Match programme: York City v Southport (2 February 1957)

About this match programme

By Richard Snowball

This programme is for York City's biggest ever win in the Football League when they beat Southport 9-1 on 2nd February, 1957 in front of a crowd of 8,801. Arthur Bottom scored four goals including a first half hat-trick.

The final score probably flattered York because Southport had a player injured early in the first half, and as he could not continue they had to play the rest of the match with ten men.

This was long before the days of substitutes. However it was still a magnificent feat to win by such a score.

City were riding high on the fringe of the Division Three (North) promotion race at the time.

York had spent ÂŁ12,000 (a lot of money in 1956) on three new players during the close season and expectations were high. This showed when a crowd of 7,099 turned out to see the annual pre-season practice match "Reds" v. "Blues", which was virtually first team players against second team with defenders and attackers split between the two.

This was before pre-season friendlies were played and the first time you could see the players was in the practice match.

The first home match on a Monday night against Workington attracted 15,318 and attendances remains high throughout the season, but City could only finish seventh when they dropped away in the last five games.

Acknowledgement

This facsimile of the match programme was created by the publisher of There’s Only One Arthur Bottom, the daily email newsletter for fans of York City FC, and TOOAB contributors Richard Snowball and Paul Bowser.

www.tooab.com