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The daily email newsletter serving York City fans since 1997
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Submit your views for publication by emailing the editor here.
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Ray Taylor (Warrington)
Not surprised we lost to Alty. Will be pleasantly surprised if we gain any points in the fixtures against those higher up the league than us.
Can not get to the game at FC Utd as I will be in York! But will be at the home game the following week. Still stick by my opinion that only Mirfin and Kempster worth retaining, although Newton returning to form to complicate matters.
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David Mirfin: "York City improvement down to manager, not me."
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By Dave Flett
THE PRESS’ February Player of the Month David Mirfin has insisted that manager Steve Watson has been the real catalyst for improvement at York City.
Mirfin, 33, helped City win four out of their five fixtures last month following his loan arrival from League Two promotional hopefuls Mansfield.
His personal accolade was made all the more impressive by the fact that those matches were his first in football for 14 months following knee surgery.
But a modest Mirfin has declared that Watson has made the biggest impact at Bootham Crescent, with the ex-Gateshead chief’s efforts also recognised during his first full month with the club.
Watson was named National League North Manager of the Month for February as the club climbed from 19th in the table to 12th and Mirfin said: “I set myself a target of five or six games to get back into the swing of things to see how my injury reacted so it’s obviously a nice thing to win something that is voted on by fans.
“But I think everybody has been lifted since the gaffer has come in, according to the lads and what I’ve read. He seems to get more from players and there’s been a massive progression under him.”
Mirfin also felt there were other worthy contenders for his accolade, not least his rejuvenated central-defensive partner.
“Me and Newts (Sean Newton) have got a good partnership and he was playing left-wing back before slotting into the centre very comfortably,” the former Huddersfield defender pointed out. Griff (Kallum Griffiths) has also got a bit of everything and Mokes (Adriano Moke) puts in a shift that maybe goes slightly unnoticed by fans but, from a centre half’s perspective, he makes your life easier by doing a lot of horrible work.
“Jordan (Burrow) has also been the club’s talisman and there’s been a bit more pressure on him than anyone to create and score goals.”
The 6ft 2in sentinel did reason, though, that the end of City’s four-game winning streak, during Saturday’s 1-0 home defeat to play-off contender Altrincham, did suggest that the squad remain a work in progress.
“We were massively disappointed with the result, but more so with the performance,” he admitted. “Following the run we’d been on and the confidence that it had generated, there was no reason why we should have played like we did.
“A few of their lads said the game had 0-0 written all over it in the second half and, If we had walked off with that, we would have probably said it was progress but to lose 1-0 probably highlighted the performance more and the gaffer will try and work out why we were so disappointing. I don’t think it was a massive step back, but it probably did demonstrate that there’s more work to be done than perhaps the previous four games had suggested. We’ve now got to make sure that it was only a blip and we can build on what we were doing before.”
Josh Hancock’s 81st-minute goal was only the second in six hours of football that has been conceded with Mirfin and Newton as a defensive duo and the former Championship campaigner argued it could have been avoided.
“We maybe got sucked across to the ball, rather than knowing where their man was and he had too much space and time in our box,” Mirfin explained.
Defeat meant the Minstermen have now lost seven of their last eight meetings against teams currently in the division’s top-seven positions and Mirfin now wants to see an improvement in that record with Spennymoor, Bradford Park Avenue and Telford still to play in the final three fixtures of the campaign.
“It was a little bit of a step up,” he said of the Altrincham contest. “They are one of the few teams who try and play like they do at this level and it was a different style to what I have been playing against since coming here, but we want to know we can compete against top-seven teams and that’s our focus in the remaining games.”
City now travel to third-bottom FC United of Manchester with Mirfin believing that the team should focus on their own game-plan rather than second-guessing how their hosts will approach the match.
“You can sometimes concentrate too much on the opposition and stopping them playing, when the main thing is to look at yourselves and what you did to get those results before and get back to that,” he declared. “We’re not going into games thinking we’ve got nothing to lose - we’re going into them saying: ‘Let’s try to win’.
“There’s no pressure in comparison to where we were two months ago when we were looking over our shoulders, so we should be able to go out and enjoy our football a little bit more but there’s also that professional pride and you want to see progression in terms of the club going in the right direction by getting results.”
Mirfin was also pleased to receive an immediate recall to the first XI after sitting out the 1-0 win at Leamington, having suffered the worst facial wound of his career.
“The impact came on the back of their player’s head and I needed 31 stitches to limit the scarring really,” he pointed out. “When I got to hospital, they had to pick some of their player’s hairs out of my lip before sewing it up.
“It was probably the worst facial injury I have had. I’ve had a couple of broken noses, but you crack on with them after shoving a bit of cotton wool up there.
“As soon as Buster (physio Ian Gallagher) saw this one, though, he said we needed to sort it at hospital and the doctor there was brilliant. She did a really good job on it, so it wasn’t a gamble me coming back.”
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Please check the club's official website before planning travel.
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Pre-season fixtures:
July
Sat 7: Shildon 1, York City 2
Tue 10: York City 1, Barnsley 7
Sat 14: York City 1, Bradford City 0
Thu 19: York City 1, Leeds United 1
Fri 27: Ilkeston Town 1, York City 6
Vanarama National League (North) fixtures unless otherwise stated:
August
Sat, Aug 4 Chorley 1, York City 0
Tue, Aug 7 York City 1, Stockport County 0
Sat, Aug 11 York City 1, Alfreton Town 2
Tue, Aug 14 Ashton United 0, York City 2
Sat, Aug 18 York City 1, Curzon Ashton 1
Sat, Aug 25 Brackley Town 0, York City 0
Mon, Aug 27 York City 2, Blyth Spartans 0
September
Sat, Sep 1 Hereford 1, York City 1
Sat, Sep 15 York City 0, Kidderminster Harriers 3
Sat, Sep 22 York City 5, Ashton Athletic 0 (Emirates FA Cup 2Q)
Sat, Sep 29 York City 4, Guiseley 2
October
Tue, Oct 2 Nuneaton Borough 2, York City 2
Sat, Oct 6 York City 3, St Ives Town 0 (Emirates FA Cup 3Q)
Sat, Oct 13 Southport 1, York City 2
Sat, Oct 20 Blyth Spartans 0, York City 1 (Emirates FA Cup 4Q)
Sat, Oct 27 AFC Telford United 2. York City 1
Tue, Oct 30 Spennymoor Town 3, York City 0
November
Sat, Nov 3 York City 1, Bradford Park Avenue 4
Sat Nov 10 Swindon Town 2, York City 1 (Emirates FA Cup 1)
Tue, Nov 13 York City 0, Chester 0
Sat, Nov 17 Altrincham 3, York City 0)
Sat, Nov 24 Kidderminster Harriers 1, York City 3 (Buildbase FA Trophy 3Q)
December
Sat, Dec 1 York City 2, FC United Of Manchester 0
Tue, Dec 4 York City 2, Leamington 2
Sat, Dec 8 Boston United 2, York City 0
Sat, Dec 15 Harrogate Town 2, York City 1 (Buildbase FA Trophy 1)
Sat Dec 22 York City 2, Brackley Town 1
Wed, Dec 26 Darlington 5, York City 1
Sat, Dec 29 Blyth Spartans 2, York City 1
January
Tue, Jan 1 York City 4, Darlington 0
Sat, Jan 5 Curzon Ashton 1, York City 0
Tue, Jan 15 York City 6, Redcar 1 (North Riding Cup)
Sat, Jan 19 Stockport County 3, York City 1
Sat, Jan 26 York City 1, Chorley 4
February
Sat, Feb 2 Alfreton Town 2, York City 3
Tue, Feb 5 York City 1, Hereford 2
Sat Feb 9 York City 2, Ashton United 0
Sat, Feb 16 Kidderminster Harriers 1, York City 2
Sat Feb 23 York City 2, Nuneaton Borough 0
March
Sat Mar 2 Leamington 0, York City 1
Tue Mar 5 Scarborough Athletic 3, York City 0 (on penalties) (semi-final North Riding Senior Cup)
Sat Mar 9 York City 0 Altrincham 1
Sat, Mar 16 FC United Of Manchester (A)
Sat, Mar 23 Boston United (H)
Sat Mar 30 Guiseley (A)
April
Sat, Apr 6 Southport (H)
Sat Apr 13 Chester (A)
Fri, Apr 19 Spennymoor Town (H)
Mon, Apr 22 Bradford Park Avenue (A)
Sat, Apr 27 AFC Telford United (H)
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There’s Only One Arthur Bottom was first published as an almost-daily email newsletter in July 1997 and has been distributed continuously since. Subscriber numbers peaked at more than 1,100 when the club’s future was threatened by potential closure in 2001 but more than 800 subscribers, living in more than 30 countries, will receive this edition. Editor Josh Easby started the newsletter from New Zealand (where he lives today) but has variously produced and distributed it from the United Kingdom, Australia and (briefly) Italy.
Over the years, TOOAB subscribers have variously supported the club in many different ways, using the newsletter at times to share ideas that have helped the club and to raise money which has been used to buy much-needed equipment (for the physio room), sponsor members of the youth team and to sponsor senior players’ kit. Subscribers (who often call themselves ‘Arthurites’) often meet up for pre-match/post-match drinks and have arranged functions together.
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The opinions expressed in There's Only One Arthur Bottom do not necessarily represent the views of the publisher, nor is this newsletter endorsed in any way by York City Football Club. Wherever possible, the contributions by subscribers are published unaltered. However submissions will be rejected or amended if they are potentially defamatory or contain language likely to offend other subscribers. Unless good reasons are given, anonymous submissions are rejected. The publisher reserves the right to reproduce contributions to this newsletter on any website associated with the newsletter.
www.tooab.com
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