YCFC Insights S e a s o n P r e v i e w 2022/202 3 @ycfcinsight s Welcome After a mere xx days since the Play Off Final win over Bosto n the new season is almost upon us Following our promotion from the NLN last season we will be playing in the National League again for the first time in xx years. The league looks like a very different proposition to the one we were relegated from back in xx with a host ex football league clubs as well as Hollywood A - listers in at Wrexham , it’s sure to be a roller - coaster of a season. Following the successful end to last season which saw York gain promotion via the play offs, there have been a host of departures from the playing squad including key players such as Jameson and Wright. This has meant John Askey has had a big rebuild job on his hands this summer with 17 players being signed over the off season. And it’s not just the playing squad that has changed over the summer, the club was purchased from former owner Jason McGill by the Supporters Trust and then 51% was sold to businessman Glen Henderson on the same day. So there’s a lot to preview for the upcoming season, which also happens to be our centenary year! Lets get into it... Contents 3 – John Askey Feature 4 – Fixtures 6 – The Squad 8 – Mitch Hancox Feature 10 – New Signings 12 – NLN Review 21/2 2 14 – National League Season Preview 22/23 17 – Centenary year & a New Era 18 – York City in Numbers 21/22 21 – Maz Kouhyar Feature 23 – Where are they now? J o h n A s k e y Having began his his career in the youth team at Port Vale a 19 year old John Askey rejected manager John McGrath's £5 - a - week offer having not made a senior appeared. He then joined Macclesfield Town in 1984 with the club short on players for the upcoming season. It’s fair to say this was a match made in heaven as Askey went on to play 511 times for the Silkmen scoring 109 goals and never playing a game for another club. The Macclesfield legend was then given the opportunity to become the clubs manager in 2013 with the club in the Conference Premier. The club remained in the division until the 2017/18 season where financial difficulties meant that they lost the majority of their players in pre - season. Despite this Macclesfield shocked the odds and won the league that season gaining promotion to the football league. He since had spells managing football league sides Shrewsbury and Port Vale. Askey initially joined the Minstermen on Steve Watson’s management team in November 2021 to provide support to the then under pressure manager. Rather predictably after just one game of this arrangement Steve Watson was sacked and Askey was given the managers job until the end of the 2021 - 22 season. At the point Askey took charge of his first game City were sat 1 2 th in the NLN table and initially that position didn’t improve, city dropped as low as 15th in January. However, following an evaluation of the squad Askey made key additions across the pitch including Hancox, Kouogun and John - L ewis which saw City's fortunes change and a positive run of results in the new year. Askey won manager of the Month in February and ended up guiding York to the Semi - Final of the FA Trophy. By the end of the season City had secured a play off spot and following wins against Chorley Brackley & Boston he had achieved yet another promotion. F i x t u r e s 2022/2023 The Hive – Barnet – 5,176 Technique Stadium – Chesterfield – 10,504 The Shay – Halifax – 14,061 Meadow Lane – Notts County – 20,211 Racecourse Ground – Wrexham – 15,500 Plainmoor – Torquay – 6,500 Roots Hall – Southend – 12,392 Silverlake Stadium – Eastleigh – 5,192 Glanford Park – Scunthorpe United – 9,088 Boundary Park – Oldham 13,513 THE SQUAD G o a l k e e p e r s D e f e n d e r s Ethan Ross Ryan Whitle y Adam Crookes Ryan Fallowfield Fraser Kerr Maxim Kouogun Sam Sanders Alex Whittle M i d f i e l d e r s F o r w a r d s Scott Burgess Olly Dyso n AJ Greaves Mitch Hancox Paddy McLaughlin Gus Mafuta Alex Hurst Maz Kouhyar Manny Duku Luke James Scott Boden Lenell John - Lewis M i t c h H a n c o x Clubman of the Year 2022 New Signings Position GK Ethan Ros s Ethan has joined the club on loan from Stockport County for the season to provide competition for the number 1 spot along with Ryan Whitley. He made 7 appearances for the National League winners last season. Position CB/LB Adam Crookes Crookes played 24 games last season for promoted side Grimsby Town. He is a left footed defender is is capable of playing at either left centre back or as a left back. Position RB Ryan Fallowfiel d The ex Harrogate town right back has plenty of National League and football league experience having played 14 - games for Harrogate from 2017 - 2022 which included a promotion from the National League via the play offs in 2020. Position CB Fraser Ker r The 6”2 centre back has represented Scotland from U16 level right up to U21s. He has top flight experience playing in the SPL for Motherwell between 2012 - 2013. He also has over 50 National League appearances most recently for Chesterfield. Position L B Alex Whittl e A familiar name for many York City fans, Alex played for the Minstermen between 2016 - 2018 making 59 appearances. Whittle has since played for numerous clubs including Boston, Gloucester and Chesterfield. Position C M Gus Mafuta Signed from Boreham Wood, Mafuta is a defensive minded midfielder who will be looking to fill the void in the City midfield left by departing Akil Wright. Mafuta is vastly experienced at NL level having made 195 appearances in the division. Position C M AJ Greave s AJ Greaves spent a short spell on loan at City from Doncaster last season before picking up a season ending injury shortly into his loan. He is a ball winning midfielder who loves a tackle and will probably share the defensive midfield responsibilities with Mafuta. Position RW/LW Alex Hurst Signed from Port Vale for an undisclosed fee. The pacey winger has previously worked under Askey at Vale Park and will bring energy and unpredictability to the City front line. Position C M Scott Burges s Another player who has previously worked under Askey at both Port Vale and Macclesfield. He was part of the Macclesfield team who won the National League in the 17/18 season. Position RW/ST Manny Duk u Born in Amsterdam, Duku started his career in the lower levels of Dutch football before moving to Chesham United in 2015. His breakthrough season came in 17/18 where he scored 33 in 39 for Hayes & Yeading which earned him a move to Cheltenham Town. Position LW/ST Luke Jame s Luke James had his break through season in the 13/14 season where he scored 13 goals for Hartlepool in League 2 at the age of 19. He has since had spells at numerous EFL clubs including Peterborough, Bradford and most recently Barrow. Position S T Scott Bode n Following the trend of the majority of the summer signings Boden has also previously worked under Askey at Macclesfield. He is the 7 th highest goal scorer in National League history with 85 goals scored across 274 games at 8 different clubs. Sam Sanders, Mitch Hancox and Lenell John - Lewis have also signed permanent contracts at the club following their successful loan spells last season. NLN Review 21/22 NLN Top Scorers Macauley Langstaff (Gateshead) 28 goal s Nick Haughton (Fylde) 26 goal s Cedwyn Scot t (Gateshead) 24 goal s Glenn Taylor (Spennymoor) 24 goal s Clubman of the Year: Pete Jameso n Signing of the Season: Mitch Hancox Player of the Season: Akil Wrigh t B y t h e f a n s F o r t h e f a n s NL Season Preview 22/23 Predicted table Big spenders Wrexham are clear favourites to win the league, they are expected to be challenged by Chesterfield and Notts County Last season’s play off final losers Solihull are predicted to have another strong season towards the top of the league along with the likes of Dag & Red , Halifax and Oldham Newly promoted sites Gateshead , York and Dorking are all expected to survive relegation with last season's NLS winners Maidstone predicted to be fighting relegation. Players to watch out for... Cal Roberts Notts Count y Paul Mullin Wrexha m Ruben Rodrigues Notts Count y Alfie Rutherford Dorkin g Ollie Banks Chesterfield Joe Sbarra Solihul l Armando Dobra Chesterfield Kabongo Tshimanga Chesterfield Paul McCallum Dag & Red Michael Cheek Bromle y Junior Morias Dag & Re d Ollie Palmer Wrexha m Celebrating 100 years of YCFC Centenary Year A New Era This upcoming season marks 100 years since the club was founded on May 6 th 1922. To celebrate 100 years of York city the club have unveiled a new Centenary crest for the season as well as releasing a much talked about chocolate kit in reference to the city’s history in chocolate production. The club played 7 seasons in non league football before joining the Football league in 1929. Since then there have been many and many lows for the football club, lets recap just some of the many highlights of the last 100 years: 1932 – The club moved from original home Fulfordgate to Bootham Crescent. 1955 – The club reached the semi - final of the FA cup where we were beaten by Newcastle. This is the furthest the club has ever reached in the competition. 1984 – Became the first ever team to reach 100 points in a single season when winning the 4 th Division. 1985 – York 1 – 0 Arsenal. City beat a star studded Arsenal side, including Viv Anderson in the 4 th round of the FA Cup thanks to a late penalty from Keith Houchen. 1993 – A penalty shootout win over Crewe at the old Wembley secured promotion to the 2 nd division for the first time in the clubs history 1995 – Giantkillers York City strike again! Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United side were beaten 4 - 3 over 2 legs in the Coca Cola Cup courtesy of a famous 3 - 0 win at Old Trafford 2004 – York were relegated into non league for the first time in 75 years. 2012 – Wembley Twice! Gary Mills led th e Minstermen to both the FA Trophy and Play Off Final victory in the space of 8 days which saw the club return back to the Football League. It’s not just the playing squad that has seen change at the club over summer, on 5 th July 2022 the club was purchased from former owner Jason McGill by the supporters trust for £350,000. On the very same day 51% of the total shares were sold to businessman Glen Henderson. Recent years had seen a breakdown in relationship between the supporters and previous owner Jason McGill with numerous protests taking place at matches last season against the ownership and day to day running over the club which had seen York fall to their lowest ever league position as a club. The relationship became so fractured that it had been reported that the previous Chairman had stopped attending games after a 91% vote of no confidence in the York City board a year prior. York will now be running a “hybrid partnership model” with life Trust member Alastair Smith appointed as the new chief executive on the York City board. Smith will be working alongside Henderson, a Hartlepool - born and Johannesburg - raised investor, who has previously ran a business teaching sport in pre - schools in the USA. Upon the announcement of the takeover Glen Henderson released an open message to the supporters detailing his future plans in which he said he would be “aiming to get York City back into the Football League”. York City in Numbers 21/2 2 Points 66 W 11 8 1 9 D 4 5 9 L 6 8 14 Home Away Total Top Scorer Mitch Hancox – 9 Goals Clean Sheets Jameson – 15 Position 5t h WINNING MARGINS 1 Goal 2 Goals 3 Goals 4+ Home wins 5 4 1 1 Away wins 3 4 1 0 Total 8 8 2 1 Goals Conceded Goals Scored 63 51 Overview York League Average Points per game 1.57 1.37 Win Percentage 45% 37% Draw Percentage 21% 26% Lose Percentage 33% 37% Goals Scored per game 1.38 1.32 Goals Conceded per game 1.19 1.32 Total Match Goals per game 2.57 2.64 Clean Sheet Percentage 31% 30% Now is the time... ... to j oin the supporters trust www .ycst.org. uk