The Match

This is a true table-topping clash between 2 of the favourites for promotion from the National League.  Top of the table York City visit 2nd in the table FGR with just 1 point separating the two sides.

The Minstermen come to the New Lawn in a rich vein of form and are unbeaten in their last 12 games.

Remember the kick-off is 17.30 on Saturday.

How are they doing?

York City are looking pretty formidable opposition this season.  They suffered a surprise 0-2 defeat at home to Boston in August, but this has been their only loss this season.  Since that loss they have gone 12 games undefeated.  They boast the best away record in the National League.  Defensively, they look very solid – nobody in the league has conceded fewer goals (just 13 in 17 games).  They also score freely (33 goals in their 17 games).

The Minstermen’s number 10, Olly Pearce, is their leading scorer with captain, Lenell John-Lewis (number 9), close behind him.  But York have goal scorers throughout the team.  Attacking midfielder Tyrese Sinclair is the son of ex-Chelsea defender Frank Sinclair – he also contributes his share of goals.

Who to keep an eye on?

Lenell John-Lewis | York City Football Club

35 year-old London-born number 9, Lennell John-Lewis, is having something of a career renaissance with York.  He was loaned from Grimsby in 2022, when York were still in the National League North.  After making the move permanent, John-Lewis has thrived in the National League and, as well as captaining the side, has 5 league goals to his name so far.

Ollie Pearce | York City Football Club

Striker Olly Pearce is York’s top scorer with 8 league goals.  Pearce joined York from Worthing this year.  He is continuing the prolific goalscoring he enjoyed in the National League South.

The Club

York were founded in 1922.  After 7 years as a non-league club they entered the football league in 1929.  Until 2004, they oscillated between the 3rd and 4th tiers, with just a brief couple of seasons in the 2nd tier in the 1970’s.  In 2004 they dropped to the 5th tier.  They managed to claw their way back into the EFL between 2012 and 2016 before dropping back to the 5th tier again.  In 2017 things got worse when the club fell into the National League North for 5 seasons.  They came back into the National League in 2022.

York are known as the ‘Minstermen’, after the city’s most famous landmark.  The club are 49% owned by their Supporters Trust.  The remaining 51% used to be owned by businessman Glen Henderson.  But the controversial Henderson lasted less than a year, and his shareholding was bought in 2023 by Canadian billionaires, the Uggla family.  The Uggla’s had previously attempted to buy Yeovil Town but that deal fell through.

York City co-Chair, Matt Uggla.

Their Ground

York City play at the LNER Community Stadium.  The club describes it as follows;

“Planned since 2006 and opened in 2021, the LNER Community Stadium is a state of the art, 8,500 capacity facility built to Championship standards. Owned by the City of York Council, the stadium is home to York City FC and York RLFC Knights. Incorporated into the development are hospitality facilities, a leisure centre, community library and NHS drop-in centre.”

York's long-delayed 8,000-seat stadium completed - BBC News

Only opened in 2021, York City’s new stadium is still building its reputation.  But it seems as though it is a stadium that is starting to bring York City the fan support that it needs.

The City

York is some 26 miles east of Leeds, and 90-odd miles south of Newcastle.  It is now much smaller than these industrial cities (and others nearby such as Sheffield & Manchester).  However, this North Yorkshire city has been one of the most important in the north of England since Roman times.

In 207 AD the Emperor Severus declared York as the capital of what the Romans called Britannica Inferior.  It maintained its importance for over 1,000 years, through Saxon Kings, the Vikings, and the Normans.  It was the centre of  northern England’s ecclesiastical province.  It declined in the Middle Ages, especially during the dissolution of the monasteries in the reign of Henry VIII .

By the 19th century, York had become famous for trains and chocolate.

Trains – The York and North Midland Railway (succeeded by North Eastern Railway) were headquartered in York and propelled the city into a major rail centre by the late 19th century.  The National Railway Museum is in York (free entry, close to the mainline station).  Even today the city is very well connected by train – York to London’s King’s Cross takes under 2 hours and there are 25 trains a day each weekday.  Go north for 2 hours 25 minutes and you’ll be in Edinburgh.

Chocolate – the growth of the railways proved to be the incentive for the chocolatiers to sert themselves up in York.  The most famous were Joseph Rowntree and Terry’s of York.  The classics Kit-Kat and Chocolate Orange are both from here and Terry’s recently celebrated 250 years in the city.

National Railway Museum | Museums in York | Creative Tourist

The National Railway Museum at York.

Chocolate 'in the blood'

The former Terry’s factory at York (now residential) next to the city’s famous racecourse.

York Minster from the air

It would be hard to visit York and not take a look at its famous Minster and the surrounding medieval streets.  This 900 year-old Gothic cathedral is one of England’s finest.

Historic Medieval York building to get £2m revamp - BBC News

Another of York’s famous landmarks is Clifford’s Tower.  Built by the Normans it is the largest remaining part of York Castle, when York itself was England’s northern capital.