After their wild promotion, York City’s return to the EFL could be even more dramatic

There is an exclusive group of football fans called the Ninety-Two Club, whose members have watched a competitive first-team match at every one of the current 92 Premier League and EFL (English Football League) home stadiums.

In 2022, Richard Sutcliffe finally realised a 40-year ambition by ticking off his few remaining grounds in a five-part series for The Athletic. Now, he’s once again back on the road…

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Three months on from securing an EFL return via surely the wildest end to a title race in English football history, this was not how it was supposed to be for York City.

Not only was the architect of last April’s never-to-be-forgotten promotion success absent when York rejoined the League fold after a decade away on Monday evening — manager Stuart Maynard having been dismissed the previous week over what owners Julie-Anne and Matthew Uggla cited as a “difference in vision” — but those same fans who had partied long and hard after Josh Stones’ dramatic stoppage-time equaliser at Rochdale on the final day of last season were also in open revolt.

“You’re getting sacked in the morning,” they sang at Scott Lindsey, Maynard’s successor, as York bowed out of the Carabao Cup courtesy of a preliminary round defeat at home to Crawley Town.

Further chants followed in support of Maynard, while the target of this ire — ironically sacked by Crawley just last March — also had to suffer the indignity of the 192 visiting supporters demanding, ‘Lindsey, Lindsey what’s the score?’

No wonder the new York head coach cut quite the forlorn figure on the touchline during the closing exchanges, even allowing for his post-match words of defiance for the boo boys. “I absolutely don’t care,” said the 54-year-old. “It is what it is. I’m honestly so thick-skinned, it will never get through to me.”

Just where York go from here after perhaps the shortest honeymoon period for a newly appointed figure since Liz Truss’ ill-fated spell as British Prime Minister is anyone’s guess.

What surely isn’t in doubt, however, is that even the events of the past week or so shouldn’t take the sheen off that rollercoaster April day when York emotions swung from the depths of despair to sheer, unadulterated joy inside just a few crazy minutes that, if scripted by Ted Lasso or similar, would have been dismissed as too far-fetched.

To recap, Maynard’s York side went into the final day of last season needing just one point from a top-of-the-table showdown with Rochdale to pip their hosts to the National League title.

They looked to have blown it five minutes into stoppage time when a powerful header from Rochdale’s Emmanuel Dieseruvwe sparked a wild pitch invasion by home fans intent on celebrating their own return to the EFL.

The same play-offs that had proved to be the graveyard of York’s promotion hopes at the semi-final stage 12 months earlier beckoned. Then, though, after the field had been cleared and play resumed, came the biggest twist of all as Josh Stones equalised with more or less the final kick of the league season to send Maynard’s team up.

Three or so months on, such a wonderfully chaotic climax barely seems real.

Monday, however, brought proof that it wasn’t all a dream as EFL action finally returned to York after a mammoth 3,747 day absence in a preliminary round tie made necessary by nine English sides qualifying for European competition this season.

I’m here partly out of curiosity after the upheaval of the last few days and partly through a need to maintain my prized membership of the Ninety-Two Club, a group for football fans who have watched a match at all 92 current Premier League and EFL grounds.

Joining this elite band, a feat finally achieved when taking in Cheltenham Town versus Morecambe in October 2022, had been something of an obsession since first reading about this elite band in Simon Inglis’ seminal book, The Football Grounds of England and Wales.

It’s not as easy as it seems, and I explained the ‘rules’ when I first set out to complete the 92 back in 2022.

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York, a key settlement since Roman times when it was known as Eboracum, is one of Britain’s gems.

Thanks to the magnificent gothic Minster looking down on winding medieval streets with quirky names such as The Shambles and Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate, tourists descend on the city in the tens of thousands every week.

Throw in York’s multitude of inviting pubs and it’s no wonder this also used to be a popular away day — many fans seeing the 20-minute stroll from the station to Bootham Crescent as a worthy rival to how Fulham’s Craven Cottage, when approached along the river bank through Bishop’s Park, is regarded as the most enjoyable walk in British football.

York’s former home, as cramped as it was quirky, wouldn’t have won any awards for architectural merit. Nor was it much use in terms of generating income, with even the old ground’s solitary executive lounge looking out over the car park, as opposed to the pitch.

Nevertheless, City enjoyed plenty of joyous moments during their 88-year stay. Such as the night in 1995 when Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United were knocked out of the League Cup, 10 years after Arsenal had also succumbed there in the FA Cup. The all-conquering Liverpool side of the 1980s were twice fortunate to escape with a 1-1 draw, too.

There was also tragedy to go with those famous triumphs. Striker David Longhurst, just 25 years old, collapsed and died on the pitch during a match against Lincoln City in 1990. The Shipton Street End was subsequently renamed in his honour, while a road running through the housing estate that now occupies the site of York’s old stomping ground is called David Longhurst Way.

Fittingly, he’s also remembered at the new stadium, Longhurst’s name and image staring down from the back wall of the South Stand, where York’s most vociferous fans congregate. On Monday evening against Crawley, it’s also where most of the barbs aimed at new head coach Lindsey emanated from.

Perhaps we shouldn’t have been surprised that York’s return should come amid such rancour. There had certainly been plenty of it during the preceding decade spent in non-League.

Some of the drama bordered on high farce, such as when Jackie McNamara stepped down as manager, just a few months into that 10-year exile, only to be asked to stay on until a replacement was found and then, much to the bewilderment of supporters, unveiled a few days later as the club’s new chief executive.

Other missteps, such as the back-to-back relegations that dumped York in the sixth tier for the first time in 2017, were as heart-breaking as the club’s subsequent promotion back to the National League via the play-offs, the winner scored by an Afghanistan international whose family had fled the Taliban, was heart-warming.

That promotion came at the end of York’s first full season based at Monks Cross, an out-of-town shopping centre that was busy long before the football club’s arrival in 2021.

I’ll admit to not being a fan of these identikit stadia built on retail parks that are miles from town. Colchester United, Shrewsbury Town and Northampton Town are just three of the clubs to go down this route over the past 20 years or so and the lower league away day experience is infinitely poorer as a result.

In York’s case, that previously pleasant amble towards Bootham Crescent has been sacrificed in favour of either the need to negotiate the miserable A64/A1237 ring road combo and then vie with shoppers for a parking space or squeeze on to a packed shuttle bus for the three-mile journey from the city centre.

Neither are ideal, but this hasn’t prevented City fans from generating a decent atmosphere inside their new surrounds, particularly during last season’s run-in when the final nine home games were all won.

Against Crawley, ‘Stuart Maynard’s Barmy Army’ chants filled the air as a first half strike from Gianmarco Di Biase and Danilo Orsi’s late penalty ensured Lindsey’s reign got off to the worst possible start.

They’ll play their first match in League Two since 2016 a week on Saturday when they host Bristol Rovers.

As for yours truly, this is the third time I’ve re-completed the 92, Bromley having been ticked off after their promotion in 2024 and then both Barnet following their own elevation last year along with Everton’s new stadium on the Merseyside waterfront.

Members of the Ninety-Two Club — there are around 1,400 in total, including 500 or so who remain active in maintaining the 92 — have two years to tick off any new grounds. But, having spent so long chasing this footballing Holy Grail through my 20s, 30s and 40s, I never fancy hanging around.

It won’t be the end, either. Not with Manchester United, Oxford United and Luton Town all looking to move in the future and plenty of ambitious National League clubs looking to follow York by making that leap to the EFL. Plenty more miles to go yet in this travelling odyssey.

If you want to read more about Richard’s Ninety-Two Club adventures, see the below…