However that optimism was soon quashed. A poor pre-season both on the pitch and off the pitch saw City go into the campaign with just 16 fully fit players - three of them first year professionals and just one goalkeeper on the books. So it came as little surprise that City started poorly with a 3-0 reverse at Preston. This prompted immediate chants of 'Little Out' and shook then City boss Alan Little into action as he paid out £70,000 to bring Gordon Connelly to Bootham Crescent from Airdrie. 

In came experienced trio Neil Woods, Steve Agnew and Neil Thompson who made his loan move permanent and became player-coach. They were joined by Andrew Dawson, Graham Rennison and Martin Garratt - three highly promising YTS players, and Rory Prendergast - a winger on a free from Barnsley.

Connelly made an immediate impact as the side, including another new signing - Bobby Mimms from Rotherham, briefly arrested a slide but that couldn't pep up the attendances - at rock bottom after the club's 3 years of neglect. After a 3-3 draw at home to Luton however, City found themselves in eighth place and well placed for a play-off push. Richard Cresswell - previously a target for the terrace 'boo boys' was scoring goals for fun and Martin Garratt had taken to first team football like a duck to water.

However City got back to winning ways with a win against fellow strugglers Lincoln in a scrappy game at Bootham Crescent and that signalled a mid-season revival for the Minstermen. A fine win at home to Manchester City courtesy of a winner from an 18-year-old right back's first touch in professional football in front of a crowd of more than 7,500 just prior to Christmas brought fresh belief to Bootham Crescent.

Richard Cresswell had lead the forward line on his own all season but on Boxing day Rodney Rowe emerged as the player of old with a superb performance as he cracked home two goals against Burnley. However his vein of rich form was limited to a matter of games, as was the team's, but that resurgence included stunning wins at Oldham and Wycombe including several great goals from Barry Jones and Richard Cresswell.

Then followed the team's major dip in form which ultimately cost them their second division status as they slumped from ninth position to nineteenth thanks to a run of two points from a possible thirty three. The collapse all started on a cold January evening, following the departure of first team coach Derek Bell to Lincoln, as City lost 4-2 at Halifax in the Auto Windscreen Shield with two of Town's goals scored by Marc Williams who was later to sign for City.

A major feature of City's dip was the alarming loss of form of winger Gordon Connelly. His performances were nothing short of awful, as were those of many other members of the team, and he was sent home in January in an attempt to get his head together. Also looking sluggish was defender Tony Barras who was labelled 'a wally' by chairman Douglas Craig and as Barras' passion and enthusiasm seemed to die, so did the team's spirit. What followed was completely unacceptable. A run which saw no wins from 10 games simply wasn't good enough. The loan signing of Martin Carruthers from Peterborough did very little to boost City as an attacking force and as manager Alan Little ran out of ideas and the club slipped down the division, vast unrest 

in the team was all too apparent as Neil Woods and Steve Agnew slapped in transfer requests, Tony Barras gave up on the side, Gary Himsworth left the club for Darlington and Richard Cresswell looked a shadow of himself which was put down to media interest following his call up to the England Under-21 side which made him the first City player ever to be associated with the England national side. Later in the season Russ Howarth went on to be called up into the England Under-16 side.

After City's humiliating 4-2 defeat at Notts County and constant protests from supporters, Little was finally sacked and Neil Thompson was handed the managerial reigns on a caretaker basis with the task of steering City away from relegation with a very poor squad at his disposal. However Thompson didn't sit about as he brought in Chris Fairclough on loan from Notts County who looked fantastic in the centre of defence alongside Barry Jones and he followed this by signing Marc Williams from Halifax for £30,000 - the man who destroyed City in that Auto Windscreen Shield game.

Despite another home defeat in Thompson's first game in charge, his significant changes to the side gave the fans great hope, despite the sale of Richard Cresswell to Sheffield Wednesday for £950,000 and a win at Lincoln boosted fans hopes of survival further - particularly with two further signings in Matt Hocking on loan from Hull and Craig Skinner from Wrexham for £20,000. However, a spiritless home defeat with Chesterfield followed and that equalled a club record five successive home defeats. A fuming Thompson wielded the axe and it paid dividends as City went on a five match unbeaten run, following the unluckiest of defeats at Luton. This run included vital wins against Macclesfield and Blackpool and City looked certain to avoid relegation with fifty points in the bag.

However City were to experience final day relegation agony. Despite a 1-0 home defeat at the hands of Bournemouth, statistically relegation looked almost impossible - Wycombe and Oldham had to win both of their games, which included matches against top half opposition, to survive and send City down and that was working on the basis that City would take nothing from their game at Manchester City.

Midweek wins for Oldham and Wycombe set the City nerves jangling and City went to Maine Road knowing realistically they would need a point to make absolutely sure of their status. 1-0 down at half time and with Oldham winning, City knew that a win was vital and went all out attack. City couldn't make the breakthrough they needed though and as the Manchester club countered to take a 4-0 lead, the news hit the 1,509 travelling fans that Wycombe were winning and City looked almost certain to go down. Reality soon hit home and the fans and players' worst fears were confirmed.

 The Season's Statistics: