An ordinary Division 3 football club owned by a 73 year old Scotsman named Douglas Craig, was heading for liquidation due to a scheme in which Craig had cleverly devised, making the club suffer. Craig was a retired engineer and a former Tory local councillor. He was always a man of formidable respectability, proved by his name (with qualifications), Douglas Craig OBE,JP,BSc,FICE,FI,MUNE E,FCI ARB, M CONS E. Craig became part of the board in the 1980's and was promoted to be the chairman in 1992, receiving the title from Michael Sinclair who now priests for seven villages around York. Craig, trusted by Sinclair to run the club properly, was often very tight as far as the finances go. He was never very popular with the majority of city fans. By the time York were relegated to the 3rd division in 1999, Craig was despised by the fans.

It was then, that Craig's plan of action, apparently thoroughly planned, was embarked. This was an outrageous plan which would horrify the fans and put the club's existence in major threat. This was proposed in a letter to all shareholders, in which the consequences were understood by few. Craig, claiming to be avoiding a rule imposed by all clubs by the FA, asked shareholders for their approval to transfer BC to a new holdings company. The club would then rent out the ground from BC Holdings. The rule was that if a club stops playing or goes into liquidation, any surplus funds would not be kept by the shareholders and would have to go to a charity or to another sporting institution. Craig had his reasons for this and few people queried him. The ground was officially transferred to BCH in June 2000.

I December 1999, Craig delivered a chilling performance in a question and answer session in which he slated his more vocal critics as 'foul mouthed few.' He claimed, in response to the criticism he was receiving, he would sell his shares of the club but if nobody bought him out he would be prepared to carry on. Then these words, pronounced by Craig, raised a disturbing alternative. He said, if he was to be continued to be subjected to 'racist, vitriolic and vituperative personal comments mouthed by a few so-called supporters' : 'It is one which I am sure all decent loyal supporters would be horrified should I contemplate taking it. The alternative, put bluntly, is that I should use my shareholding to start a campaign to close the club down.'

On 9th January, Craig shocked the club with a bolt from the blue. He would resign the club from the football league at the end of that season unless a buyer would come in. However he would then kick the club out of BC by the end of June that year. To really darken the mood at the club, he later told buyers that anyone wishing to purchase the club and the ground together would have to pay in the region of £4.5million.
BC has been the home of York City since 1932, and when Craig announce the eviction of the club, many protests and marches were scheduled, often led by Yorkie, the club mascot and on the odd occasion Shippo, the clubs old mascot. These were followed by hundreds of loyal city supporters. Petitions were signed and demonstrations occurred.

Cries of 'Save York City,' by the York fans attracted a younger, more enthusiastic chairman, John Batchelor. Almost immediately, the club had turned into one of the most bizarre clubs in the country. Batchelor had linked the club with his racing team and tried to join the two teams together. He introduced a new kit which you will be familiar with, the white 'Y' and the chequered sleeve. He commercialised the club and made promises to the club about big money sponsorship deals, ones which we are still waiting for today! 

Batchelor made three promises to the club when he took charge:-

• He would not only buy the club, but the ground as well.
• He would give the trust 24 percent of the club's shares.
• He would invite two supporters onto the board. 

These are the reason why fans supported Batchelor's bid. It then was revieled that Batchelor had never bought the ground at all, no fans were ever elected on to the board and the promise of shares was not fulfilled. Many people started to regard Batchelor as a con-man.

Batchelor's plans failed and the money he was pumping into the club became sparse. Soon the club was in great crisis once more. Craig was still to evict city from BC AND Persimmon Homes had been given 10% of shares of BCH and would build 90+ houses on the site of where the ground was. Batchelor had claimed he was a business man and whatever he did he was planning to make money out of, including football. The club was then up for grabs again.

The club had a very respectable supporters trust, who helped them through all the bad times by raising money and donating it to the club. It is now that the supporters really came into limelight. They managed to raise enough money to extend the deadline of the clubs existence enabling a new owner to step in. The supporters trust then tried to form a bid of their own to challenge the two bids already in the running. The bid from the supporters trust grew to be a competitive bid. The club gave over £150 000 to help the club running. Eventually the supporters trust became the owners of York City Football Club. Steve Beck, who's heart was in the club, became chairman of York City Football Club.

It was a very close call to whether the club would be saved or not, many people believe it depended, in the end on the fact that the outstanding team goalkeeper Alan Fettis volunteered to leave the club. He was aware that he was the highest paid player at the club and quite rightly believed that it would be, financially, a weight off the club's backs if he was to leave. He was shortly followed by leading goal scorer Peter Duffield who left to play for Boston United. It was that close.

The fans gave their up most support through the hard times at the club and without this there would be no more York City FC. Spirit's stayed high within the camp while city finished in their highest league position since they were sunk to the third division in 1999.

The club quickly became known as the fans club and rays of light begun to shine on the club as they did under Sinclair. The club is now saved, however we still have to fight and do all we can to keep Bootham Cresent our home. Many summer signings see the squad at full size. We now hope to do well in this seasons campaign. Although we have been tipped for relegation, the hopes within the club are not dimmed. As city's captain, Darren Edmondson says, 'The nucleus is there for this team to do well.' Now let's turn up every Saturday to cheer the boys on, and help them to have a successful season!