01-May-1920 Cricket. A York & District XVI (16) side lost a 2 day game by an innings and 153 runs against Yorkshire CCC who included Herbert Sutcliffe in their side at Bootham Crescent. All 16 York players were allowed to bat. It is understood that this was the first occasion a Yorkshire CCC first team played in York. The 1890 county game against Kent was played at the Yorkshire Gentlemen's ground across the Scarborough railway track on their former Wiggington Road ground.

Summer/31 City's first game at Bootham Crescent. They beat York RLFC in a cricket game.

20-Aug-32 First Bootham Crescent game played, the traditional season opener, the First Team ("Blues") drew 3-3 against the Reserves ("Maroons") in front of 3,000, twice the usual Fulfordgate attendance with receipts of about £70. Admission price was 2.5p (half price for women and boys). At the same time, 4,500 were at Clarence Street for the York RLFC friendly with Batley.

27-Aug-32 First competitive Bootham Crescent game played. A Midland League match ending York 2 Bradford City 4 (sign of the times, standing admission was 6d (2.5p) for Midland League games) in front of a 3,000 crowd. It cost £6,000 to construct the ground. The Main Stand and Popular Stand were built and drainage was improved.

31-Aug-32 Official opening of Bootham Crescent with a Third Division North game against Stockport County (6:30 kick off). The club president, Sir John J Hunt (also chairman of Hunts Brewery), formally opened the ground by cutting a chocolate and cream coloured ribbon - the new colours of the club. Also in attendance were the Sheriff of York (Mr Arnold Rowntree), Mr. Roger Lumley MP, Mr. Arnold Kingscott, treasurer of the Football Association, and other personalities in the football world. The attendance was 8,106 (beaten only 3 times in Fulfordgate league games) with receipts of nearly £400. The game ended as a 2-2 draw. City were represented by Duckworth, Archibald, Johnson, G Maskill, Harris, Bolton, Williams, Fenoughty, Baines, McDonald, Mitchell. Tom Mitchell scored City's first goal and Reg Baines followed with a penalty to earn a 2-2 draw. County's Percy Downes had scored the first ever goal to give the visitors the lead. The ground took just 3 months to build. Hunts Brewery donated refreshments for the occasion.

17-Sep-32 Reg Baines is the first player to score a hat trick at Bootham Crescent beat Mansfield 4-3. 5 months earlier, he had been the last player to score a Fulfordgate hat trick.

26-Nov-32 Ground record crowd see City lose 1-3 to Scarborough in an FA Cup tie.

22-Apr-33 New record attendance of 8,673 for a league game see City go down 1-2 against eventual champions Hull.

1933 Temporary floodlights installed in front of the Main Stand for training. FA rules banned lights being used for matches.

01-Aug-33 City reserve sides switches to The Yorkshire League to cut expenses as concerns are raised over the costs involved in the move to Bootham Crescent. Plans to widen approach road to Bootham Crescent would greatly facilitate spectators coming and going from ground are announced. Chairman Arthur Brown publicly thanks Supporters Club having already raised £950 out of £1,500 required to provide The Popular Stand.

20-Aug-33 First ever Boothanm Crescent open day allows the fans a rare glimpse of the ground's inner sacnctums, including he dressing rooms. 2,000 fans attended.

03-Sep-33 City slump to a record Bootham Crescent defeat when losing 2-6 to Rochdale in front of 4,363.

March-34 The ground hosts the North Riding Senior Cup Final for the first time. City draw 2-2 with Middlesbrough but lose the replay.

March-34 Before a game, the referee and his linesmen were found unconscious in their room, they were believed to have inhaled poisonous fumes from a faulty heater.

21-May-34 Whit Monday (now late Spring bank holiday) Merseyside derby at Bootham Crescent as the country's top 2 baseball sides clash in an exhibition game. Crystal beat British Enca by 142-91 in a 2 innings baseball game, the first to be held at Bootham Crescent, in front of a "good" crowd. John Moores (Littlewoods Pools) was a keen advocate of baseball and was instrumental in forming summer leagues across the country. When Dewsbury Royals folded in 1936, York City Maroons took their place in the 8 team 1937 Yorkshire League attracting around 2,000 for their first home game on 5 May 1937 when The Maroons lost by 9 runs to 3 against Scarborough Sea Gulls. York finished mid table but struggled to build on the opening gate of 2,000 and included Tom Mitchell in some games. Across the city, a local baseball league was founded. In 1938, York City Maroons moved to Clarence Street and finished 10th and bottom of a new enlarged and stronger league which encompassed Yorkshire and Lancashire as the popularity of baseball started to wane. City had several requests for the hire of their ground during the decade, a 1933 request from York Motor Club to hold grass track racing and the British Union of Fascists in 1937 were just 2 of those that were turned down.

June-34 Mass gymnastic display at the ground as a part of the York Civic Week's Children's Festival.

12-Jan-35 New record ground attendance of 13,612 see City lose 0-1 to Derby in the FA Cup.

16-Nov-35 City beat Mansfield 7-5 in the highest goals aggregate game ever seen at Bootham Crescent.

29-Feb-36 New Bootham Crescent record low crowd of just 1,811 (down from 3,485 at the previous home game) see City beat Rotherham 2-1, the crowd was affected by a dispute between the Football League and football pools companies (over copyright and payment for use of the fixtures) which meant the scheduled fixture (Oldham, home) was postponed and the new game only announced late the day before meaning the pools companies had very little time to produce their pools coupons. The match programme had a a ballot asking if fans were in favour of football pools' coupons. Given the ballot result and low crowds across the country, the FL action quickly ceased. It wasn't until December 1963 that a smaller crowd saw a home league game.

01-Aug-36 Opening of the Social Club on the current site beside the Main Stand. A new brick based structure was installed on the site a year later. Due to financial difficulties, City asked for a loan to fund it. Only the York & District Loco Brewery offered financial support. The Social Club was to become the home of the Supporters Club. Before 1936, an old wooden hut from the cricket club, furnished with second hand cinema seating served as the social club. The brewery removed the hut (one of 3 buildings in the area of the ground that was later occupied by the gymnasium) and rebuilt it in their own yard. It is believed the olden wooden hut no longer exist. 1931 map of the area.

19-Sep-36 League record attendance of 10,619 see City's unbeaten start to season ended by Chester in 0-2 a defeat.

10-Feb-37 Wally Hunt (Rochdale) sent off at Bootham Crescent. He and Jon Wright (Darlington) who was sent off on 23 October 1937 are believed to be the only players sent off at Bootham Crescent pre WW2. Meanwhile on 7 December 1935 at Walsall, inside right Alec Gray became the first City player to be sent off.

17-Mar-37 Only 1,600 see City beat Hartlepools United 5-0 in a midweek afternoon game in the new fangled Third Division North Cup, a forerunner of The Autoglass Cup.

Summer/37 York City Maroons competed at Bootham Crescent in baseball's 8 team Yorkshire League. Along the way, a number of friendlies were also staged, including games against West Ham and Romford. Crowds struggled to top 2,000. The Maroons moved to Clarence Street and an enlarged 10 team league covering Yorkshire and Lancashire in 1938, their second and final season.

16-Aug-37 Official opening of the new Social Club. For many years, the Supporters Club continued to use their former Windmill Hotel HQ on Blossom Street alongside the new venue for their meetings.

01-Sep-37 37/8 Supporters Club (membership 1,489) complete the Popular Stand at cost of £1,500 when their 1932 loan is finally paid off. The Supporters Club "Shilling Fund" (5p) provided much of the funding. Building work had started in 1932 when £500 was raised after Dick Leckenby, a YCFC director, provided the deeds to his home as collateral to allow work to start. Supporters Club members barrow loads of rubbish to form a raised base of The Popular Stand and much more in the way of skilled and unskilled labour. In late 1937, a sign was placed on top of the Popular Stand, the club crest above the words, "Popular Stand - Cost Defrayed By City Supporters Club", it was to remain in place until 1959 when weather beaten, it was replaced by another sign that was to remain in situ until 1978.

08-Jan-38 Ground record attendance of 13,917 see City beat Coventry 3-2 in FA Cup Round 3 replay. Receipts were a record £838.

22-Jan-38 Ground record attendance of 18,795 see Reg Baines score a hat trick as City beat West Bromwich Albion 3-2 in Round 4 of the FA Cup. Receipts were a record £1,426.

12-Feb-38 Ground record attendance of 23,860 see City beat Middlesbrough 1-0 in FA Cup Round 5 thanks to a Peter Spooner goal. Receipts were a record £2,193. Middlesbrough's attempts, first to get the game switched to Ayresome Park and then to increase admission prices were both thwarted. Consideration to work to boost the ground capacity to 30,000 was rejected for cost reasons. However, to increase attendance, banking / terracing was extended further upwards behind both goals and 2 rows of bench seating were provided along both touchlines. Tickets had sold out in 90 minutes.

05-Mar-38 All time ground record attendance of 28,123 see City draw 0-0 with Huddersfield Town in FA Cup Round 6. It was the fourth new record in under 2 months and stands to this day. Receipts were a record £2,735. This was partly due to the first increase in admission prices during the cup run. Whilst Main Stand and Popular Stand prices were increased, behind the goals remained at 5p. The game also meant City became the only club ever to play at home in 6 rounds of The FA Cup in one season. Town won the Leeds Road replay 2-1 in front of 58,066 with goals by Edwin Watson and Frank Chivers, Huddersfield going all the way to Wembley, where they lost 1-0 after extra time to Preston. The final Bootham Crescent capacity was less than one third of the all time record. Seating of The Popular Stand, the loss of The Enclosure and today's onerous health and safety regulations help to account for the shortfall.

Summer/38 The Enclosure standing area is tarmaced.

October/38 Social Club refurbished ex-player and Malcolm Comrie is appointed Steward.

14-Jan-39 City's all time worst home defeat is witnessed by 3,826 as Rochdale win 7-0.

1938/9 Hire of cushions in the Main Stand saw a profit of £7 46p (9 shillings and 3 pennies) during the season.

11-Mar-39 Bootham Crescent hosts a friendly between The Yorkshire League and famous amateur side Corinthians.

26-Aug-39 New season opens at Bootham Crescent with a 2-2 draw with Chester. New Football League regulations saw both teams wearing numbered shirts for the first time. They'd been worn for the frst time at Bootham Crescent earlier in the month when City hosted Hull in a League Benevolent Fund game.

14-Oct-39 First wartime game at Bootham Crescent. City go down 2-4 to Sheffield United in a friendly with returning Reg Stockill scoring both City goals watched by 3,000

21-Oct-39 City go down 1-2 to Middlesbrough in the first war league game at Bootham Crescent in front of 4,500.

1940 During World War 2, the tunnel at the back of the Popular Stand was used as an air raid shelter for pupils and staff of the nearby Shipton Street School. War time bombs fell on the Shipton Street end of ground and neighbouring properties. Minor damage was incurred after the air raid on York in April 1942.

01-Feb-41 York 7 Sheffield Wednesday 0. 2,500 see Bert Brenen score 4 in City's win a war time FA Cup tie.

13-Sep-41 More high scoring as City beat Middlesbrough 9-5. Local born George Lee scores 4 and Charlton's Bert 'Sailor' Brown also scores in front of a 3,600 crowd. At the time City's close proximity to army barracks enabled them to field many famous guest players, including several internationals.

22-Nov-41 Legendary England international striker, Dixie Dean scores on his one City guest appearance in the 3-4 defeat against Gateshead.

29-Apr-42 Bootham Crescent suffers minimal damage as a result of a rare German air raid on York. However, the Main Stand roof suffered minor damage from incendiary bombs resulting in holes in the roof and supporter getting wet. A permit to repair the damage was finally received in September 1943 and repair work was completed in the following month.

1942 and 1943 Bootham Crescent hold 2 school's sports days in each year's summer school holidays as part of the "holidays at home" initiative. Other war time uses of the ground included using the Popular Stand tunnel as an air raid shelter and various armed forces displays.

03-Jan-42 England international, Raich Carter, makes his one City guest appearance in the 3-2 win over Grimsby.

28-Feb-42 5,176 see City beat Leeds 8-1.

17-Oct-42 A representative match was staged in which a Football League XI defeated the Northern Command 9-2, watched by 5,500. After the match, Mr. Fred Howarth, the secretary of the Football League, wrote the following letter to the club: "May I take this opportunity, on behalf of the League, of congratulating your club, directors and officials alike, for the excellence of the arrangements. You will appreciate that always in representative matches our chief concern is the smoothness of the arrangements. You did your part splendidly. The League thanks you for staging the match, which was a complete success, both from the entertainment side and from the financial side. They are grateful for the kindly attention of your directors and will remember with pleasure their first official visit to your lovely city."

23-Jan-43 First live radio broadcast from Bootham Crescent as City run out convincing 4-0 winners over Sunderland.

24-Apr-43 City's war time record crowd of 16,350 (receipts of £1,398 54p (10 shillings and 9 pennies)) see City crash out of the FA Cup when they can only draw 1-1 with Sheffield Wednesday in the semi final second leg (losing 4-1 on aggregate).

28-Oct-44 City 10 Gateshead 2 in front of 1,500. GH Hawkins (4), R Dix (3), Fred Scott (2) and Tommy Dawkins were the scorers.

01-Dec-44 Bootham Crescent hosted a Bradford PA v Gateshead game as Park Avenue was unavailable due to an FA XI v Army game. That season, City also hosted a Hull v Newcastle game as Hull's temporary home ground (Boulevard) was hosting a Yorkshre Cup rugby league game.

27-Apr-45 2,106 see City's lose their last home war time game 1-2 against Hartlepools United. A few weeks earlier over 10,000 had seen City bow out of the FA Cup against Sheffield Wednesday when losing 1-6.

Post WW2 Post WW2. In the early post-war period, considerable improvements were made to the ground. Progress was initially slow as materials were diverted to other post WW2 re-building works. Deeper drainage was completed, the Bootham Crescent end banking was concreted (summer 1947), the Popular Stand steps were concreted (first 5 rows in summer 1948 and the rest a year later), Shipton Street end concreted (first 24 steps in 1948) and tannoy equipment was installed. By 1950, the ground's capacity was quoted as 23,000.

19-Oct-46 Post war boom in soccer attendances. City attracted a new record attendance (previous record was set in 1936) for a league game when 15,485 see Doncaster win 4-1. Fearing delays in admitting spectators, due to large numbers expected and the need to give out change, for the first time for a league game, City sold match day tickets in advance. At the same time, they asked fans to "pair up" and pay their half a crown (12.5p) admission fee thus avoiding the need to give out change. That season, 2 of City's home league games attracted 5 figure attendances. As a result of feedback and general crowd confusion, the PA system was upgraded shortly after the game.

Oct-46 Bootham Crescent saw a City XI go down 7-3 to a Polish Army XI of locally based (Sand Hutton) serving Poles. Soon afterwards, Eryk Kubicji and Edouard Wojtczak joined City.

02-Nov-46 City's league game against Stockport was selected by the BBC (Light Programme, now known as Radio 2) for live national radio commentary of the last 30 minutes,the whole game was broadcast live on the General Forces Programme. Making his debut as a commentator on national radio was Kenneth Wolstenholme.

26-May-47 City beat Halifax 2-0 in the latest ever game to be played in a season at Bootham Crescent due to the severe winter.

1947/8 That season, 6 of City's home league games attracted 5 figure attendances, 14,125 against Hull being the biggest. The season's gate receipts were a record £16,213.

30-Aug-47 Alf Patrick becomes the first City player ever to score 4 goals in a game.

1948/9 That season, 10 of City's home league games attracted 5 figure attendances, 21,010 against Hull being the biggest. City set a never to be beaten, all time record average home league attendance of 10,409. Even reserve games were well attended, a massive 3,591 saw the reserve game with Scunthorpe. Midweek matches were moved to Monday where they stayed until the 1973/4 season.

01-Sep-48 At the shareholders' annual meeting, it was announced that the club had agreed to purchase the Bootham Crescent ground which had been on lease since 1932. The chairman, Mr. W.H. Sessions, stated that an agreement had been signed and felt that the club now owned one of the best grounds in the Third Division. The deal was formally signed on 19 October 1948. The balance sheet revealed that the ground was bought for £4,075 and the buildings, which cost £7,444, had been depreciated so that the whole ground and equipment was listed at £7,204 at current value in 1949. To celebrate the purchase of the ground, a dinner was held at the Royal Station Hotel at which the deeds were handed to the chairman. Among those present were past and present directors and many enthusiasts who had worked over the years for the club. Also in attendance was the club's first captain back in 1922, Billy Smith.

20-Nov-48 Watch York City 6 Rotherham 1, filmed by Coal Board for a documentary and watched by a new home record league gate of 19,216 (record receipts of £1,271). Alf Patrick becomes the first ever City player to score 5 goals in a game.

23-Apr-49 City lose 3-2 to Hull in front of an all ticket crowd of 21,010, the first ever all ticket league game at Bootham Crescent. Sunderland (23/Sep/74) was the next. Rumblings of discontent surrounding congestions over the Glass Bridge began to be aired.

Summer/49 The lower tier of The Popular Stand was concreted as were 24 steps at the Shipton Street end. A brick dust running track was laid in front of the Main Stand.

August/49 Due to re-seeding work, the annual public practice match was moved to the Co-op ground on Stockton Lane.

01-Dec-50 Harold Dennis became the first City player to be dismissed at Bootham Crescent when sent off in a reserve game against Halifax.

09-May-51 First of 2 friendlies against Republic Of Ireland teams to mark the centenary of the 1851 Great Exhibition. City beat Sligo 4-0 and Transport 5-0 a week later watched by a disappointing combined attendance of under 5,000.

Summer/51 First known instance of tarmac in the car park. Personal recollections are of it being a pot holed area as late as the 1970s.

Early 1950s First known instance of "dugouts" at the ground. Essentially a wooden bench enclosed in a wooden frame, they occasionally moved position which indicated a portable structure. There was no dug out element of placing them below ground level.

23-Apr-49 City set an all time record attendance for a home league game when 21,010 (receipts of £1,451 12/6) see City go down 1-3 to Hull. 3 weeks earlier, over 40,000 had seen City win 3-2 at Hull.

10-May-52 England met Northern Ireland in the first Schoolboy (Under 14) international to be played at Bootham Crescent. The attendance was 16,000 and England, who won 5-0, were captained by Wilf McGuinness, he hit the post and was later to manage York City. He was the only player to go on to have a decent career in football.

25-Dec-53 City lose 2-0 at home to Barnsley in the traditional Christmas Day fixture list. Prior to the match, arguments raged as to the declining appeal of the fixture, the impact on Christmas dinner arrangements and lack of public transport whilst on the other side, shop workers argued to maintain the day as the shops were all closed all they had a rare opportunity to watch City. As a compromise, the kick off was moved to 11:00 rather than the usual 2:15. 5,160 saw the game, the lowest post WW2 crowd to witness a home Christmas Day City game.

Summer/54 Wire mesh placed over the players' entrance where they emerge from the tunnel and pass through the enclosure.

01-Aug-54 Season starts with over 23,000 through the turnstiles for the first 2 home games of the season. Did they know something was about to happen as Arthur Bottom scored a hat trick on his debut on the first day of the season.

19-Feb-55 21,000 see City's historic 3-1 win over Spurs in Round 5 of the FA Cup. The game was one of 5 successive games to attract attendances of over 10,000 to Bootham Crescent.

08-Apr-55 19,843 fans see City and Accrington Stanley finish 1-1 in their top of the table Good Friday game with with another 3,000 locked out

1954/5 That season, 9 of City's home league games attracted 5 figure attendances, 19,843 against Accrington being the biggest.

01-Jun-55 In the summer, major work was carried out to extend the Main Stand towards Shipton Street. Look closely (and for the rest of its live), you could spot the join where the last quarter (nearest the Longhurst end) was added to The Main Stand. This was named "Section D" with lettering starting from the Social Club end. Around 1983, the middle sections were merged and all were "re-lettered" starting with "Section A" at the Shipton Street end. Profits from the FA Cup run, together with a Stand Extension Fund, helped in this project. A side effect of the work was the removal of the ivy which had been allowed to grow across the back of the Main Stand. On April 6, a fund was set up to cover the cost of the Main Stand extension. With donations from local firms, the directors (£250), Social Club (£500), Supporters & Auxiliary Branch (£315) and others, £2,300 was raised in a month. The fund closed in June with £5,455 raised. A further £900 was also spent on ground improvements that summer. Original plans were to provide 700 extra bench seats were scaled back to 350. As part of the extension, wooden stairs at both ends (and in front) of The Main Stand (which allowed an additional entry / exit point to the seats) and a wooden gantry used by cameraman were demolished. A cycle park was made available "behind the grandstand" and due to the rise in car ownership, car parking in Grosvenor Road and vehicular access down Bootham Crescent was banned. The total cost of improvements that summer was about £6,500.

1955/6 Cup fever rubs off as City set an all time club record for highest home league aggregate seasonal attendance of 236,685 (average 10,290). Note the seasonal average was higher in 1948/9 when 2 fewer home league games were played. That season, 10 of City's home league games attracted 5 figure attendances, 14,976 against Derby being the biggest. Also, for the first time in City's history, average league attendance (all games, home and away topped 10,000), subsequently only achieved once more, in 1974/5. That season also saw Bootham Crescent The Lucas Trophy played between the Yorkshire and Lancashire police forces and refereed by Arthur Ellis, he refereed at 3 World Cups and was later a jovial Its A Knockout host / referee.

27-Dec-55 Arthur Bottom became the first City player to be dismissed in a first team match at Bootham Crescent after he received 2 cautions. He was also sent off in the home against Carlisle (16 September 1957).

28-Jan-56 22,000 see City draw 0-0 with Sunderland in the FA Cup Round 4. City lose replay. FA regulations mean that due to the colour clash, both teams must change kit, City play in blue shirts / white shorts and Sunderland play in white and black. Pre match, City supporters paraded the club mascot, a robin carved out of wood and painted red and white.

01-Jun-56 A 35 (other reports say 22) foot high concrete wall is built at the St Olave's Road (Bootham Crescent) end. The project cost around £2,500 (plus free labour from the Supporters Club) and had a two-fold purpose - a safety precaution and a support for additional banking and terracing. Previously advertising hoardings marked the edge of Bootham Crescent and the Grosvenor Road end had shallow banking which only extended part way towards the hoarding. The Social Club was upgraded with wood based structures being replaced by brick and concrete. The work saw the exit gate, near the Social Club installed and the wide banked steps built. The cost was about £4,000. The FA Cup tie in 1955 against Tottenham Hotspur had been restricted to a 21,000 capacity by the police, but with the improvements made the limit had risen to 23,600 when Bolton Wanderers provided the opposition in January 1958. The works also saw foundations for the floodlights, including some electrics, to be installed in that corner of the ground. At the time, the talk was of a possible ground extension to 30,000, the Shipton Street end being seen asthe prefered route.

13-Aug-56 7,099 turn up for the hastily re-arranged but traditional annual pre season practice match between City's probables and possibles It was the first time Barry Jackson had been seen in a City shirt. Heavy rain had seen the fixture postponed 2 days earlier.

20-Aug-56 City draw 2-2 with Workington on the opening day of the season in front of 15,318, City's highest ever home crowd on the opening day of the season.

01-Nov-56 Regular home match commentary, organised by the hospital's league Of Friends, for local hospitals started. A commentary booth is built, believed at the rear of the Main Stand, previously some games had had commentary relayed to York's hospitals. Costs will have been around £500 for the broadcasting equipment and private exchange lines to several local hospitals plus an annual line rental of £80. City allocated £48 towards the costs and allowed "The Friends" one ground blanket collection per season.

01-Dec-56 City beat Darlington 1-0 in the first Boothan Crescent game broadcast direct to local hospitals, initially 5 hospitals, although in the mantra of "catch em young", coverage was soon extended to the Naburn maternity hospital.

25-Dec-56 Last Xmas day football at Bootham Crescent. We drew 3-3 with Hartlepools United (as they were known in those days).

02-Feb-57 Arthur Bottom scores 4 times as City record their biggest ever when beating Southport 9-1 in front of 8,801 at Bootham Crescent. At 0-0 Southport had a goal ruled out for offside and due to injury (and no substitutes in those days) they played three quarters of the game with just 10 players.

Summer/57 £4,500 spent to improve the Social Club, including provision of an upper floor and what was later to become the game's room and player's bar. Wooden tea bar structures in the area removed and replaced by a brick built structure which allowed refreshments to be served to people on the terraces (until eth serving hatch was bricked up in the 1970s) and also outside the car park. Also some additional works on Grosvenor Road frontage.

26-Aug-57 City beat Bradford City 2-0 in the opening home game of the season. The big talking point was the absence of the 5 minutes flag. The flagpole had been snapped in 2 (about 3 yards from the top) in gales over the weekend. A new flagpole was in place for the next game. A flagpole had been visible in the ground since it was built in 1932.flagpole in action

31-Aug-57 City and Barrow draw 0-0 in a Bootham Crescent game chosen by the BBC for live second half radio commentary.

25-Jan-58 23,600, a post war record, see City draw 0-0 with Bolton in the FA Cup Round 4. City lose replay.

Summer/58 2 year pitch improvement plan starts with the installation of a new drainage system followed by ploughing and re-seeding (although the corner flag areas were deemed in good condition and did not require a re-seed). A light tractor, rotavator and other appliances were bought and the drainage system was re-modelled.

01-Aug-58 Bryan Foster joined the groundstaff. A former City reserve and "A" team keeper", the former assistant groundsman at Pocklington School duly went on to became head groundsman and, apart from a period 1971 to 1975 when he held similar appointments at Bury and then Preston, he has served the club until his untimely death. For many years the Bootham Crescent pitch has had an excellent playing surface and in recognition of his long and outstanding service, Bryan was presented with a gold watch by the directors in March 1988.

26-Dec-58 Highest home attendance of season (10,382) see City beat Barrow 1-0. City ended the season with our first ever promotion.

01-Jun-59 Floodlights (24 bulbs per pylon, 3 rows of 8 with scope for another row) were installed at the ground, at the cost of £14,500, of which, £13,000 was raised by the Auxiliary Club. The installation was based on a system of lighting developed by the General Electric Company Ltd, who designed and supervised the project. Messrs Shepherds of York were responsible for the concrete bases and erection of the four 100 feet Tubewright Towers, each carrying 24 specially designed GEC 1,500 floodlight units (giving a total wattage of 144 kilowatts (4 * 24 * 1.5). The electrical sub-contractors were Messrs F.H. Wheeler of Scunthorpe.

24-Aug-59 City beat Bury 2-0 in fading light as the referee insists the new floodlights are switched on. The lights had been tested during a pre season friendly and training sessions. A battery powered backup was also installed with the batteries installed in a new building in the corner of the ground adjacent to the Lumley Barracks. New nylon nets, white shirts and orange coloured balls seemed to be the favoured pre-requsites. The move came about as floodlights were now allowed to be used during league and cup games.

05-Sep-59 City lose 2-1 to Halifax. Play was suspended for a few minutes when the referee, Mr Kelly, was knocked unconscious from a clearance.

07-Sep-59 City beat QPR 2-1 in a game that is advertised as "Second half under floodlights". The 10,538 crowd triggered a bonus payment to the players for a five figure crowd. The success of the lights meant City standardised on 3pm / 7:30pm kick off times with Friday night football becoming a regular occurrence. Previously as the nights drew in, City would have up to 10 different kick off times during the season.

28-Oct-59 Official opening of floodlights. City lose 2-8 in friendly against Newcastle in front of a 9,414 crowd (£825 receipts). Len White (3), Ivor Allchurch (2), George Eastham, Bobby Mitchell and Bobby Gilfinnan scored for The Magpies. Colin Addison and George Patterson replied for City.

02-Apr-60 Bootham Crescent hosts its second ever schoolboy international (Victory Shield) as England beat Northern Ireland by 4-1 in front of 10,000. With 3,000 schoolboys arriving by train from as far a field as London and Cumberland, City had hoped for a 15,000 crowd for a game featuring Ron "Chopper" Harris, David Pleat and Barry Fry. Contrast that crowd to City's attendance a week later of 4,751.

09-Apr-60 Lowest Bootham Crescent crowd of the season (4,751 against Brentford) as City go straight back down to Division 4. The home FA Cup tie against Barrow attracted 7,631. Away attendances dipped as low as 925 at Accrington and 2,055 at Bournemouth. Incidentally City's FA Cup tie at Bournemouth attracted 14,749.

20-Aug-60 New league season starts with a 3-2 win over Millwall. Supportersr will have heard recorded music over the newly installsed tannoy system. 4,751 against Brentford) as City go straight back down to Division 4. The home FA Cup tie against Barrow attracted 7,631. Away attendances dipped as low as 925 at Accrington and 2,055 at Bournemouth. Incidentally City's FA Cup tie at Bournemouth attracted 14,749.

10-Oct-60 The League Cup starts. City's first game results in a 0-1 home defeat by Blackburn in front of a bumper 10,933 with admission prices reduced to attract fans to the new competition. Local neighbours complained about the noise of fans leaving the ground and slamming car doors disturbing children's sleep.

05-Nov-60 City draw 0-0 with Bradford PA in The FA Cup in an early 2:15 kick off. Despite City having floodlights, Bradford PA exercised their right for the full game to be played in daylight as they didn't possess lights.

25-Mar-61 City draw 0-0 with Stockport in a game moved to 7pm to avoid a Grand National clash. 8,221 saw the game, well above the 6,900 season average.

08-Apr-61 Supporters Club "Lucky Draw", the 50-50 forerunner, was introduced. One lucky ticket holder won £72 (half the total take). Shortly afterwards, the prize money was split to award 3 ticket holders.

01-Jun-61 At the Grosvenor Road end, terracing is extended and becomes all concrete whilst a section of the corrugated fencing is replaced by a brick wall and a new early exit turnstile is installed. In the Main Stand, work saw the Secretary's Office become the new boardroom, that in turn becane a tea room and the old tea room became the new Manager and Sceretary's offices. The work served as a memorial to former director Hartas Foxton, the founder of the York Pullman Bus Company who had bequeathed £1,000 to the club. The Supporters Club were also busy that summer re-appointing the St Olaves End tea room and taking the old equipment to build a new tea bar at the Shipton Street end. Work completed in September with tarmac being laid down around theSt Olaves tea bar. At the time, the Women's section made an annual donation to the club of £963, £871 of it from the tea bar. A new Main Entarance is installed.

11-Aug-61 Annual Reds v Blues paractice match moved to a Friday night. That season, players' bonuses are revised so rather than a £1 bonus for a £10,000 gate, a tiered system of £1 (7,000), £2 (9,000) and £3 (over 11,000) is introduced. It lasted just one season until performance related bonuses were introduced.

09-Oct-61 City beat top flight Leicester 2-1 in the League Cup. At the time, City had an arrangement with Lumley Barracks to park motor cycles and scooters to avoid clogging up the club's own car park.

16-Mar-62 City draw 2-2 with Southport in the first Friday evening league game under floodlights at Bootham Crescent. Friday evenings under floodlights were to became a common occurrence in the 60s.

Summer-62 With concrete already at the bottom and top of the Popular Stand, the tarmac in the middle section was replaced with concrete meaning the ground was now fully concreted.

22-Sep-62 City's poor start to the season continues in front of a record low Bootham Crescent attendance of 2,986.

26-Oct-62 With floodlights in place, City start to experiment with Friday night games at Bootham Crescent and are rewarded with increased crowds.

08-Dec-62 Another low of 2,511 see City draw with Barrow.

08-Mar-63 City's league fixtures resume after severe winter weather caused chaos to the fixtures. 4,083 see City beat Newport. The previous home game on December 15 saw City beat Stockport in front of 2,610. During the barren spell 11,722 saw City go down 0-5 at Southampton in an FA Cup tie.

05-Oct-63 City beat Chesterfield 2-0 with pre match and half time entertainment being provided by the Coldstream Guards band. Over the years, this was a regular feature, but gradually, the bands became more local and included local dancing troupes, which were popular at the time before fading away in the 1970s.

23-Nov-63 Only 2,368 see City lose to Aldershot. Before the game, a minute's silence was held and both teams wore black armbands in memory of John F Kennedy, the USA President, who had been assassinated a day earlier.

12-Dec-63 Was Christmas shopping to blame as the attendance plunges to only 1,653 as City lose 0-2 to Oxford. It was originally announced on the day that the crowd was 1,637, before being adjusted slightly upwards a few days later.

Summer-64 After an absence of 5 years, a new sign appears above the Popular Stand recognising the efforts of the Supporters Clb in building the Stand.

21-Nov-64 Recalled Norman Wilkinson scores City's first in a 2-1 win over Darlington to break Billy Fenton's previous club record of 118 City career goals.

27-Feb-65 New loudspeaker equipment used at Bootham Crescent for the first time (Dave Fleet, other earlier reports state it was installed in summer 1965).

26-Mar-65 13,444 see Weddle score a hat trick in the 4-0 win over Tranmere as City chase promotion.

24-Apr-65 2 Paul Aimson goals help City to a 4-0 win over Halifax in the last game of the promotion winning season. After the game, the players salute the fans from the Directors Box from where captain Billy Rudd addresses the supporters.

Summer-65 Andy Provan recalls standing on the terraces on the Friday evening that he joined City and watching a German youth team in action.

Summer-65 Half time scoreboard at Shipton Street end ceases to be used, but continued to be used for advertising. 300 tip up seats replace benches in section C (the Directors Box section) of the Main Stand. Their season tickets were priced at 7 guineas (£7.35) whilst the bench season tickets in the Main Stand were 6 guineas.

13-Aug-65 City host a pre season friendly against Bradford PA in front of over 5,000 fans who witnessed the first use of substitues at Bootham Crescent, 2 for City and 3 for BPA).

15-Oct-65 With City playing that Friday evening at Brighton, the reserve team game was pulled forward a day that evening. City were rewarded with an attendance about 200 more than the average.

12-Mar-66 19,372 see City lose 1-2 against Hull. The lowest home crowd of the season being 2,702 against Brentford just 2 weeks later. Originally arranged for the previous evening, City put the game back a day when Hull announced that their expected 10,000 following would be much less on a Friday night. During the game, Andy Provan suffered a leg injury, he managed to play another 4 games that season before a broken leg, his left fibula, was diagnosed during the summer.

02-May-66 7,127 see England beat Germany by 1-0 in a schoolboy international. City receive a £200 fee for hosting the game. Lyndon Hughes (later of WBA and Peterborough) scored the only goal of the game, England featured Dave Thomas, Malcolm Webster, Geoff Merrick and Steve Seargeant who all went on to have professional careers. Pre match entertainment was provided by the Rowntree Works Band and a gymnastics display by the York Youth Organisation. No doubt all enjoyed by the guests of honour, the 9 York born England schooolboy internationals.

16-May-66 Bootham Crescent hosts Rowntree's home game in the final of The North Riding Senior Cup. There was pre match drama as no linesmen had been appointed and a tannoy announcement secured 2 local referees to run the lines. Trees lost 2-0 to Middlesbrough Reserves in front of 1,944 spectators. Trees had beaten Whitby Town by 3-1 in the semi final at Bootham Crescent in March in front of 1,735 fans.

Summer-66 Around 1,200 fans see the last inter-club pre season friendly at Bootham Crescent as The Reds (first team) play The Whites (the others). 7,099 fans had seen a similar game in 1956. The following season, a friendly with Rotherham replaced it.

30-Sep-66 City beat Bradford PA 3-1. Andy Provan scored our 3^rd goal, when chasing onto a through pass and dribbling around the keeper, checking there was no defender near him, he purposely fell to the ground and laid full length to head the ball into the net from a couple of inches at the Shippo end. Post match, his actions incurred the wrath of manager Tom Lockie.

26-Nov-66 City draw 0-0 with Morecambe in The FA Cup. Pre match, the visitors handed out presentation cartons of Morecambe shrimps to City's directors and sticks of rock.

11-Jan-67 14,531 see City and Middlesbrough draw a replayed FA Cup tie at Bootham Crescent. City lose the second replay at Maine Road.

11-Mar-67 1,933 see City draw 0-0 with Brentford. The following Friday, 2,142, watch Yorkshire Schoolboys play Durham.

25-Mar-67 Lowest home league crowd (1,912) of the season see City beat Luton 5-1. City lost the return fixture, the last game of the season by the same score.

05-May-67 City beat Newport 2-1 as regular Friday night football at Bootham Crescent comes to an end. City move to Saturday night games as The Football League decides that clubs will forfeit a £100 per match payment for the use of their fixtures by the Pools Promoters if they play on a Friday night.

Summer-67 New hospital broadcasting box added, replacing the original installed in 1956. Director Chris Hull funded the work.

01-Sep-67 The Supporters Club open their first programme shop at the ground, a wooden hut, located to your left as you entered through the main bank of turnstiles in the south west corner of the ground and backed onto the barracks. It was manned by Supporters' Club members. By October 1968, it had been replaced by a hut acquired by the Supporters Club from York railway station. It remained in use until the end of the 1975/6 season. Previously, the Supporters Club had used a small room within the Social Club as a programme shop of sorts, it was later used as a refreshment point.

25-Sep-67 City lose 1-0 to Newport prompting a 100 plus group of young supporters in the Popular Stand to chant "Resign, Resign" before moving in front of The Main Stand. Peter Rhodes' name, he'd fronted a hostile take over approach a few months earlier, was also chanted. The group had grown to a reported 200 by the time they were protesting in the car park after the game.

07-Feb-68 First major neutral match at Bootham Crescent when Middlesbrough hosted Hull in a FA Cup Round 3 second replay. Boro won 1-0 in front of 16,524 in a game arranged at one days' notice when the intended venue, Hillsborough, was deemed ice bound. The game realised ground record receipts of £4,423. A season earlier, City had lost to Middlesbrough in an FA Cup Round 3 2^nd replay game at Manchester City's Maine Road ground in front of 21,437, the highest attendance at any of the 3 games. In those days, there were unlimited cup replays, after the first replay, the rest were played at neutral venues (usually somewhere between the 2 clubs homes). In late 1944, both Bradford PA and Hull played one home league game at Bootham Crescent when their own grounds were unavailable.

17-Feb-68 Supporters are greeted by the first appearance of "The Rossettes", a group of 6 (and quickly expanded to 12) female City supporters, in "smart and red outfits", selling jackpot draw tickets.

01-Jun-68 New bulbs (24 per pylon) installed in the floodlights wit new pylons also installed.

Summer-68 Players' billiards room, next to the secretary's office re-purposed as the physio room.

Summer-68 Big name friendlies came to Bootham Crescent with visits from top flight Leeds and Huddersfield. 5,643 saw the Leeds game. In return, big time York played a friendly at Albion Rovers.

Summer-68 First programme shop (aka hut) installed at the St Olaves's Road end, it was previouslsy the York Station platform 8 refreshment hut and cost £1.50 + transport costs.

1968/9 A new season and still 3 tea bars dotted around the ground run by the good ladies of the Supporters' Club. They were located high on the Shipton Street terracing (north west corner, on the muddy bank above the terracing by the floodlight pylon), Grosvenor Road end (south west corner close to the programme shop) and from a room of the Social Club.

28-Oct-68 City lose 2-0 at home to Exeter with 3 youths protesting in front of the directors' box, "Resign, resign, we want a manager", City had been managerless for 2 months since Joe Shaw had resigned.

28-Dec-68 City draw 0-0 at home to Newport who had kicked off with just 9 players, 2 who had travelled separately from London were delayed and did not arrive at York Station until 2:50.

04-Jan-69 Gordon Banks helps top flight Stoke to a 2-0 win in front of 11,129 in an FA Cup tie 2-0. The first of England's victorious 1966 World Cup winners to play at York.

24-Feb-69 City beat Wrexham 1-0 but with Wilf Meek ill, for the first time in 40 years, he did not produce the matchday programme.

04-Apr-69 City beat Port Vale 3-1 with Ted MacDougall in goal after Bob Widdowson dislocated his shoulder in the 54^th minute. The game was memorable at the time for an all time record 5 players being booked.

05-May-69 Referee Roy Harper, on the half way line near the dugouts, drops dead with a heart attack during a muchpostponed game against Halifax. A replacement was summoned from the crowd and the game continued to full time. It is not recorded whether the cause of death was directly related to the 0-0 bore draw. Read more.

May-69 Newton-On-Ouse beat Cross Keys 3-2 (after extra time) in the York FA Junior Cup Final. The winners fielded 6 Thompson brothers in their line up.

1968/9 The last season of regular Saturday night football at Bootham Crescent. The Football League wanted all games played in the afternoon for the pools companies’ benefit and deducted £100 a game from their payments to clubs for every game played in the evening. City lost £700 (7 games).

11-Oct-69 City lose 1-0 to Port Vale. Post match City face FA disciplinary action after a conker was thrown towards the Vale keper. It resulted in notices having to be displayed around the ground and in the programme.

26-Dec-69 11:15 Boxing Day kick off as City draw 0-0 with Hartlepool, the early finish allowed City a quick getaway for their long trip to Swansea for the game a day later.

1970s Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, City were regularly (well once a season, more in 1974-6) featured as the main match on Yorkshire TV's Sunday afternoon football programme. A temporary TV gantry was always erected on top of The Popular Stand and necessitated the commentator (John Helm, Keith Macklin et al) undertaking a perilous, vertical climb up a ladder.

Early 1970s New brick built dug outs.

18-Apr-70 England Schoolboys (Under 15) beat Northern Ireland 4-0 at Bootham Crescent. England featured Brian Hornsby (who scored twice) and David Price, both went onto play for Arsenal along with Steve Powell (Derby), Vince Rodaway (Burnley), Denis Leman (Manchester City) and Brian Bason (Chelsea) and with Mervyn Day (West Ham) as reserve keeper. Pre match there was a 20 minute police dog handling display.

19-Dec-70 Last home game of year attracts only 3,102 as mid table City beat Crewe 1-0.

23-Jan-71 13,775 see City score 2 late goals to earn 3-3 draw with Division 1 high flyers Southampton.

19-Apr-71 City's 16 game unbeaten league run ends in front of 14,321 as Oldham win 1-0 in thrilling clash between 2 already promoted sides. There had been a late change of referee amid fears of possible threats of trouble from Leeds United supporters protesting against referee Ray Tinker's controversial decisions in Leeds v WBA game at Elland Road 2 days earlier that cost them the championship. Jack Taylor, a World Cup referee replaced him. The crowd was a good way up from the 2,821 who saw City beat Cambridge 3-0 on a snowy Monday night 2 weeks earlier when the game was halted to allow snow to be cleared from the pitc hmarkings.

24-Apr-71 5 days later and only 5,021 turn up to see City beat Scunthorpe 2-0 in pouring rain. Scunthorpe got rid of Kevin Keegan that summer after he missed a penalty in his last appearance for them.

Summer 1971 Seats replace benches in the final 3 sections of the Main Stand at a cost of £3,207. 6 mercury bulbs added to each floodlight pylon making 120 bulbs in total. York City sign added above the car park entrance.

Summer 1971 Leeds and Hibernians visit Bootham Crescent for pre-season friendlies. Hibs asked for a £800 appearance fee which was just about covered by the 4,833 attendance.

08-Sep-71 Highest crowd (10,700) of season see City draw a League Cup game 2-2 with a Middlesbrough side including World Cup hero Nobby Stiles.

20-Nov-71 For the second successive Saturday, Bootham Crescent attracted hooliganism. It is believed this lead directly to the closure of the tunnel beneath The Popular Stand.

30-Nov-71 City beat Hvidovre (Copenhagen), a top Danish side, 2-0 with goals from Eddie Rowles (8) and Tommy Henderson (20) in front of a disappointing crowd of 2,925 (receipts £725)). Only Heinz Hilebrandt in goal prevented a much bigger win for City. Hvidovre were the first continental team to play at Bootham Crescent. Valur (Iceland) visited City in 1974 (possibly September 30 or October 7), losing 5-0, in an era when such friendlies were not uncommon.

Jan-72 Top 13 rows of the Bootham Crescent end terracing is dug up and replaced when subsidence is noted.

Feb-72 CHECK DATE (71/2)Blackburn Rovers Monday night game postponed due to power cuts arising from the miners' industrial action.

22-Apr-72 Bournemouth fans are responsible for an early act of vandalism at Bootham Crescent.

Summer 1972 Vague plans to re-build an all-seater Popular Stand by putting it on slilts and adding extra facilities (including restaurant, swimming pool and squash courts) as well as extra car parking was mooted. Purchase of army land behind it and a £500,000 cost were mentioned.

09-Sep-72 Bournemouth game sees the launch of The Supporters Club's "Win A New Vauxhall Viva" competition where fans had to guess how far it would run on one gallon of petrol. Harold Charlton of Hessay was announced the winner with a guess just 2 yards off the vehicle's 41 miles, 354 yards and 6.5 inches distance. £100 was raised from the competition.

01-Jan-73 Players hand a list of grievances to the directors and threaten to go on strike when popular coach Billy Horner resigns, effectively a vote of no confidence in Tom Johnston. One of the main bones of contention was the poor state of the baths in the changing rooms, widely believed by the players to be disease ridden. Matters were eventually smoothed over but the baths remained a bugbear and in a poor state for many years, their state shocking noted by some Supporters Trust personnel in the early days of The Trust when doing works during the first Conference era.

Summer-73 Public address system moved from the Secretary's Office to the back of the Main Stand.

10-Nov-73 City beat Southend in front of a bumper 8,153 crowd (receipts £5,405), vouchers for the upcoming League Cup tie were distributed at the turnstiles.

21-Nov-73 2:15pm, Wednesday afternoon kick off against Manchester City in Round 4 of The League Cup. Schools and factories report high absenteeism as energy saving regulations prohibited the use of floodlights during the "3 Day Working Week" and the imminent miners' strike. It was the first early kick off game since the floodlights were installed. An all ticket crowd of 15,360 (record receipts of £9,633) saw a 0-0 draw, it might have been more but the visitors returned 1,800 (of their 4,700 allocation) a day before the game. It was the first all ticket game at Bootham Crescent since the 1958 FA Cup time againt Bolton. Before kick off, Maine Road star, Rodney Marsh, ran out onto the pitch minus his shorts, his tracksuit bottoms saved his blushes.

10-Feb-74 Energy saving regulations mean a first ever Sunday afternoon home fixture against Watford. A higher than normal 7,638 crowd see a 2-2 draw with the Yorkshire Volunteer band providing additional entertainment. The previous home games had drawn 4,699 and 3,727 crowds. Grimsby had attracted 5,890 on Boxing Day. The game also saw the debut of a new PA system (and a new DJ, Phil Eastwood), City responding to fans' feedback on how to improve the match day experience.

24-Feb-74 Another Sunday fixture. Above average 7,149 see City beat Cambridge 2-0.

06-Mar-74 10,392 see City beat promotion rivals Bournemouth by 4-1. The game going ahead after City loaned a clunky generator from Nottimngham to provide electricity.

16-Mar-74 City beat high flying Bristol Rovers 2-1 in a controversial game in front of the television cameras.

27-Apr-74 City's home season ends with a 1-1 draw with Oldham in front of 15,583 and television cameras. Players do a lap of honour chased around the pitch by the majority of the jubilant fans to celebrate City's first (and only to date) entry into Division 2. TV coverage shows the half time score board at the Shipton Street end still in use.

Summer 74 Ground improvements in readiness for our first campaign outside the bottom 2 divisions. They included the installation of wooden seats in The Popular Stand (purchased second hand from Manchester City increasing the ground's seating capacity to 2,762 from 1,000), a new players' entrance, floodlights upgraded (24 bulbs became 30) and the car park was tarmacked (previously it was a pot holed cinder affair and continued to double up as a training area for the players during the week). Work continued until midnight on the eve of the pre season friendly with Arbroath and resumed at 7 am on the morning of the game with the club and Supporters Club members clearing the remaining debris from the pitch. The total cost was £18,000. Subsequently, the seats in the section closest to Shipton Street end were removed to provide covered standing accommodation. I remember taking advantage of it on 3rd November 1984 when the Gillingham 7-1 game was played in a torrential downpour.

Summer 74 Car Park. A club shop (portakabin) was installed in the car park for the first time (the Manchester United programme shows it backing onto the wall closest to Newborough St). It stocked a range of souvenirs (ties, badges, scarves pennants, pewter tankards and enamel badges and more), many items with the new City "yc" roundel symbol as George Teasdale and the new promotions team christened City as the “friendly club”. That season's programmes (e.g. 31/01/75) noted the continuance of the souvenir shop at the Grosvenor Road end. 2 other portakabins to extra office and Supporters Club pace were also installedat a total cost of £4,305. The players were unhappy as they lost their match day parking spots in the car park.

Summer 74 Grandiose Plans. With promotion to Division 2 in 1974, there were plans to develop the ground and surrounding area. At the, time, we could squeeze just over 15,000 in to the ground and that wasn’t deemed sufficient for a second flight club (although we didn’t fill it very often when we were in Division 2). A plan was floated to rebuild the ground which involved buying the Territorial Army grounds behind the Pop Stand and turning the ground through 90 degrees. I seem to recall only The Main Stand would remain untouched. With the ground turned through 90 degrees, The Main Stand would be the behind one of the goals. In the era of railway special trains for travel to away games, the other proposal was to build a railway halt on Scarborough Terrace meaning away supporters could decamp from their trains right outside the ground, thus avoiding the need for them to walk through the city centre. With our second tier stay lasting just 2 years, we never had the time or inclination to see those plans come to reality although preliminary talks were held with British Railways in 1974. An £80,000 plan to roof the Bootham Crescent end and a move to a new ground on Thanet Road were also mooted. One change that did happen was the "1974 Club", providing the first hospitality offering for Main Stand season ticket holders, a forerunner of the Vice Presidents.

17-Aug-74 Barry Lyons scores City's first ever Division 2 goal in front of 9,396 against Aston Villa. Top admission price was £16 for a Main Stand season ticket.

27-Aug-74 Lowest crowd (6,321) of the season see City's first ever Division 2 win. 1-0 against Cardiff.

01-Sep-74 Death announced of Raymond “Nobby” Clarke , aka The Pearly King. He would walk around the pitch before big games dressed as a “pearly king”. I recall it being before every FA Cup game, possibly a tradition dating back to the 1954/5 FA Cup run.

30-Nov-74 City beat Norwich 1-0 in front of Yorkshire TV cameras. Unfortunately, in those days and with our floodlights, the film was of such poor picture quality that only first half highlights could be shown on YTV (and then in black and white only rather than colour).

21-Dec-74 City's Division 2 record crowd of 15,314 see City lose (probably the most one sided) 1-0 to Manchester United. An early United goal was followed by a surprisingly defensive performance by them given their attacking reputation and the paucity of the home team. At the time, United's reputation suffered from the exploits of some of its supporters which meant many York people stayed away from the match. Fearing over 7,000 visiting supporters (John Byrne included) would trudge / march / rampage through the car park at the height of the hooligan era, City's directors decided that The Shipton Street end, rather than The Grosvenor Road end should house the home supporters for the first time. Also, for the first time, temporary fencing was erected at the Grovsenor Road end to prevent United fans invad+\ing the pitch. BBC TV cameras were scheduled to cover the game but decided not to in view of the lack of quality floodlights. 46,802 saw the return game at Old Trafford at Easter.

07-Jan-75 15,362 see City lose 1-3 to Arsenal, after extra time, in an FA Cup replay.

31-Jan-75 Programme notes transfers into The Popular Stand are only available from the Grosvenor Road end.

22-Mar-75 City beat Fulham 3-2. Brian Pollard gave Bobby Moore, England's 1966 World Cup winning captain a torrid afternoon. Alan Mullery, another ex England international was also in their side.

01-Jun-75 New floodlights installed on the then existing pylons, each with 30 (more powerful) bulbs rather than the previous 24.

10-Sep-75 Liverpool's first visit to Bootham Crescent results in a lucky 1-0 win in the League Cup.

17-Feb-76 Bootham Crescent hosts a representative match between an FA XI and the Universities Athletics Union. It finished 2-2 with Bobby Charlton and Nobby Stiles playing for the FA.

24-Feb-76 City's Division 2 lowest crowd of 2,857 see a 0-2 defeat at the hands of Orient.

14-Aug-76 Club encourages supporters to use the Shipton Street end as the home end, although you could still use the Grosvenor Road end. I remember in protest, sitting in The Popular Stand for the first game of the season, a 2-2 draw with Bury. When we scored, I jumped out of my seat, on the way down, my seat broke! Protest over.

23-Mar-77 Bootham Crescent once again hosts a representative match between an FA XI and the Universities Athletics Union. Again it finished 2-2 thanks to a late FA equaliser. 39 year old Bobby Charlton made a second playing appearance at Bootham Crescent. Read More.

07-May-77 Only 1,748 see the last home game of the season, a 1-1 draw with Reading, as City go straight down to Division 4. It was one of three home games to attract attendances below 2,000. For the season, the average was 2,986, the first time in City's history it had dropped below 3,000.

23-Aug-77 City bow out of The Football League Cup in a Round 1 replay at home to Rotherham losing on penalties (6-5) after extra time. It was City's first ever penalty shoot out.

27-Sep-77 All time low crowd of 1,551 see City beat Reading 2-0.

03-Dec-77 New low of 1,284 see City draw 0-0 with Torquay. The season saw 12 home league crowds below 2,000.

1977/8 Club record lowest league seasonal attendance of 48,357 (average 2,102) for our return to Division 4.

Summer/78 Car park re-surfaced, meshing and lighting introduced making the car park suitable for small sized games during the day and in the evening as well as making entrance and exit less hazardous for fans on match nights. With plastic seats replacing wooden seats in parts of the Main Stand and a good all round lick of paint, the pre-season friendly against Chester was designated as an official opening.

09-Sep-78 New club shop, a portakabin in the car park, opens.

16-Dec-78 Highest gate of season see City beat non league Scarborough 3-0 in an FA Cup tie. A new programme shop, inside the club shop, opened.

02-Apr-79 Bootham Crescent hosts Switzerland v Holland Schoolboys International, a goalless draw as a part of an 8 team tournament.

01-Sep-79 Rock N Roll Spectacular concert at Bootham Crescent. Alvin Stardust was on the bill along with Joe Brown and the Bruvvers, Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders, Jimmy James and Billy J Dakota and the Dakotas. The stage was built over an area of Main Stand seating. Neighbours' complaints about the noise meant it was not repeated. Only about 750 turned up and the event lost money for the promoter. Inside the ground's social club, very few bands have played, although a local band, Walwyn, played at the end of the 1980s.

Autumn/79 Around this time, probably late September, police played tapes believed to be from The Yorkshire Ripper over the PA at half time at Bootham Crescent and other football grounds across the North East as they stepped up efforts to catch The Ripper.

06-Oct-79 First league game when reduced 20p (50p elsewhere) transfer into segregated seated Section Z of the Popular Stand (the section closest to The Shipton Street end). The policy had earlier been used for the NRSC final against Middlesbrough on September 10. Following a successful trial, the seats were removed for the start of the following season and it remained standing until, probably, the Walsall cup game in January 1985.

Early 80s In the early 1980s, cracks started to appear in the concrete wall which had been built in 1956 at the back of the Bootham Crescent end. The rear of the terracing was cordoned off and the capacity of the ground was reduced to under 13,500, less than half the attendance record set in 1938.

12-Feb-80 Reduced admission prices no longer available for junior supporters at the Grosvenor Road end, further encouraging home support to use the Shipton Street terrace.

05-May-80 Bootham Crescent earmarked to host FA Challenge Vase Final replay (Guisborough Town v Stamford). Stamford won 2-0 at Wembley.

01-Aug-80 Floodlights (new bulbs) were updated and improved at a balance sheet cost of £17,000 (of which £10,736 was provided by the Football Grounds Improvement Trust). They were officially switched on by former Wolves player and Northern Ireland international, Derek Dougan, prior to a friendly game against Grimsby Town on 1 August. The referee for this game was Keith Usher, who was later to become club secretary.

17-Mar-81 Bootham Crescent hosts another FA XI v Universities Athletic Union representative match. It was the third and final such match following ones in 1976 and 1977.

02-May-81 Official opening of refurbished Social Club, funded by a £30,000 John Smith's Brewery loan.

05-May-81 Even a John Byrne goal cannot enliven an all time low league crowd of 1,167 as City lose 1-2 to Northampton on the last day of the season.

1981 In the summer, the gymnasium was built at the Bootham Crescent end for £50,000. To help towards this City received £15,000 from the Sports Council and £20,000 from the Football League Improvement Trust. A year earlier, the Gymnasium fund raising committee had launched a “Golden Goal Lucky Second Scheme” to help to defray the costs.

03-Apr-82 Bootham Crescent hosts England v Switzerland Schoolboys (U15) International.

11-Jul-82 With the role of The Supporters Club in decline, City do more to promote the Social Club during the early 80s as more than just a match day venue hosting a number of events.

28-Aug-82 1,737 see Denis Smith's first game as City Manager. A 0-0 draw with Torquay.

01-Oct-82 Firework display to celebrate the centenary of the Yorkshire Evening Press.

30-Oct-82 City beat Hartlepool 5-1. Towards the end of the game, 25 disgruntled Hartlepool fans stage a pitch invasion and a sit down protest in the centre circle, ushered back to the terraces, they saw their side score a late consolation goal.

06-Nov-82 City offer discounted tickets for the first time after the FA relax the rules on pricing. Unemployed could gain half price admission and were rewarded with a 4-0 win over Aldershot.

23-Jan-83 7,097 Sunday crowd, bettered only once during the season, see City come from behind to beat Scunthorpe 2-1.

19-Apr-83 Highest crowd of the season see a John Byrne goal beat high flying Hull 1-0. After match violence from the Hull supporters mars the evening.

01-Jun-83 Improvements were made to the administration facilities (moving out of a portakabin and into their current location, which was formerly the boardroom area). New offices for the manager, secretary, match-day and lottery manager were built together with a vice presidents' lounge. Jack Dunnett, chairman of the Football League, officially opened the lounge prior to a game against Wrexham in November 1983.

03-Sep-83 A new season and only 2,772 turn up to see City beat Rochdale 2-0 at the start of the championship winning season.

21-Feb-84 5,837 see City's first game in the new Associate Members Cup. A 1-2 defeat by Hull.

08-Apr-84 11,297 Sunday crowd, the highest of the season, see a 1-1 draw with second placed Doncaster.

20-Apr-84 Good Friday. City make certain of promotion with a 4-1 win over Halifax in front of 7,120.

28-Apr-84 6,063 turn up to see City beat Hartlepool 2-0 to clinch the championship. It was the first ever instance of the players using the directors' box after the game to acknowledge the crowd.

07-May-84 The last home game of the season. 8,026 see City beat Bury 3-0. With a temporary scaffolding structure erected above the players' tunnel and beneath the directors' box, Roger Jones is presented with the trophy by Ian Jones, a member of the Football League Management committee after the game. The game is also memorable for City becoming the first team ever to gain 100 points in a league season.

06-Oct-84 Terrace Talk banned from sale inside the ground. The police note sellers' particulars.

03-Nov-84 The faithful 2,921 are treated to an inspired Keith Walwyn performance and Keith Houchen hat trick in a 7-1 win over Gillingham in pouring rain. Keith Walwyn was unplayable, his strength and control when in possession being joy to watch. The game was played in an era when the last section of the Pop Stand was given over to standing.

26-Jan-85 Millions see City beat Arsenal 1-0 on Match Of The Day as a mobile crane is used for the first time at Bootham Crescent to provide the main TV camera position. Previously a temporary television position had been erected on top of the Popular Stand from which all the TV staff, including the commentator had had to climb up to. The TV coverage spots a 12 year old Guy Mowbray supporting City from behind the dugouts.

02-Feb-85 10,442 see City beat Wigan 2-0. The main attraction being the issue of vouchers to buy tickets for the forthcoming FA Cup tie with Liverpool.

16-Feb-85 Another frozen pitch and City draw 1-1 with Liverpool. 13,485 see the game generating record gate receipts of £29,138. Temporary scaffolding security fencing was erected for the first time at the ground in front of the Liverpool fans who occupied the Grosvenor Road end and one third of the Popular Stand.

17-Mar-85 A large Bradford City contingent amongst the 10,442 crowd sees their heroes maintain their promotion push with a 2-1 win. The last ever 5 figure attendance for a league game at Bootham Crescent.

01-Jun-85 During the successful seasons of 1983/4 and 1984/5 many problems had arisen in handling big crowds. This was largely due to the problem of the ground having only two of its four sides available for entry and exit plus the home supporters funnelling through the car park to the Shipton Street end. Extensive improvements were made in the summer of 1985, including eight new (replacing 4) turnstiles (£42,000), new toilets (55,000) and a new access / exit gate (£25,000). Elsewhere, at the same time, other ground improvements were made, including 4 hospitality boxes were built into the Main Stand, dressing rooms refurbishment incorporating new baths and showers, new referee's changing room, physiotherapist's treatment room, new media facilities, an improved police control room and commercial premises just inside the main entrance. The 1984/5 accounts reference a spend of £197,000 on essential ground safety (which included a permanent metal security fence at the Grosvenor Road away end) and other improvement works. The permanent security fence didn't last long as common sense prevailed across the country regarding the hooligan problem.

85/6 Ground and enclosure season tickets introduced however "City ... disappointed by low level of sales of season tickets for Shipton Street and the Enclosure (only 89 and 71 respectively)". Miss 4 games and you're out of pocket (even at the early bird price).

Oct 1985 12 foot high metal perimeter fencing installed to prevent away fans encroaching on the pitch (including section U of The PopularStand) at a cost of £25,000. It meant the remval of the wooden picket fencing.

Late 1985 New programme shop opens in the main car park.

15-Feb-86 12,752 see Liverpool happy to go back to Anfield with a 1-1 draw after another FA Cup Round 5 game. The last ever 5 figure attendance at Bootham Crescent and the first ever game broadcast live on Swedish TV from Botham Crescent.

05-Apr-86 PMH provide security services at Bootham Crescent, the first time a cheaper alternative to the police had been used.

01-Jun-86 Further ground improvements, including a walkway built (sometimes known as "The Shippo Moat"), which as the programme noted was to improve access into The Popular Stand and necessitated more picket fencing removal,leaving it just along the lengths of the pitch. Video equipment was installed inside the ground and crash-barriers strengthened. Ground safety requirements were met and in September 1989 it was announced that the ground capacity had been increased to 14,628. In total, between 1983 and 1986, City spent over £300,000 on ground improvements, about two thirds was grant funded.

06-Sep-86 City beat Bristol Rovers 1-0. The eagle eyed supporter will have noted Rovers wearing City's white shorts. This was at the request of the referee and avoided a colour clash between City's red / blue and Rovers blue / blue.

Autumn/86 First appearance of closed circuit TV at Bootham Crescent as reported in Terrace Talk (November 1986), reputedly as a result of a £10,000 grant from The Football Trust.

11-Apr-87 Lowest crowd of the season. Only 2,202 see City beat Newport 3-0.

09-May-87 Denis Smith's last game as City manager. A Martin Butler goal earns a 1-1 draw with Notts County and a one year reprieve from Division 4. The game also marked the last appearance of the "5 minute flag" until briefly resurrected in 2003 and again in 2019.

06-Oct-87 Leeds attract 6,059 to Bootham Crescent for a League Cup tie and return home 4-0 victors. First instance of away supporters paying higher admission prices (50p surcharge)

17-Oct-87 Attendance dips below 2,000, to 1,984, for the 2-2 draw with Aldershot. Only 1,932 see City lose 1-2 to Rotherham 3 days later.

18-Dec-87 Season low of 1,801 see a 1-1 draw with Brentford.

09-Feb-88 Yorkshire Evening Press run story on plans to "Roof The Shippo".

16-Mar-88 Public meeting votes to go ahead with plan to "Roof The Shippo". The Supporters Club offered to donate the proceeds from their Grand National draw to the appeal. It was to later raise £335.

26-Mar-88 City beat Sunderland 2-1 in a game Dale Banton remembers as the occasion of his best ever goal. Most fans remember the hooliganism of Sunderland's supporters who invaded the pitch and broke a cross bar at the final whistle. Temporary security fencing had been erected at the away end for which Sunderland supporters had been changed an extra £1 a ticket.

04-Apr-88 3,215 see City lose 0-2 to Grimsby on Easter Monday. In the Social Club after the game a committee is elected to raise the money to build the roof.

Summer/88 Closed circuit TV installed allowing real time monitoring of the crowd.

10-Jul-88 An American football game, as part of the York Festival, was played at Bootham Crescent, featuring The Alconbury Spartans (the reigning UK champions) and The Lakenheath Eagles (one of the divisional runners up), both sides were American Air Force teams based in the UK. May 21^st 1934 had seen an earlier baseball game between British ENCA and Crystal. The Spartas win 7-0 in a poorly attended drab game. The biggest winners were City who received a £5,000 hosting fee.

03-Dec-88 Season low of 1,698 see City beat Hereford 4-1.

29-Jan-89 Rugby League staged for the first time at Bootham Crescent. York RLFC entertained Leeds in The Silk Cut ("Challenge") Cup and the attendance was 11,347. For the record Leeds won 28-9. City took a £3,000 hosting fee plus expenses.

11-Feb-89 Roof Appeal sales point, a garden shed donated by Garden Care of Huntington opened. It provided a focal point for the appeal being positioned centrally at the back of the Shipton Street end terracing.

Summer/89 Having fallen into dis-use, the scoreboard at the back of the Shipton Street terracing was finally dismantled. City fanzine, In The City noted the irony of its removal as it provided a very small area of cover for a handful of City supporters on a rainy day before The David Longhurst Stand was erected.

01-Sep-89 Ground capacity increased to 14,628, around half of the ground's record attendance.

20-Sep-89 Season high of 4,526 see Southampton win a League Cup game 1-0.

01-Apr-90 A clock, in City's colours, was presented to the club by the parents of Phil Dearlove, a young supporter, who had died a year earlier. It was erected on the roof of The Popular Stand.

01-Apr-90 England manager, Bobby Robson receives an unwarranted volley of abuse when Club Secretary Keith Usher answers his unexpected phone call to Bootham Crescent. Read More.

01-Aug-90 George Rowe replaces Peter Pink as stadium announcer, Peter had stepped down at the end of the previous season, once famously announcing John Barnes when he meant Paul Barnes (Source: City Reds newsletter / August 1999).

08-Sep-90 David Longhurst dies on the pitch just before half time in the game against Lincoln.

24-Aug-91 David Longhurst Stand, built by John Laing Construction, sees league action for the first time against Gillingham. It had stil been under construction for the pre season friendly against Hull.

14-Oct-91 The David Longhurst Stand officially opened with a 2-2 friendly against Leeds. David's parents, brother and other family members were in a crowd of 4,374 to see an entertaining 2-2 draw. That season saw the opening of the Supporters Club's shop in the corner near the kiosk entrance to the Popular Stand, it succeeded the wooden hut that had been used during the Roof Appeal.

22-Oct-91 Bootham Crescent attendance dips below 1,000 for the first time as City draw 1-1 with Carlisle in an Autoglass Cup group game.

28-Apr-92 7,620 (mainly away supporters) see Burnley beat City 2-1 to clinch the Division 4 title. Gate receipts of £33,000 were a new record for a league game. Watch CITY 1 Burnley 2.

28-Aug-92 City beat Wrexham 4-0. Before the game, secretary Keith Usher made a public address plea for supporters to mind their language. It wasn't the only time the club made similar pleas.

07-Nov-92 Family Stand opens (v Barnet). With Junior Reds' membership topping 1,000 it was often full and invariably boisterous in its early days. Work had started late in summer meaning section C of The Main Stand was closed for the first few games of the season. The work necessitated extending the Main Stand roof forwards to help keep the rain off the new seated area. Everyone who stood in the Enclosure at the Burnley game (April 1992) received a letter explaining the work was needed as the club strove to go all seater by 1999 to comply with The Taylor Report. Manager John Ward had raised £3,000 towards the cost by running in the London Marathon. The total cost was about £120,000 with £84,048 being funded by The Football Trust.

16-Jan-93 Original Family Room opens (v Darlington). A £7,500 PFA grant helped to equip the room.

16-May-93 First ever City play off game at Bootham Crescent. City beat Bury 1-0 to secure our first ever visit to Wembley.

02-Nov-93 City lose 1-0 to Bristol Rovers. A full scale practice evacuation after the game raised various safety concerns.

14-Mar-94 Bryan Horner starts work as Bootham Crescent groundsman, succeeding Bryan Foster who had died suddenly on February 13. He was to have 8 years in post and died in November 2019.

23-Apr-94 City draw 0-0 with Burnley as the 100,000th person of the league season passes through the turnstiles. In total, 106,570 saw the home league games, it was the last season 100,000 was breached. Computerised turnstiles identify the 100,000th person.

07-May-94 With Junior Reds membership a at a record 1,500+, all juniors are admitted into the ground for £2 (normally £6.50 Juniors / £4 Junior Reds) for the final league game of the season against Wrexham.

Summer/94 Main Stand extended downwards by demolishing the standing Enclosure at the Shipton Street end, completing the work that had been started the previous summer. The roof canopy was also extended to cover the entire length of The Main Stand. At the same time, the St John's Ambulance hut was built and some office accommodation was upgraded. YEP noted YCFC expected to spend £300,000 on ground improvements that summer, which included new floodlights.

01-Oct-94 City 2 Stockport 4. Shippo The Lion disgraces himself. Read More.

12-Dec-94 At the AGM, Douglas Craig announces plans for new £130,000 floodlights next summer, plans to knock down the Grosvenor Road end and replace it with a seated terrace in time for the start of the 1996/7 season and follow on re-development of The Popular Stand. He also announces City won't take £20 notes at the turnstiles after 4 fakes had been found earlier in the season.

01-Feb-95 Drainage pipes collapse. Problems had been apparent since the Boxing Day game with Blackpool (won 4-0) when the pitch deteriorated along the section in front of the Main Stand at the Shippo in heavy rain.

Summer/95 New drainage pipes laid (main drain across the pitch at Shipton St end and 14 feeder pipes), it runs the length of the pitch. The cost was understood to be about £11,000 (Philliskirk & Sons, Green Hammerton were the contractors) although the accounts for 1994/5 state £18,000 was spent on "newpitch drainage". New 500 lux lights costing £122,000 (including £56,000 grant) were installed on new retractable 27.5 metre high pylons (replacing the original 1959 pylons). They were supplied by Thorvill Electricals of Staffordshire and were twice as powerful as the ones they replaced. The old lights (30m high) were destined for York RI. New enlarged dugouts, perspex covered, were built.

17-Jun-95 (Date tbc) New Family Room opens.

03-Oct-95 New dugouts, supplied by Minster Windows, in use for the first time for the Coca Cola game with Manchester United.

12-Nov-95 City go down 1-0 to Notts County in an FA Cup tie televised live on Sky Sports. After the game, there was a large car park sit down protest in the immediate aftermath of the Craig / Barnes stand off at Peterborough and YCFC banning the Yorkshire Evening Press. At the time, the club said they might be forced to increase policing at a time when a police constable cost £107.68 a game and a mounted officer cost £27.94 more.

04-Dec-95 AGM reveals plans for a re-development of the Grovsenor Road end with further details being released over the next month.

27-Aug-96 City beat Millwall 3-2 in a game memorable for 2 burst balls, both the result of crunching Nigel Pepper tackles (source: YFF #21, Adam Bushby).

13-Oct-96 England Under 18s beat Northern Ireland 4-0. Michael Owen scored all 4. FA Chief Executive, Graham Kelly and his wife watched the first half standing in The Shippo before moving into The Main Stand at half time.

29-Nov-97 City go down 1-2 to Luton. Assistant Referee, Wendy Toms became the first female to officiate a first team game at Bootham Crescent.

02-May-98 City draw 0-0 with Northampton in front of a 6,688 crowd, including 3,613 fans from Northampton. The day saw the official opening of the “Smarties Family Room”.

01-Oct-98 Gordon Neale and Peter Overton open new programme shop in the old snooker room above the social club.

13-Oct-98 Alex Ferguson opens City's new £250,000 Wiggington Road training complex, he noted the "facilities are first class and are better than most Premiership teams".

28-Oct-98 Richard Hewitt, son of former City winger Dick, runs line at Bootham Crescent in the Pontins League game against Newcastle.

01-Nov-98 York City Ladies play Doncaster in a rare game at Bootham Crescent in a Northern Combination League fixture aimed at fundraising and showcasing. City lose 6-1 with Jenny Garnett scoring City's consolation goal. Some further games were played at Bootham Crescent later in the season. York City Ladies again played at Bootham Crescent during the 2002/3 season as John Batchelor sought to promote the "Team York City" brand.

01-Nov-98 Leeds United beat Manchester United 5-1 in a Pontins League game at Bootham Crescent. Ex City keeper Nick Culkin played for Manchester United alongside Teddy Sheringham, Lee Sharpe, John O'Shea and Lee Roche.

19-Dec-98 Goals from Gordon Connelly and a late winner from young Andrew Dawson saw City beat Manchester City 2-1 in a Division 2 (Tier 3) game in front of a 7,527 crowd. The pre match and half time entertainment was provided by the Kirkbymoorside Town Brass Band.

17-Apr-99 In March, Bootham Crescent is ranked in the top 3 pitches in Division 2 (along with Preston and Wycombe) in the end of season pitch awards. Bryan Horner claimed top spot in April.

Summer/99 £5,000 work to extend dugouts to meet new FL requirements that they should hold 11 people.

22-Sep-99 Free admission for all to City's reserve team game against Hull. The visitors fielded Aaron Lawrence, a Jamaican trialist in goal, he was without a work permit meaning that City were unable to charge admission due to employment laws. Hull compensated City for the loss of income.

01-Dec-99 Douglas Craig donates £35 to the Evening Press Hospice 2000 appeal - the same amount minus VAT as that billed to FACT for the clear-up operation after the red card protest at Bootham Crescent. Craig donates a further £65 from his own pocket. FACT (originally named Fans Against Craig's Tyranny) were a pressure group at the time.

01-Dec-99 Shareholders (most shares were owned by board members) vote to create a new company to own the ground, allaying fears that in the event of the club being liquidated, the ground's ownership might pass onto The Football Association due to their regulations. The board members become owners of the ground via Bootham Crescent Holdings plc.

08-Jan-00 Students admitted for £5 (usually £8) on production of valid NUS card. Offer subsequently repeated at least once (29/Jan v Barnet)

25-Mar-00 Dolan decides to put City in the dugout closest to the Grosvenor Road end, its closer to the half way, which Dolan believed gave a better overall view of the pitch.

29-Jul-00 9,003, believed to be a ground record for a friendly, see City lose 2-0 to a full strength Manchester United.

03-Aug-00 Gordon Gibbs, Flamingoland co-owner, reveals details behind his £500,000 bid to takeover York City and build a new stadium.

22-Aug-00 Bootham Crescent hosts its first Leeds United reserve game until a new season long agreement. Unfortunately, due to the state of the pitch, the arrangement was short lived. Read More.

21-Apr-01 City draw 3-3 with Cardiff. Leo Fortune-West, later to play for City, scored a hat trick of headers for Cardiff.

30-Apr-01 France beat Russia 2–0 in the 2001 UEFA European Under 16 Championships quarter final, attendance 557, the last of 3 games held at Bootham Crescent in the comeptition. BC also hosted an Under 16 tournament featuring England, Brazil and Thailand in 2000.

23-Jun-01 (Date tbc) Club's offer to buy Lumley Barracks, The Territorial Army land behind The Popular Stand, is rejected. Some reports quoted that City had offered £1m. The site was subsequently sold to Crosby Homes.

03-Sep-01 Talk of a City / Wasps ground share surface once again.

01-Oct-01 BC hosts England Under 19s friendly against Iceland.

20-Oct-01 Half time entertainment, in the form of a penalty shoot out provided by Clifton Vipers, a recently formed women's team.

07-Nov-01 BC hosts England Under 19s European Championship qualifier against Georgia. The game is shownlive on Sky TV.

29-Nov-01 Bootham Crescent hosts Leeds' Central League game against Manchester United (source: YEP 14/09/01).

20-Dec-01 At the AGM, Douglas Craig announces the board intend to resign at the end of the season and asks investors to buy club. The futures of both York City FC and Bootham Crescent are under grave threat.

09-Jan-02 With a "Save City" campaign underway, the board announce Bootham Crescent will close on June 30 and that the football club will have to vacate the ground by that date. Talks regarding a move to Huntington are underway and it is revealed to buy the ground will cost £4.5 million.

02-Feb-02 City's home game with Lincoln is postponed at 2:15. After passing a 10:30 inspection, a 1:00 downpour forced another inspection. The postpnement cost City about £3,000 on the day in already incurred costs and disappointed what was expected to be a big crowd following the "Fans United" march to the ground. Fans from as far away as Scotland, Southampton, Brighton, London and Derby marched.

15-Mar-02 It was announced that John Batchelor, from the soup family, had bought the club and ground. A flamboyant individual (he'd twice changed his name by deed poll to support sponsorship deals), he announced plans to make City unique, combining his motor racing interests with City, cracking the New York City and American market whilst having Supporters Trust representation on the board. After the Craig years, he was seen as a saviour. Quickly, he announced a 3 year sponsorship deal with Persimmon Homes, doubts about his credibility started to surface when he announced funds from the sponsorship would be split between City and his motor racing team. John Stabler and York Rugby League were the under bidders. Subsequently, it was revealed that Batchelor paid just £1 for the club, £400,000 of the Persimmon Homes deals was diverted away from the football club and that Batchelor made £120,000 from City. Also, as part of his deal with Craig, Batchelor had agreed that City would vacate Bootham Crescent by the end of the 2002/3 season.

28-Nov-02 With mounting debts, City enter a creditors' voluntary agreement. The Supporters Trust is once again mobilised and with backing from many, including the McGill family, take ownership of the club on 26th March 2003.

01-Feb-04 Its announced after a 2 year struggle with Bootham Crescent Holdings and Persimmon Homes, City have won the right to remain at Bootham Crescent.

31-Mar-04 Rugby league at Bootham Crescent. With the Huntington Stadium unavailable, City switch a reserve game so that York City Knights can play Gateshead Thunder in an Arriva Trains Cup group game. The Knights win 54-26 in front of 1,520.

29-Apr-04 3,955 see England's Under 18 side lose 2-0 to Sweden.

01-May-04 Tearful scenes as City lose 1-2 at home to Leyton Orient, with relegation to the Conference previously confirmed, it was City's last home game of the season.

Summer/04 Details of the deal for City to remain at Bootham Crescent were revealed. A year's hard work, led by Jason McGill, ended in a £2 million loan from The Football Stadia Improvement Fund (FSIF), a subsidiary of The Football Foundation. It allowed City to buy over 75% of Bootham Crescent Holdings, including all the shares owned by Persimmon Homes. The deal saw Douglas Craig paid over £1 million and 2 other directors (Barry Swallow and Colin Webb) over £172,000 each.

03-Jan-05 More rugby league at Bootham Crescent. The Knights beat Leeds Rhinos 38-24 in a friendly in front of 3,509, a higher crowd than 3,428 Huntington Stadium capacity.

19-Jan-05 Bootham Crescent renamed Kitkat Crescent as the club announce a sponsorship deal with Nestle, its believed City received £100,000 per year which covered the interest on the loan the club took out to buy back Bootham Crescent. The initial 2 year deal was later extended to 5 years.

05-Mar-05 Amy Rainer becomes the first female referee to take charge of a Bootham Crescent (or York City) game as City take on Exeter City.

16-Apr-05 City's 0-0 draw with Dagenham is enlivened by an unscheduled appearance by Yorkie on his bike. Read Alex Bedingham's own account.

23-Apr-05 Hundreds of fans invade pitch at the end of the first season back in non league football to celebrate 4-0 win over Farnborough and hopefully the start of a glorious new era under Billy McEwan.

25-Nov-06 City 2 Dagenham & Redbridge 3. Kick off delayed to 4pm due to Dagenham’s train to York being delayed following a fatality on the main line. Having changed into their kit on the train, their coach wasn’t at the station so they walked over Scarborough Bridge to the ground. They were soon 2 down but came back to win 3-2. With the late start, the players had no time to shower and change after the game, but made a hasty exit to ensure they caught the train back to London that they were booked on. Dagenham again walked to Bootham Crescent from the station in 2012, but this time they lost 3-2.

08-Dec-06 Despite extensive irrigation work on the pitch earlier in the year, largely funded by City's supporters, the England v Scotland Under 16 Victory Shield game was postponed due to heavy rain disappointing 6,000 advance ticket holders, Sky Sports who were due to screen the game live and City who lost out on a hosting fee and hospitality / catering recenue. More remediation worked followed during the following summer.

04-May-07 6,660 see City and Morecambe draw 0-0 in the Conference play off semi final, the highest Conference Bootham Crescent crowd for City.

12-Nov-07 Belgium beat Rumania 4-0 in a Euro Under 19 quaifier. Both were drawn in England's group and here to play a series of qualifiers.

10-Mar-08 ... The lowest Conference League attendance was 1,567 for the 3-2 win over Exeter City.

14-Aug-08 Home season kicks off with a game against Wrexham, but trouble at the new matchday programme printer means the programmes don't arrive until half time. Maxiprint regain the contract by the following January.

04-Nov-08 ... The lowest ever attendance for a competitive game was just 609 for 1-1 draw (City win on penalties) in the Conference League Cup Round 3 game with Mansfield.

Spring/09 Last reserve team game at Bootham Crescent as City withdraw from The Pontins League.

Jan/2010 Nestle's 5 year Kit Kat Crescent comes to an end. It is believed that negotiations over a possible extension floundered due to Nestle's stipulation re the sale of only Nestle products in the ground and a 50 / 50 profit share. At the time, the Nestle chairman was Paul G (Grimwood?), a Middlesbrough season ticket holder.

Approx 2010 Locomotive nameplate removed from above the players entrance to the club. Louise Jackson recalls, "I can confirm the plaque was above the players tunnel and I remember it been taken down I just cannot recall the year. I worked for the club between 2004 and 2010". For the story behind the nameplate, read Paul Bowser's book.

17-Apr-10 City draw their final home game of the season 1-1 with already relegated Grays and end the season in 3rd place. Many games were played on badly drained (or waterlogged) and heavily sanded pitches, some argued that the pitch's poor state contributed to our relatively poor home record as it made it more difficult to play our passing football and easier for visiting teams to sit back and play for a draw. The pitch was suffering from a disease called root knot nematodes.

03-Dec-11 Prior to the Kettering game, a service was held in the car park and a plaque was unveiled to commemorate the 5 serviceman who were associated with City who'd lost their lives in WW2.

19-Apr-11 City beat Luton 1-0 in a league game. A few days after City's 2012 Wembley win over Luton, the then Luton boss, Gary Brabin stood trial at Selby Magistrates Court accused of 2 counts of assault against the stewards and one public order offence. He was acquitted of assault but found guilty of using threatening words and behaviour. He was fined £400 and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £900 and a victim surcharge of £15 by district judge Jonathan Bennett. He had been accused of punching and headbutting York steward Simon Oliver and punching a second steward, Paul Lovatt but was found not guilty of the assault charges. The judge ruled that evidence, including CCTV footage, did not prove the allegations of assault. He said it was clear however that the defendant used threatening words and behaviour during the incident. Brabin said, “my emotions were high at the time and I didn’t feel my players on the pitch were being given the proper protection from the referee.” He went onto say that he was shouting at the referee when York’s assistant manager Darren Gee shouted abuse at him, he said he was shocked that he was the only one sent off and claims he was “man-handled” down the tunnel, but denies punching or headbutting anyone. Read More.

02-May-12 Fracas centred around the opposition CEO during City's 1-1 draw with Mansfield in an end of season play off game. Read More. If you read the excellent "Kicking Against The Wind", which documents Rochdale's 1995/6 season, you'll see it wasn't the first time there was bad blood in the Directors' Box, then, according to Rochdale it arose from comments / gloating from City as our win meant we (not Rochdale) were to face Manchester United in the next round.

04-Jul-05 More drainage problems see a heavily sanded pitch throughout most of the 2012/3 season. The pitch recovered and received much praise throughout the 2013/4 season.

01-Sep-12 Nicola Adams, Great Britain's boxing gold medallist from the London Olympics is City's guest of honour.

05-Feb-13 Bootham Crescent hosts the first of 2 non league games. Harrogate Town beat Workington Town (managed by Darren Edmondson) by 2-1 in the Blue Square Sky North in front of 284 fans. Harrogate's ground was suffering after persistent and torrential rain and they also played a couple of home games in Doncaster.

05-Mar-13 Bootham Crescent hosts Gateshead v Kidderminster (Gateshead won 2-0) in the Blue Square Sky Premier as Gateshead's ground was also suffering the after effects of the recent heavy rain. They didn't play a home game in Gateshead after New Years Day, instead playing their home games at 6 different venues and forfeiting home advantage against Barrow in The FA Trophy.

20-Apr-13 Lock out at Bootham Crescent as City beat Southend by 2-1 to maintain a push to avoid relegation from The Football Legaue. With 5,975 fans (including 584 from Southend) inside the ground, the City sections were full, hence the locked gates with some late arriving City fans locked out.

05-May-13 Bootham Crescent hosts the FA Women's Premier League Cup Final. Aston Villa beat Leeds United 5–4 on penalties after a 0–0 extra time draw.

22-Feb-14 Bootham Crescent hosts its first "Football v Homophobia" game, a 0-0 draw against Southend.

10-May-14 Heavy rain forces the postponement of City's Division 2 semi final (first leg) play off game with Fleetwood. To date, the only play off game to be postponed.

14-Feb-15 Bootham Crescent hosts its annual "Football v Homophobia" game, a 2-0 win over Tranmere thanks to a Wes Fletcher brace.

07-Jul-15 Pitch suffers from "black layer" grass disease during the second half of the 2014/5 season causing the top 3 inches of the pitch to come away from the sub soil. With the ongoing dispute with York City Knights, rugby league doesn't make its long awaited return to Bootham Crescent.

01-Aug-15 In support of the men’s health charity Prostate Cancer UK, City rename their away stand as ‘The Prostate Cancer UK Stand’ for the 2015/2016 season.

22-Jan-16 Rugby league returns to Bootham Crescent. After a false start on January 3, when the friendly with Hull was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch, York City Knights narrowly lose 16-20 to Castleford in a pre season friendly.

13-Feb-16 Bootham Crescent hosts its annual "Football v Homophobia" game, a 2-1 win over Notts County thanks to a goals from Michael Coulson and Brad Fewster, a rare win the in Jackie McNamara era.

28-Feb-16 Competitive rugby league returns to Bootham Crescent as York City Knights beat city rivals York Acorn 66-0 in Round 3 of the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup in front of 2,293. Read More. Just 554 witnessed the next Knights' home game against London Skolars.

02-Apr-16 City draw 1-1 with Leyton Orient, eagle eyed City fans will have noticed a new addition to the ground, the York City Knights scoreboard in the Social Club corner of Grovesnor Road end.

30-Apr-16 City lose 4-1 at home to Bristol Rovers in the last ever Football League game at Bootham Crescent. Kenny McEvoy scored City's last goal at the ground and Rovers' Lee Mansell scored the very last Football League goal at the ground.

24-Jul-16 York City Knight's first end of season Super 8 game against Doncaster is postponed when they can't come to an agreement with the York City Council for the use of Bootham Crescent, the overuse of the ground being cited. Agreement is later reached for the Super 8 games but ultimately it leads to the demise of John Guildford's York City Knights.

August/16 Following a number of complaints from supporters, Phil Howden, City's SLO launches a crowd funding appeal to raise £1,500 to make good the weather beaten appearance of the sign above the David Longhurst Stand. Within days around 100 supporter raised £1,920. The repair work was completed before the new season started.

11-Nov-16 Bootham Crescent hosts Middlesbrough Under 23s against Charlton Under 23s. City receive a £3,000 hosting fee from Middlesbrough for staging the match.

11-Feb-17 City’s Vanarama National League game against Maidstone United is City’s fourth annual Football v Homophobia match. The club used the match to promote the message that football is for everyone regardless of sexuality and discrimination of any form is not welcome in the game. As part of the club’s efforts to tackle homophobia and to show support for the local LGBT community, City donated 50 tickets for the match to York Pride. An early Jon Parkin goal helped City to a 1-1 draw.

08-Mar-17 York Council now saying work on the Community Stadium will start in September 2018 and complete around late 2019, subject to getting a builder contracted to do the work. Read more.

29-Apr-17 BT Sports televise City's game with Forest Green. With a commentary box above The Supporters Club Bar, there were 6 mounted cameras on The Pop Stand side (one on top, 2 each taking up a block of about 20 seats towards the back of the stand at either end and 3 pitch side, one about level with each penalty area and one on the halfway line. There was another high on the terrace at the Bootham Crescent end and one under the floodlight pylon near the Longhurst stand entrance.

30-Jul-17 2,602 see history made as York City Knights defeat unbeaten, table topping Toronto Wolfpack by 26-16. It was the highest gate for a Knights' home game since 3,106 saw a televised Championship One game with Oldham at Huntington Stadium in June 2009.

07-Aug-17 Bootham Crescent is transformed into the 1936 Berlin Olympic stadium (with all associated paraphernalia visible inside the ground) as 2 weeks of filming starts at the ground on a new Bollywood spectacular to commemorate India's first post independence Olympic gold medal. Senior nazi officials could be seen in the car park as hockey scenes were filmed on the pitch. Read More.

01-Dec-17 Diggers move into Monks Cross. The stadium build is underway with a forecast opening date of summer 2019. Read More. Watch More.

18-Feb-18 York City Knights 20 Bradford Bulls 22. The Knights lose to a last kick penalty in their first game of the new Betfred League 1 season in front of a Knights record crowd of 4,221 (some reports say 4,281). The Bulls fans took over the Longhurst Stand and it rocked.

23-Mar-18 Bootham Crescent hosts England Schoolboys Under 18 Centenary Shield game with Scotland. The hosts go down 2-0 in front of an 841 attendance. The game was live on Freesports TV. For Emmanuel Ogunrinde, it was a second Bootham Crescent defeat of the season, he was a member of Salford City’s youth side that lost to City in an FA Youth Cup tie in the autumn. Read More.

22-Apr-18 3,081 see York City Knights narrowly lose 22-34 to top flight Catalan Dragons in Round 5 (Last 16) of The Rugby League Challenge Cup.

29-Apr-18 Bootham Crescent witnesses a world professional rugby league record score and winning margin as York City Knights beat West Wales by 144 - 0 (25 tries). The Knights electronic scoreboard only displayed 2 digit numbers and was re-set to 0-0 when The Knights topped 100 points.

01-Jul-18 City start what is expected to be their final season at Bootham Crescent and find a small new electronic Knights scoreboard erected at the Grosvenor Road end, against the boundary wall in the Social Club corner.

07-Aug-18 City beat Stockport 1-0 with a pulsating second half performance in the (first of several) last scheduled evening game at Bootham Crescent. Re-arranged fixtures meant later midweek floodlit games were played.

23-Sep-18 York City Knights beat Whitehaven 32-14 in front of a 3,223 crowd to clinch the Betfred League One title and the only automatic promotion spot to rugby league's second tier. The trophy was presented after the game, the first major trophy presentation at Bootham Crescent for 34 years.

13-Nov-18 2,319 (including 174 away fans) see a revamped City side draw 0-0 with Chester in a thrilling, re-arranged evening game at Bootham Crescent.

04-Dec-18 Just 1,938 (including 26 away fans) see City lose a 2 goal lead to draw 2-2 with Leamington, at the time, the last scheduled evening kick off at Bootham Crescent.

03-Feb-19 York City Knights return to The Championship and start their season with a home game against Toronto Wolfpacks at Bootham Crescent in front of 2,518 crowd. Knights lose a close game by 14-0.

05-Feb-19 An early Alex Kempster goal isn't enough a City go down to 2 late Hereford goals in what is once again touted to be the last ever evening league game Bootham Crescent in front of a 2,710 crowd.

28-Feb-19 City announce a return to the legendary maroon shirt for the last ever game at Bootham Crescent, expected to be the end of the current (2018/9) season. Within days, a further delay to MX's completion was confirmed.

27-Apr-19 "5 minute" flag above the Social Club restored.

01-May-19 6 weeks of "Play On The Pitch" start as supporters are encouraged to come and play on the hallowed Bootham Crescent turf. All sessions were booked and over 300 fans played during the first week. With over 30 bookings, over 1,000 players got to play on the hallowed turf. Anecdotal evidence suggests that a good time was had by all although most preferred to go home without a bath in the communal baths which appeared in a similar decrepit state to that they've been in for the past 40 years or more.

01-Jun-19 Ben Sherman photoshoot at Bootham Crescent to promote their AW19 range.

26-Jun-19 Midweek evening kick off rugby league at the Crescent as York City Knights go down 17-16 to Batley Bulldogs in the quarter final of the 1895 Cup.

21-Jul-19 4,007 see The Knights beat Bradford Bulls 25-24 to hold onto second spot and maintain their promotion push.

18-Aug-19 3,115 see York City Knights come from behind to beat Featherstone 22-18 in their last home league game of the season to seal a top 5 finish and a place in the end of season play offs.

26-Aug-19 City's biggest crowd of the season to date see the Bank Holiday Monday National League North game go ahead with a delayed 3:15 kick off and the Main Stand closed as many match day stewards were stuck in traffic around Leeds and couldn't make the game. The game ends 1-1 as the heat gets the better of the players.

21-Sep-19 Final rugby league game of the season at Bootham Crescent as the Knights succumb to an ever increasing injury list and go down 4-30 to Featherstone Rovers in the convoluted end of season play offs in front of Sky Sports cameras. The Knights, having lost heavily in the "Championship Quarter Final" (for teams finishing 2nd and 3rd in the league) hosted "Feath", winners "Championship Play Off" for the 4th and 5th placed teams in the "Minor Semi Final". The winners enjoy a "Preliminary Final" away to the losers of the "Major Semi Final" (league winners Toronto or Toulouse (runners up)). The winners of that game enjoy a "Grand Final" away to the winners of the "Major Semi Final". The victors are promoted, assuming the club meets Super League criteria, which many don't. 3,222 saw the game, for the first time during the Knights tenure, all 4 sides of the ground were open.

19-Oct-19 BT Sports cameras are present as 2,870 see City's thrilling 2-0 win against Stockport County in the 4th Qualifying Round of The FA Cup. Consideration was given to installing electronic advertising boards for the game, but due to timescales, the idea was not progressed.

29-Oct-19 City's rearranged league game with Boston is once again billed as possibly the last evening kick off under floodlights at Bootham Crescent. 2,768 see City win 2-1.

10-Nov-19 City's FA Cup Round 1 game against NLN rivals Altrincham (Lost 0-1, crowd 3,222) is selected by the BBC as one of 8 matches to be moved to Sunday (12:45 kick off) and televised by one fixed position camera (at the back of the Main Stand) with a pitchside reporter (Marc Webber) as part of their BBC1 / 2 "Final Score", around the ground live coverage with the studio (host Jason Mohammad) regularly cutting live to the grounds as the action develops. The studio cut across to the ground on 7 occasions (including Altrincham's goal, City's penalty miss and Newton's shot onto the cross bar) to pick up the action plus pre match, half time and full time summaries. In the studio, Kevin Kilbane had vague recollections of playing at Bootham Crescent in a pre season friendlies for Sunderland whilst Leon Osman didn't think he'd played at the ground. The commentary left no one in any doubt that the ground is 87 years old, is crumbling and has today staged probably its last ever FA Cup game. It is understood that City received a £12,000 facility fee.

30-Nov-19 City beat Alfreton 1-0. For the second time this season, gates were opened late (this time the delay was just a few minutes and kick off time was not affected) due to an unspecified safety incident.

28-Dec-19 Slightly unusual starting line up for Guiseley in the era of one to eleven shirt numbers. Guiseley’s Chris Sang started the game wearing number 18, he’d ripped his number 9 shirt 2 days earlier and given the Christmas festivities and short turnaround, a new number 9 shirt could not be sourced.

08-Jan-20 As stated at City's fans' forum, the date for the move to Monks Cross is still awaited from the council. Meanwhile, the sale price of the ground is still to be determined. Persimmon Homes submitted plans to the council just before Christmas, they show 97 units (some previous applications have shown as few as 50 units). Once the council gives the go ahead, the plans will be put out for public consultation and then submitted for formal planning approval. It can be assumed that planning approval will be needed for a sale price to be finalised.

19-Jan-20 Another season of rugby league at Bootham Crescent begins. The Knights lose 6-16 to Halifax in a pre-season friendly. A week ago, the game was being billed as their last ever game Bootham Crescent. However, as further delays to the new ground become apparent, The Knights confirm their next home game, (February 9, Bradford Bulls) which was due to launch their Monks Cross era will be staged at Bootham Crescent. Storm Ciara saw the Bulls game postponed.

25-Jan-20 City beat Kettering 1-0. For the 3rd time this season, kick off was delayed, this time by 15 minutes due to Kettering's travel issues.

07-Feb-20 Bootham Crescent hosted Leeds United's Under 23s match against Derby County U23s in the Premier League Cup. Just the Main Stand was open (admission £3 for adults and £1 for concessions). The game had been originally scheduled for Tadcaster Athletic's Global Stadium but was moved over concerns regarding the state of the pitch. Leeds lost 2-1 in front of a crowd of 886.

14-Feb-20 City announce the clock on the top of the Popular Stand has been taken down for refurbishment following damage sustained during recent storms. It will be restored and found a home in the fanzone at Monks Cross.

21-Feb-20 Bootham Crescent hosted Leeds United's Under 23s 1-1 draw against Wolves U23s in the Premier League Cup. Just the Main Stand was open (admission £3 for adults and £1 for concessions. Attendance 475).

29-Feb-20 Only Bootham Crescent's second ever game on February 29. 10 minutes before kick off, the groundstaff were re-painting the lines, believed to be too dark by the referee.

03-Mar-20 Bootham Crescent hosts City's re-arranged league game against Hereford, due to be the last league game to be played under lights at Bootham Crescent. It will be remembered for some abject defending and a 4-1 defeat by the 2,343 fans present. After the game, 2 City players were threatened with physical violence outside ground. Read More. Meanwhile rumours abound of further delays until November for Monks Cross due to problems with the steepness of the terracing.

08-Mar-20 York City Knights go down 12-18 to London Broncos in front of 1,364 fans at Bootham Crescent, the only home league game of the season.

14-Mar-20 The previous day, despite the Premier League and EFL announcing they’d suspended their leagues until April 3, City confirm the game with Altrincham goes ahead. However, as criticism of the National League’s decision mounts, after 10pm, City announce the game is postponed "due to employees of both teams recently self-isolating after showing potential symptoms of the COVID-19 virus". Some wonder if Bootham Crescent has seen its final ever game. Meanwhile, on Saturday morning, City informed York City Knights that "the availability of the Bootham Crescent stadium facility has been cancelled" for the following day's Challenge Cup game against Rochdale, the game is quickly moved to Featherstone's Post Office Road ground.

18-Mar-20 With Bootham Crescent closed, City's North Riding Senior Cup semi final against Thornaby, possibly the last game to be played until lights at Bootham Crescent, is postponed.

22-Mar-20 Coronavirus claims Bootham Crescent's rugby league double header that was due to be shown live on Sky Sports, York City Knights v Featherstone Rovers and Wakefield Trinity v Toronto Wolfpack.

13-May-20 With the club still in shut down and Bootham Crescent locked up, news breaks that street photographer Christopher Etinomis has broken into the ground and painted a series of Banksy style murals. Later he was revealed to be Dan Simmonite, City's media officer, and accomplished with some clever photoshop work. Prints of the murals will be auctioned off in support of the York Teaching Hospital Charity.

25-Jul-20 City's 2019/20 season resumes (and finishes). City hosted Altrincham at Bootham Crescent in the NLN semi final play off with Coronavirus protocols in place. The general public are not admitted, Premier League regulations allowed around 300 people into the ground for a PL game. Jason McGill, City’s directors, backroom staff and around 15 journalists were permitted alongside various junior City players who were dotted around the ground acting as ball boys. They were accompanied by a collection of City flags and cardboard cut outs of City fans. Protocol meant Altrincham were allowed to use both changing rooms whilst City changed in the 1922 Bar (social club) before entering directly from there onto the pitch. On kick off, both teams took a knee in support of black lives matter. City wore the commemorative maroon “Y” front shirt that had been announced in early 2019 for the last game at Bootham Crescent. Altrincham’s 2-0 win meant they became the first ever visiting side to win 3 games in a season at Bootham Crescent.

13-Aug-20 City of York Council’s planning committee, approved the development of Bootham Crescent. The joint application, from Persimmon Homes and York City Football Club, outlined a 93 property scheme on the 4.25 acre city centre site. Read More.

06-Oct-20 City kick off a new season at Bootham Crescent with a 3-1 win over Chorley. Plans to live stream (free, via youtube) were aborted due to technical reasons athough a facebook stream was made available. Throughout the season, Rob Spereall provided commentary with camerawork by Danny Rodgers.

17-Oct-20 City's home 0-0 draw with Brackley was successfully live streamed as a free trial (via I4 (Insightfour), one camera, no replays). To support City's finances, a printed programme and virtual turnstile were available whilst the plastic cut out figures, first seen against Altrincham in July were moved into The Popular Stand to receive coverage from the one fixed camera position in The Main Stand.

20-Oct-20 City's home 1-2 defeat to Chester in The FA Youth Cup was successfully live streamed as a free trial (via Insight4 (i4) video player). Despite competition regulations allowing a limited capacity crowd, based on the most recent government restrictions and guidelines and with the safety of the players, fans and staff in mind, City decided to play behind closed doors.

30-Nov-20 Its reported that 10 volunteers have been sprucing up Bootham Crescent in readiness for a possible return of fans to Bootham Crescent. When government go ahead, its now down to City, the National League and safety certification. Read More.

30-Nov-20 Hull City become the latest club to host a game at Bootham Crescent as their Under 23 side beat Coventry 2-0 thanks to goals from Josh Hinds and McCauley Snelgrove. Read More.

05-Dec-20 With covid restrictions lifted midweek, clubs like City in Tier 2 (Coronavirus Tier 2, not The Championship) are able to welcome back fans. In City's case, the lack of a safety certificate, believed to be due to electrical issues, prevented this happening. City beat Chester by 2-1. The I4 live stream failed late in the game.

08-Dec-20 After a rainy day in York, there are big muddy patches outside the "D" at the Longhurst end as City beat Kettering by 2-0 thanks to an early Sean Newton brace, including City's first successful penalty since 2^nd February 2019. It was back to free streaming via facebook with heavy promotion of the virtual turnstile.

10-Dec-20 Manchester City filming at Bootham Crescent, specifically recalling our 2-1 win over them in December 1998. Expect lots of footage of a decaying Bootham Crescent.

12-Dec-20 The fans (capped at 400 in a test event and all seated) are back for the 1-1 draw with Spennymoor.

28-Dec-20 An increased sized sell out crowd of 627 fans see City ease to a comfortable 1-0 win over Guiseley. Unbeknown to anyone, it was to be City's last ever game at Bootham Crescent.

29-Dec-20 City announce plans for the next home game (Bradford PA, Saturday January 2^nd) to have an increased capacity of 800 including supporters standing on The Longhurst. The plans are shattered a day later when York is placed into Tier 3. City also announce as yet there is no confirmed date for the move to Monks Cross.

02-Jan-21 Despite the pitch being covered in tarpaulin since the Guiseley game, the match is postponed after an 11:00 inspection due to a frozen pitch. A sad end for what is widely expected to be the final ever game at Bootham Crescent. However, if it was, the matchday programme made absolutely no reference to it being the last match.

04-Jan-21 City announce the January 12 game against AFC Fylde will be played at Bootham Crescent due to further MX delays. A day later, Councillor Nigel Ayre tweeted, "These (latest delays) are planning conditions regarding staff parking as per the 2016/17 approval - any lease drafted in 2015 must reflect the outcomes of a later planning decision. Certainly not anything that hasn’t been known for 3 years". A reference to a tweet from @YCFCStadium (LNER YCFC/YCK Stadium) which said Council Statement 1/2 “The club (YCFC) have requested an amendment to the match day agreement to include ten dedicated staff parking spaces which contravenes the agreed planning permission and as such cannot be accommodated."

11-Jan-21 City announce tomorrow's game against AFC Fylde (January 12^th), the last ever game at Bootham Crescent is postponed due to coronavirus in City's camp.

19-Jan-21 Chuitar's "Bye Bye Bootham" played over the tannoy system for one last time.

19-Jan-21 YCFC City release details of the legacy plans for the Bootham Crescent, including:

• Retention of a section of the Popular Stand terrace and tunnel to provide a lasting legacy of the stadium and create a focal point for memory and orientation.
• Naming of places in the site; the club and Persimmon Homes have submitted a request, to City of York Council, to name 6 places within the development including roads, walks and apartments all paying respects to past legends of York City FC, including David Longhurst Way and similar.
• Creation of a Memorial Garden which will provide a home for existing memorials, caskets and ashes (subject to family wishes).
• Marking out of the centre circle, within in the Public Open Space, will sit where the current centre circle sits in the ground and will align with the retained section of terrace and provide a further place for orientation.
• Recreation of the flagpole and ‘five-minute flag’; another unique historic feature of Bootham Crescent was the lowering of the club flag to signal that there were five minutes to go before the end of each match. The flag flew from a flagpole originally located between the south-east corner of the pitch and the main entrance. A new flagpole will be erected, flying a replica of the club flag as a permanent and symbolic reminder of fans’ allegiance to Bootham Crescent.
• Retention and consolidation of the boundary wall around the site which was originally in place for the cricket pitch, will be retained but where concrete blockwork has been added to the summit this will be removed. Where necessary, consolidation will be undertaken using reclaimed bricks from elsewhere on the site.