York City: two minutes to help us out!

[Grovesred]

York City survived the traumas of last season thanks in no small part to the support and solidarity we received from football fans the length and breadth of the country.

But we're not out of the woods yet.

The owners of our ground (BCH) and their good friends at Persimmon Homes want to force us out of Bootham Crescent, our home for over 70 years so they can build 93 yuppie flats.

They have generously offered to help us move to an athletics stadium on the edge of town. The council wants us to go there before any permanent stands have been built, and make do with temporary stands for a few years, but with no offer of real funding to build proper stands later.

I'm sure Brighton fans will recognise the basic scenario very well...

Anyway, part of our campaign against persimmon is this open letter at http://www.petitiononline.com/FoBC/petition.html

please take a couple of minutes to read and sign it.

And then keep your eyes open for the next bits of out campaign, which have to remain secret for the time being

Thank you.

 

[Everest]

Signed.
# 430

Good luck.

 

[Shizuoka Dolphin]

Done and done. Wish you all the very best with this and I'll be staying up to date with this one. I'll never forget your fans at the abandoned game at our place giving us 100% backing - I'm pleased to be able to return the favour.

FANS UNITED!

 

[Easy 10]

Done.
Good luck Grovesred. Stay determined and never back down

 

[Turkey]

Signed - 433- Simon Tipple

 

[Artois]

Done.



A lot of us on here gave cash last season to help save York City.

Glad to see it went some way to helping them survive.

But that's just the start of the journey.


xx

 

[Grovesred]

But that's just the start of the journey.

That's very true!

YCFC is now owned by the Supporters' Trust, which is entirely down to the collections which we took through most of last season.

Unsurprisingly most of it came from City fans, but the cash that came from fans like Albion's was very significant.

On a couple of occasions we were within ten minutes of being liquidated, and on another we had to raise £60,000 in three days.

The worst thing is that like Albion before us, we were deliberately shafted.

But we're on our way back, and it really will be the icing on the cake if we can win back ownership of the ground.

Thanks again for all your good wishes

 

[Artois]

Copied from Old NSC

Posted by: Bobby's Right Boot on Feb. 22 2003,08:29

Email from York Supporters Trust:


Dear all,

I know I've all bored you rigid with the topic of York City's plight in the last few months. Well now it's crunch time. We are on the verge of the Supporters Trust saving the club in a takeover bid and hopefully some brighter times ahead. However, the next few days are crucial. The adminstrator, in his wisdom, has just announced that we are essentially #60,000 short of a workable
deal. And guess what? We need that money by the end of the weekend. If we don't raise this, we are dead. Simple as that. There are no saviours, no one is offering to help, it's just down to us the fans. I wouldn't normally do this, but the situation is so grave, I hope you don't me asking. Below is the link to the Supporters Trust donations page. If you can in any way help by
pledging - whether it be one pound or a tenner or whatever - I will love you all forever. If you're sick of me going on or couldn't give a stuff, feel free to ignore this email, but if you feel you can help, it will not go unnoticed.
You will literally be helping save our club from going out of existence and facilitating a fans' takeover. Please remember the donations need to be made essentially within the next two days.

The link: < http://www.ycst.org.uk/donations.htm >
There's an option to make a one off payment with a credit card at the bottom.
Be assured that all payments are secure. Finally, if you think there's anyone you know who has a bottomless wallet and/or a heart of gold and is susceptible to emotional blackmail - particularly footie fans - please forward them this message. Many many thanks.


Another article on the subject is available here
< http://www.ycst.org.uk/article059.htm >
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Posted by: Lord Bracknell on Feb. 22 2003,10:34

There are plenty of clubs who will find themselves in difficulty as a result of the current state of the game. And we can't throw a lifeline to them all. But YCFC and their fans played an important part in our survival and they've been active supporters of other clubs in peril. Their survival is important for our game.

If you take the trouble to look into the York case, you'll find that their circumstances will ring lots of bells.

I'll be sending a donation and I hope other Albion fans will do the same.
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Posted by: Yorkie on Feb. 22 2003,11:01

Well said Lord B

I've sent a tenner and it's the least we can do.
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Posted by: albiongirl on Feb. 22 2003,17:45

I went to their Fans United day last season and they were so grateful that we had made the effort to support them. Approx 30 Brighton fans the most as usual compared to other clubs represented.It made me feel a very proud brighton fan that day.

My donation is sent
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Posted by: Artois on Feb. 22 2003,18:53

We were lucky to get out of that hole we were in. We got help from others when it was most needed.

Others deserve that chance too,
what goes around, comes around.

I've just given them a tenner.
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Posted by: Lush on Feb. 22 2003,19:24

Ditto. Let's hope they raise the cash.
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Posted by: roz on Feb. 22 2003,20:04

Ditto again! A tenner added to their fund from me too.

Don't the same patterns repeat themselves, though? Or rather, the same recipes for disaster. Power crazed but inadequate people buy into a football club, they then manage to "mismanage" it in a way that suddenly, out of the blue, means they have to sell the ground from under the club. In the interests of clearing the debts, only, of course. The opportunity to make a fortune from property speculation didn't occur to them when they bought into the club. Like feck it hadn't...

The names may change but the motives remain the same.

Good luck to York, I hope they survive.


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Posted by: Fran Hagarty on Feb. 22 2003,20:30

I've just donated a tenner. Went to the York City Fans United day too. It would be very sad to see York lose their football team. I hope they make it!
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Posted by: Ted Rogers, 3-2-1 on Feb. 23 2003,12:13

York fans supported us against Archer despite travelling 600 miles to see 16 minutes of football.
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Posted by: Bobby's Right Boot on Feb. 24 2003,20:51

Just heard from my York City supporting mate, that they managed to raise:


£61,824

Yay
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Posted by: Artois on Feb. 24 2003,20:56

That is f***ing brilliant.

I'm going to go and have that extra can now....
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Posted by: Artois on Feb. 26 2003,16:29

The immediate future of York City Football Club has been secured after the Supporters Trust agreed terms with the Administrator on which their bid can move forward.
Around £60,000 was raised over the weekend by supporters to fund the club for the next few weeks to allow time for the Trust's deal to be finalised.

Arrangements are now being made to allow the rescue package to progress, and the Trust will work to turn £150,000 of pledges into cash to help fund it.

The York Supporters Trust admitted the reaction of the fans was more generous than they ever expected.

"It has been an overwhelming response, not just from City fans, but from football supporters around the country and beyond," trust spokesman Steve Beck said.

Fans feared Saturday's home match against Bury might have been the last in the club's 81-year history.

The trust, which is in negotiations to buy York, had already supplied £92,000 to keep the club going until 15 February.

But administrators who took over on 18 December said another £60,000 had to be raised by last Saturday or the club faced immediate closure.

The new funds - part of which were donated by fans during Saturday's north-east derby between Sunderland and Middlesbrough - appear to have kept York afloat for the time being.

"We are now confident the imminent threat of extinction can be lifted," the trust said.

Like many clubs in England's lower divisions, York's financial woes were deepened when pay-television channel ITV Digital collapsed last year.

Even though they are sitting pretty in fifth place in the third division with promotion not an impossibility, the club's future still looks far from certain.

"There are still various hurdles to overcome, and the work to save City is far from over," the trust said.

"The fight to save the club goes on."


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Posted by: Storer68 on Feb. 26 2003,16:51

WELL DONE YORK FANS.
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Posted by: BUTTERBALL on Feb. 26 2003,19:40

Lets hope that they manage to find a backer soon. York is a big city and deserves a league football club.
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Posted by: curly on Feb. 26 2003,19:49

its not just money to save a club ( well basically it is) it about saving football in general, i'm sure we can all find a few quid, even the price of a "pint" to help them, how many football fans are there? and if they all gave 10p i'm sure they would survive
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Posted by: Gordon the Gopher on Feb. 26 2003,21:40

Yeah but that wasn't their fans decision, it was their board at the time...and didn't we have a dodgy board a few years back?
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[pasty]

Done

 

[Trish]

Done. Good luck.

 

[Yorkie]

Done

 

[Woodingdean Gull]

Also done, from work and from home, keep the faith.

 

[Icy Gull]

Done and I hope that York City do not have to go through the same scenario forced on us.

Get signing they've got less than 450 signatures so far

 

[tinx]

Done signature 450.

 

[Raphael Meade]

numero 457.

 

[Eggman]

Signed and sealed.

Good luck to all at York City!

 

[CHAPPERS]

Done, 459.

 

[Dandyman]

458


Best of luck. I suspect you may have already done something similar, but Paul Hayward (Daily Telegraph) was very supportive of the Albion during our fight. Although he is a local boy and there fore has an interest in us, he may also like a story about your York. You should be able to contact him via the Telegraph.

 

[Trotster]

Done - signitures 461.

Good luck York - its a horrible feeling and one we know only to well - fingers crossed it works out for you.

 

[Meade's Ball]

Done - 474.
Good luck!