favourite was when we were 2-0 down at half-time to Wrexham, and you just knew we were going to win.

“That sounds ridiculous now at my age, but you just knew we were going to win. The team was just awesome, you could meet them outside, there was a connection.

“The club just felt to a 14-year-old alive, and that whole season was magical.

“It’s all very clear in my mind. It was a year where I decided I was going to do every game, home and away, with the people of York there were a lot of people who did that every year but I thought I was going to do it.

“So I embarked on that journey, but the football wasn’t great and it was a really odd year.

“That night at Reading it was particularly poor, we were losing and I had a drink and was just sat there moaning about the lot.

“It’s a long way to go in midweek and to be losing, and we were just transfixed by this dog!

“So the conversation in the car on the way home wasn’t about the performance, it was more about this bloke dressed as a dog.

“People do, bants went on in the car and they said that if you think you can do a better job, ring the club.

“Then I decided not to ring the club but I wrote to Alan Little, it was more of a joke really. I’ve got the letter to hand, I’ve got a copy of it. The sixth of November 1998, Shippo the Lion. I just wrote him a letter saying that the performance of the above gives cause for concern, I put my name, sent the letter and all we wanted as the group of fans was a reply.

“I got no answer, so a week or so later I wrote again! I suggested that whilst my letter had been tongue in cheek, performances still had not improve and he should consider appointing me.

“It kind of got left, and then a few weeks later, James Richardson, who didn’t really know me that well I should point out, said ‘have you been writing to the club’, and I said I have yeah.

“It kind of went backwards and forwards and he told me they were thinking about changing Shippo, would you be interested.

“I told my friends and they were saying tell him you’re interested. James said you’re going to have to come in for a chat, so I went in for a chat and it was like an interview!

“It was so bizarre, I didn’t know what I was going to say, think I said I was a massive fan of it and it was a knockout, the costumes.

“It went on for about 20 minutes and Laurie Leslie who was this fantastic saleswoman and fantastic lady just shook her head.

“At the end she shook my hand and said ‘I think you’re a little bit mad, but the job is yours if you want it.’.

“It kind of ended up with the Yorkie costume having to be made to measure, but they were going to measure it for me.

“They went off and this costume arrived before the last home game of the season, and I remember going out in a costume that was put together in pins and needles.

“We went to Man City the following week and were relegated, but I had had a chance to dress up so I felt I had to see it through the following season.”