2019 saw Harvey Barnes burst onto the scene with Leicester (after earlier loan spells around the EFL). His speed soon made him a threat alongside Jamie Vardy, if only he had his Dad Paul's scoring boots he could go all the way to the very top.
Paul Barnes’ City teammates are just coming to age where their sons are starting to make a mark in the game, including:
- Charlie Cresswell (Leeds U23, 2020/1). First team debut in September 2020 and Premier League debut in September 2021
- Max McMillan (Leeds U18, 2020/1, Fleetwood (2021 -). He joined Fleetwood (from Leeds) on a 2 year deal in April 2021 and scored (with assist from Ryan Edmondson) on his first team debut 2 days after his 19th birthday in October 2021. His elder brother Alex has drifted out of the professional game after spending his scholarship years in Grimsby followed by a spell in Sweden. Andy's father was a footballer in South Africa and was manager of Pretoria Callies
- Chris Kiely, son of Dean, had a spell as a pro keeper with Gillingham after a schoolboy career with a couple of high profile clubs
- When City visited Tadcaster in the FA Youth Cup in September 2020, City fielded Oli (son of Scott) Jordan whilst the home side included Troy (son of Jon) Greening.
Other readers might recall some other father and sons who both played for City, including:
- Ian / Martin Butler
- Steven P (1997) / Joe Davis (2019), loanee centre backs, Dad broke his leg in training with City
- David / Fergus McAughtrie
- Bobby / Josh Mimms
- Andy (a 1980s intermediate) / Dan Pybus
- Jimmy / Arran Reid, Jimmy, a combative 70s YCFC reserve team midfielder and 2006/7 keeper Arran
- Neville / Steve Tutill
- Peter (2000-1) / George Swan (2015-6), neither made a mark in our back 4
- Keith / Matt Walwyn. Matt played for City’s Eighties team in a YCST game in 2004 and won 2 international caps for Saint Nevis and Kitts in 2015.
On a similar father / son theme:
- Jackie McNamara Snr and Jackie McNamara both played for Celtic. Only the latter managed York City
- Mike Walker was City’s and a Welsh Under 23 keeper from the 60s, his son Ian kept goal for Spurs and England where he was a team mate of Nick Barmby (see below)
- Jason / Gabby McGill. After a youth career with City and Middlesbrough, Gabby signed a 3 year deal with Dunfermline in 2019 (and on loan at Edinburgh City in ]October 2020) and joined City on loan in January 2021. In summer 2021, he joined Airdrie.
- Glen / Ethan / Peyton Henderson. The next chairman took a similar route with his son Ethan being a prolific scorer for City's academy side although his City first team career was limited to one 2022 NRSC game and a place on the first team bench against Hereford in the last pre covid home game. Ethan's younger sister, Peyton played in goal for City Ladies in a 4-1 home defeat on 26th March 2023 whilst on loan from Everton.
- Gary Mills and his Dad Roly who played in all 4 divisions with Northampton in the 1960s
- Mills' assistant (2nd time around) Darren Caskey and his son Jake Forster-Caskey
- City midfielder, Ben Wilkinson (2008-9) is the son of Howard, the former England and Leeds manager
- Joel Randall, son of Adrian, City's record signing, forced his way into Exeter's first team during the 2020/1 season
- Aston Villa's 1982 European Cup winner Andy Blair is the father of Matty
- Carl Muggleton was a long serving top flight keeper, his son Sam, could take a mean throw in. One website states Sam is the uncle of Ben Williams (13 years Sam’s senior), a former Manchester United trainee keeper who went on to play well over 300 games in the lower leagues
- Joe Spence (no relation to Ron Spence), a regular at full back for City in the early 1950s was the son of Joseph Walter Spence, an England international who played for Manchester United throughout the 1920s
- Jaden Charles, son of Gary Charles, the England international who started his career with Nottingham Forest and played for a number of other clubs including Derby and Aston Villa
- John Askey is the son of Colin Askey who starred for Port Vale for many seasons as a right winger, he was a key member of their 1953/4 side who won the Division 3 North title and reached the FA Cup semi final a season before City did.
- Ex Hull Mark Greaves spent the 2008/9 season playing in City's defence, his son Jacob is a Hull defender who scored his first goal on October 22nd 2022.
- 2023 loanee Shaqai Forde is the son of Fabian Forde whose FL career amounted to one appearance as an 82nd minute sub for Watford in 2001.
Other City families of note include:
- Adam Hinshelwood is the son of ex-England under-21 and Crystal Palace footballer Paul Hinshelwood and nephew of Martin Hinshelwood. His grandfather Wally Hinshelwood was also a professional footballer. Adam’s son Jack plays for Brighton & Hove Albion, making his Premier League debut in May 2023.
- 3 generations of a number of footballing families have City links, including:
- Phil Burrows. Phil’s father and grandfather both played for Stockport. His Dad, Arthur Jnr once played against Ernest Swallow (no need to name his son here) in a famous cup tie, the “timeless” Division 3 North Cup game in March 1946 between Stockport and Doncaster. Meant to be played to a conclusion, the game was eventually abandoned after 203 minutes of playing time with scores level due to bad light, the longest ever senior English game. His Granddad, Arthur Snr, was named as twelfth man (non playing substitute) in the 1921 Division 2 game between Stockport and Leicester which attracted a record low of just 13 spectators
- Local striker Jeff Barmby failed to make the grade with City but had a long non league career at Scarborough. Son Nick played for Spurs, Everton and England whilst his son Jack came through the Manchester United junior system before moving to America
- Charlie Cooper had a month on loan with City in October 2016, Dad Mark was a decent lower league player and manager whilst grandfather Terry Cooper enjoyed a long career at left back for Leeds and England
- September 2020 signing Michael Woods is the 3rd generation of his family to play for City following in the boots of Neil (uncle) and Alan (grandfather). Neil's son, Sam was an apprentice at Grimsby
- Shaun Rooney. His great uncle Benny Rooney was also a footballer, mainly with St Johnstone. His great grandfather Bob also played but was better known as a physiotherapist at Celtic
- Tom Fenoughty Snr signed for City in early 1927 and had 6 very successful seasons (97 goals in 229 appearances) as City became a Football League side. He joined Rotherham in 1934. His son, Tom Jnr played for Sheffield United and Chesterfield. 2 other sons, Mick and Nick also played for Chesterfield. In 1975, all 3 featured in Matlock's 4-0 FA Trophy win over Scarborough at Wembley, the only instance of 3 brothers playing together at Wembley. A grandson, Mark Fenoughty, had a spell as COO at Sheffield United. Tom Snr was great grandfather of siblings Michael and Rory Boulding were also footballers, both playing for various Football League clubs, including Mansfield and Bradford City between 2006 and March 2010. Michael was previously a leading ranked GB junior tennis player whilst one of his sisters, Sally also spent some time on the world tennis circuit and another sister, Helen, is a talented musician.
Read More.
- George Thompson, a City keeper from the 20s once watched his son Des play in goal for City against Scunthorpe who had another son, George Jnr in goal.
- Gordon Staniforth’s children, Tom (Sheffield Wednesday), pictured in Yorkpress features in
September 2020 as a Rowntrees Under 12
and
December 2020
and Lucy (Manchester United and England) both went into the professional game.
- Jimmy (uncle) / Billy Rudd (nephew)
- Keith Usher (father in law) / Cliff Calvert
- Will (grandson of Paul) Aimson was a defender with Plymouth at the start of the 2020/1 season (having previously played for several clubs including Hull, Blackpool and Tranmere)
- Michael Rankine is the cousin of Tottenham Hotspur's Danny Rose and nephew of ex player Mark Rankine. Mitch Rose is Danny's brother and played with Grimsby and other clubs
- The grandfather of Kiernan Kennedy, Paddy Kennedy, was a "Busby Babe", playing a handful of games in his United career
- Barrry Jackson is City's record appearance holder. His nephew, John Pickering, holds the same record at Halifax
- Josh Law's elder brother, Nicky was also a pro, notably with Glasgow Rangers. Their father, Nicky Snr was a player and later manager
- David McNiven lead City's strike force during the 2000/1 season, his brother Scott was a pro and their Dad, David Snr, was a top flight striker with Don Revie's Leeds side
- Chris Galvin, City's 1976-7 loanee was the elder brother of Tony Galvin who played for Spurs and the Republic Of Ireland
- Onome Sodje. Possibly a member of City's largest sporting clan. Uncles Sam, Efe, Akpo and Steve were all professionals in England whilst another uncle, Bright (Hull KR, Sheffield and Wakefield included) was a rugby league professional. Onome and the first 3 uncles all made over 100 appearances whilst playing, several family members (not including Onome) were later implicated in a major fraud case. The start of the 2023/4 season saw 19 year old defender Harrison Sodje make his Leyton Orient debut, presumably the next generation of the family
There has also been a number of pairs of brothers who have played for City:
- Marco / Riccardo Gabbiadini
- Nigel / Adrian Costello
- Brian / Aidan Chippendale came through City’s youth ranks together in the1980s. Brian made 12 first team appearances, including the 1984 League Cup tie at QPR, his brother never made the first team. Its not known if Aidan Chippendale who had a loan spell with City in 2011 is a relative
- Mid 70s squad striker, John Peachey’s brother Don (ex Coventry) played a trial game for City around 1974/5
- Peter and Barry Tait, locally born forwards who made their debuts in the late 1950s, Barry was later a City youth team coach
- Bryon Webster’s brother, Jack also played as a City triallist in March 2008 when in the final throes of his Scunthorpe career
- Brothers Reg and Joe Baines played for City pre WW2. Ditto brothers Tommy / George Maskill and Joe / George Harron
- Ronaldo and Romario Vieira deserve a mention. As youngsters, both played for i2i, Tadcaster and Leeds. Ronaldo was expected to join City before Leeds jumped in. Twin brothers, Ronaldo earned a big money move from Leeds to Sampdoria in July 2018 whilst Romario later had a brief trial with City in December 2018 in a journey that took him from Tadcaster to Leeds and back to Taddy with full international honours for Guinea Bissau along the way.
- Finally, Kay brothers (Thornton Lambert, Eric Newbald, Frederick Robert and William Arthur), born in Great Ouseburn, they played a total of 8 games for City in the Midlands League era.
One set of brothers you might not readily recognise are Dave Martin-Chambers, a City winger from the early 70s and his brother, who played under the name Phil Chambers for many years as Barnsley’s right back.
There are many other footballing brothers where one brother has played for City, they include:
- Lee / Kurt Nogan
- Shaun / Peter Reid
- Viv / Martyn Busby
- Neil / Bruce Rioch
- Neil / Andy Morris
- Dave / Phil Chambers
I often wondered whether Liam Agnew was the son of Steve Agnew but was told he wasn’t, however Jordan Rhodes is the nephew of Steve Agnew. Equally, Mark and Robbie Tinkler, but I understand Robbie is the son of Hartlepool's ex pro John Tinkler. Read More.
Other notable City families who’ve struck outside football include:
- 2 high profile ex City players who are sons of York RLFC players, Alex / Ben Godfrey and Chris / Jamie Hopcutt
- Martyn Woolford comes from a sporting family, father Neil and grandfather Cyril were both rugby league players with Featherstone Rovers
- Cricketeer Jack Leaning (Kent, ex Yorkshire) is the son of Andy
- Graham Carr our late 60s centre half (and later a high profile Newcastle chief scout) is the father of comedian Alan Carr
- Albert Johanneson. His nephew, Carl Johanneson was the British super featherweight boxing champion (2006-8)
- Manny Panther’s father Cyril was a Nigerian light middleweight boxer
- Peter Till senior was a Midlands lightweight boxing champion.
Pre York City and with thanks to Dave Wherry, a Grimsby Town historian, who has also proved some information elsewhere on this page, some family ties which pre date the existing York City
- Charlie Roberts: Uncle to Danny (b. 1893 centre-half for Oldham 1919-20), Bill (b. 1894 forward for Oldham, Darlington and Rochdale 1919-27), Alec (b. 1900 Charlton, St. Johnstone, Nelson, Bangor City and Accrington Stanley left-back 1925-31), Carl (b. 1903, Darlington, Lincoln, Notts County, York, Chesterfield, Norwich and Sheff Wed forward, 1923-30) & Mark Hooper (b. 1901 winger for Darlington, Sheff Wed & Rotherham 1924-39). Danny, Bill, Carl and Mark are listed at brothers, but it is believed that Alec was a cousin
- Alf ‘Boy’ Robinson: Brother of Jim Robinson (York City 1919/20)
- Herve Robinson: Uncle of Jim Robinson (York City 1919/20).
... and finally ...
- Prolific former Grimsby striker Matt Tees is the brother in law of ex City manager Charlie Wright.
- Dale Banton is belived to be related to Paul Elliott, the former England "B", Chelsea, Celtic, Charlton and Luton defender.
Email Me if you know of anymore.
