SPORT
YORK
The handling of the pandemic by the National League is on the agenda this month for our resident sports writer and York City F.C. fan, Simon Pattinson. Hello and welcome to a new column in 2021. Not only does it feel like it's been a while since I last spoke to you, but the same can also be said about seeing any sporting action. York City played their first-ever fixture against AFC Fylde at the LNER Community Stadium. A game result, that ended in defeat and a result that given the decision to null and void the season, now technically no longer exists. And quite frankly, I'm happy about that! It was never the way to see in a new era at the new stadium, not to mention fans not being able to be there. York City’s season has been so stop-start since it began back in October and unsurprisingly, the National League made a massive mess of the financial packages and now they have ended the season with nothing. The way the National League has dealt with these situations over the past year leaves me feeling less and less confident with the way they have gone about it all: putting many teams at risk for a variety of reasons. The time it has taken to make decisions has left fans and clubs feeling angry and unsupported. It's not the way it should
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be and I know it's been uncertain times, but these are the times where you need the people who make decisions to step up. They have failed to do so in my opinion. The mini-league idea, suggested by fellow National League North and South clubs who wished to fulfil their league season, being rejected is a fine example of that. Whether you agree with the idea or not, it felt like a bitter pill to swallow and a decision that could seem like a slap in the face to deliver any integrity to the league pyramid. Now it is time to put the season behind us and prepare for the new one and welcome crowds into the new stadium and with those steps in place to allow that to happen in the summer will be an incredible sight for City fans and football fans up and down the country being allowed in to see their teams once again. Questions are being asked about the team and manager Steve Watson as to whether they are good enough to get us out of this league, frankly, I say now is a time to back him and Steve Watson and judge this squad in a season where we are not so stop-start, perhaps a few stronger
additions and one or two centre forwards who will score goals is what this side is crying out for if there was anything to take from this season it would certainly be that. The York City Knights also played at the LNER Stadium for the first time in March and what an exciting time it is to be a Knights fan. They were back in action in a friendly against Hull FC in a close encounter that ended in a
COLUMNIST
Simon Pattinson
22-28 defeat. For their first game in nearly a year, it was an incredible game and an excellent performance. I think many will have seen so many signs to be positive, and with the side that James Ford has put together, there is a real possibility that Super League could truly be in their grasp this year when the season starts in a few weeks.
