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Bootham Crescent used to be a cricket ground until York
City F.C. purchased the land in Summer 1932. The site was chosen
because it was closer to the club's centre of support and the
railway station than their previous ground at Fulfordgate. The
ground had to be converted into a football ground and a main stand
was built and a roof was put over the Popular stand. The ground was
opened on 31 August 1932. In March 1938, 28,123 people watched York
City v Huddersfield, which is the ground's record attendance
(although the supporters would have been quite squashed!)
The ground was damaged during World War II, when a bomb
landed
on the Shipton Street End (where the David Longhurst Stand is now).
Shortly after the war the terracing was laid properly with concrete,
although most of the ground was still uncovered.
In 1955 York City narrowly missed out on a visit to
Wembley in the FA Cup Final, when they lost to Newcastle United in
the Semi-Final replay. The club made a huge profit that season and
spent the money on an extension to the Main Stand. Bootham Crescent
was fitted with floodlights (costing £14,500) in 1959 - only 4
years after floodlights were installed at Wembley. The first game
they were used for was a friendly against Newcastle United on 28
October. The benefits of having floodlights installed were that
evening games such as Cup replays, games that were postponed due to
bad weather and league games that couldn't be fitted in on a
Saturday could be played when
a large crowd could come to watch. Before floodlights these games
would have been played during afternoons when people may not be able
to come.
The Popular Stand had some seats added between 1974-76
when York City were in the old Division Two. During the mid-1980's
£300,000 was spent on a series of improvements to the ground. The
money came from York City's FA Cup run which included big games
against Arsenal and then Liverpool as well as a replay against
Liverpool in front of a crowd of 43,000. The improvements included
building hospitality suites behind the main stand, new club offices,
turnstiles, new crush barriers, and more seats added to the Popular
Stand making the t otal
number of seats 2,883 out of a total capacity of 13,185.
Until quite recently the capacity of Bootham Crescent
was 12,475 (3,245 seats) but that was reduced in 1994 for two
reasons. Firstly, the family area of the Main stand was increased
(due to popular demand as well as complying with the recommendations
made in the Taylor Report) and 326 seats replaced a standing area
resulting in reduced capacity and secondly, stricter rules
concerning the density of people standing (as
a result of the recommendations made in the Taylor Report after the
Hillsborough disaster) further reduced capacity.
New floodlights were installed during Summer 1995, at a
cost of £122,000. The new floodlights are twice as bright as the
old ones and meet the requirements for Division One football. At the
same time a new drainage system was installed to improve the quality
of the pitch during winter at a cost of several thousand pounds. A
water tower was also installed in the late 1990s.
It is questionable whether the water tower and new
drainage system have actually helped the playing surface though!
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Stand (where there are only a few poles) and if you like going
behind the goals, there is a very good view from either end. The
Popular Stand would also provide an excellent view of the pitch
if it wasn't for the number of poles! The poles only really get
in the way of the view if you are sitting in a seat which is
high up.