Grovesred

I always thought of cider as a drink for straw-chewing yokels and effete Americans (though it was my dad's favourite, and he was neither), but this craze for making it extra sweet and sticking half a pound of ice in every glass seems to have taken off.

Glad to say that here in the YCFC Social Club only the girls (ie women under 21) are drinking it.

The boys continue to sip lager, and the men are still drinking bitter (York Brewery Terrier, Theakston's, John Smith's) and, on occasion, Guinness.

Go Left. Enter Brechin. Endure Pish And Retire Knackered.

A good friend of mine played for Brechin, and this just about sums up his brief career.

Unsure whether I have the nerve to draw his attention to it...

That's a bit harsh. I was being nice to the guy. I could easily have pointed out that their worst manager ever was the former Ross County flop Mark Hateley.

Fair point, but "At least they're not Leeds" is what passes for a compliment in these parts as I'm sure Brooklandsbrian realises

"City Gent" is the fanzine of Bradford City not Hull City. It was one of the earlier zines, following the lead of the fantastic "Terrace Talk" at York

Biggest city in England whose team has never appeared in the top flight, I think.

Have mixed feelings when it comes to the Tigers - bitter rivals of York at various points, but some of the most generous and helpful fans when the sh*t hit the fan and York were struggling to survive.

And at least they're not Leeds

I can only think of one shop in York that's refused to accept Scottish notes, a chippy that's since closed down.

The only times I went there after that were when I had a Scottish fiver, so I could say "sod you then, I'll take my business elsewhere," when he refused to accept it. Childish but great fun, and it was a crap chippy anyway.

The only time I recall the reverse happening was when £1 coins were introduced and £1 notes were pahsed out pdq south of the border (early eighties?) and I seem to dimly recall a few Scottish shops being a bit sniffy and demanding I ransack my pockets for Scottish £1 notes.

Impossible to get public transport out of Berwick after about 9.30pm so it's an overnight stay for me.

It scarcely seems possible that this is the same guy that could barely get a game whilst on loan at York a few years ago.

It was quite possibly the worst squad in the club's history, so perhaps his three appearances (came off the bench twice and was subsituted in the other) say more about the quality of management and coaching at the time than about his qualities as a player - he's obviously come a long way in the last three and a half years.

You couldn't make it up! From this morning's local paper:

YORK'S first ever duck race on the Ouse has been postponed after torrential rain saw the river break its banks.

Just been watching the river Ouse rising slowly but inevitably - I'd guess it's about twelve feet above normal, which isn't any real threat, yet. It'll get much higher overnight as the rainwater running off the northern dales pours through. York's lucky because we generally get plenty of warning that a flood's on the way, so the floodgates can be shut and preparations made, meaning we're unlikely to suffer the devastation that's hit other parts of the county as a result of these flash floods.

...which, veering slightly o/t for a second, cannot help but remind you of one of Brian Johnston's finest moments: "The batsman's Holding, the bowler's Willey."

Arthur Bottom always used to raise a titter at York in the 1950s.

Even most York fans are sad to see Scarborough go (it's fair to say the two sets of fans aren't best mates).

It seems to me the club's fallen victim to a complete lack of trust between the fans on the one hand and chairman Scobbie on the other.

Whether they're right to mistrust each other I couldn't say, but it's continuing to damage the club's chance of being reborn, as there are currently TWO applications to join the Northern Counties East League; one from the supporters' trust and one from Scobbie. The NCEL has made it plain they'll only consider one applicant, but the two factions don't seem much closer to agreeing who that should be or to putting together a joint bid.

A complete shambles and a sad end for one of the oldest clubs around.

Being full-time doesn't mean much.

Very true.

Only four or five Conference premier clubs are part-time, but I’d argue most of the full-time clubs are actually amateur outfits splashing cash they don’t have.

Being full-time doesn’t do away with the gap I alluded to in my earlier post. The top few teams are genuinely professional outfits, with all the infrastructure you’d expect of a club much higher up the ladder. I’d go so far as to say the likes of York and Exeter are better-run and more solid than many Football League clubs.

Even though they’re still struggling for cash (something like £400,000 a year each less in income than if they were in the League) such clubs have the ability to attract players who’ve not quite made it elsewhere and the coaching staff to help those players improve (Manny’s a prime example of course). That’s certainly what’s turned York around from the situation we were in when we looked like getting relegated before Billy McEwan arrived.

I firmly believe that over the last two seasons, we’ve had a squad that could do a job at a much higher level. I don’t have a crystal ball to tell me if that’ll be the case this season as well, still less how all that really compares to SFL football, but as all three Conference divisions will be featuring on Setanta, you’ll all be able fill in those dreary Thursday nights by tuning in to see City getting thumped at home to Histon, thus shooting yours truly down in flames…

carbon silicon - mick jones' new band......superb.

Indeed they are! I saw them live a couple of years ago, though I have to say the show was stolen that night by the support act, newcomers Louie - http://www.myspace.com/louiemusic

Manny signing a new contract is the best news of the summer so far

He’s been improving steadily since joining City, and rumours linking him with Gr£tna had been circulating for a few weeks. If there was any truth in those rumours, staying put is a brave decision, because they’ll have been offering a lot more money than York.

By the end of the new season, he’ll have had three years under Billy McEwan, and I think he’ll be well capable of contributing a great deal at a much higher level.

I don’t think football at the top end of the Conference (or Blue Square Premier as we must now call it ) is very far behind most of the Scottish First Division. It’s a difficult (and perhaps futile) comparison, and while I suspect the likes of Saints would beat most Conference teams, I’m less sure that the likes of Clyde or Livi could expect to get the better of York or Exeter.

The Redskins

god I feel old

Apparently Buenos Aires is also known as the Big Apple, though whether Argentinians actually say "Big Apple" or "Manzana Grande", I don't know.

Just call me Roger Irrelevant.

A Berwick fan on P&B claims they are playing us but he's not sure on the date. Could replace the Cowdenbeath game or maybe part of a tour to the North of England on the weekend of 21st/22nd July?

According to the official site this is on Tuesday 17th July.

Not as grand as a tour of Ireland, but this dovetails nicely with my planned trip to Newcastle Benfield v York City on the Wednesday.

B&B seems a bit pricey in Berwick, so it looks like the tent's coming out of mothballs

I thought d*** Turpin came from York

He got hanged in York, but was an Essex boy.

What does beep beep beep beep beep beep beep?

Don't they just start next season on minus 10 points ?

No. By carefully choosing the moment their finances became "unmanageable", Leeds ensured the ten points were deducted from this season's total.

And then of course the person responsible for the finances becoming "unmanageable" immediately bought the company back, meaning nothing has changed except that most of the non-football creditors will never see the money they are owed.

Of course we'd all hope that if our club got itself into dire straits, the people running it would be able to pull it through the crisis using every trick in the book, but this is another case of football's rules being manipulated to produce exactly the opposite of what they were intended to do.

The 10-point rule was introduced to dissuade clubs from entering administration as a debt-avoidance tactic, but it seems Leeds and Boston have twisted it around in order to cocoon themselves against further losses brought on by relegation.

And to demonstrate I'm not completely bitter & twisted, even where Dirtyleeds are concerned, I thought I'd share this little gem from the City message board:

Q: What have York City and Leeds Utd got in common?

A: They got fcuked by Morecambe and Wise.

Shame about the play off Grovesred. Was looking forward to a York v Oxford Final.

It's been purgatory at Grovesred Towers this week, what with Saints and City both missing out at the last gasp.

Might get a York-Oxford final next season, though I suspect one them will run away with the automatic spot, leaving the other to face the play off lottery again.

Mind you, it's a lottery worth winning; York were hoping to net £450,000 from a Wembley appearance. Without it, I think we can forget poaching Jason though I hear Leeds are desperate to offload a player or two...

Scotland should go for independence.

The sooner you get it, the sooner we in Yorkshire can follow suit

i think its shocking how they are getting the equivalent of no punishment. they were down already (barring a barrage of goals) so the ten point deductian means nothing. rotherham, who started with a ten point deductian, got relegated. leeds walk in to league 1 with no disadvantage. the system needs thinkin about.

Dead right.

The automatic ten-point deduction for entering administration was introduced, in part, as a reaction to clubs using administration as a way of getting out of paying most of their debts. Leicester and Leeds were the worst examples.

Of course it's clubs like Rotherham and Scarborough that have suffered most, for trying to do the right thing, while the likes of Leeds play the system and try to screw their creditors yet again.

An even worse example is Boston who went into adminstration seconds from the end of their last game, once it became apparent they were going to be relegated. This is the club whose manager was banned from football for two years for financial impropriety and who narrowly escaped a jail sentence recently.

There's more than one club in the Conference (sorry, Blue Square Premier:roll: ) looking forward to renewing their acquaintance with this particular gang of ................ - insert your own term of abuse - I can't think of anything accurate that might not embroil the operators of this site in an unfortunate libel action.