Bootham Crescent Holdings
"In the absence of any buyer therefore, I am more than happy to carry on but I should point out that I do have an alternative. It is one, however, at which I am sure all the decent loyal supporters of the club would be horrified should I contemplate taking it. The alternative, put bluntly, is that I should use my share-holding to start a campaign to close the club down."
Douglas Craig, Chairman, December 1999
You would assume a club with an 70 year tenancy in one location owns its own ground, or at least has some kind of security. Not so, not anymore.
In 1999, the board of York City Football Club, led by Chairman Douglas Craig, formed a separate company - Bootham Crescent Holdings (BCH) - and separated the ownership of the ground from the club. This, we were informed, was to "safeguard the assets". Minority shareholders may have raised concerns, but it is difficult to argue with majority shareholders.
"No-one who owns a shareholding of 75% or more is likely to take kindly to being told what he must or must not do. "
Douglas Craig, February 2001
In December 2001, York City Football Club was put up for sale, with Chairman Douglas Craig simultaneously announcing that he and the other members of the board intended to resign at the end of the season. (Full statement, from the Evening Press website).
BCH announced the following month that not only was the football club for sale, so was its Bootham Crescent ground. The Terms of Sale showed that the ground now had a price tag of around £4.5 million. Land Registry records showed that BCH paid only £165,890 for the ground. Not a bad return on the "safeguarding" of the assets.
"If the prospective owner(s) of the Football Club wish to acquire Bootham Crescent Holdings plc of which the Football Club is a wholly owned subsidiary, the total price is £4,500,000 plus."
January 2002 - Terms of sale
John Batchelor became the club's new Chairman in March 2002, taking over the club, but - crucially - not the Bootham Crescent ground. His claims to be pinpointing sites for a new stadium were followed by claims that he was about to buy back Bootham Crescent. These promises, along with so many others, came to nothing. The decisive action he did take was to sign an agreement with BCH, giving up the remaining lease and agreeing that the club would vacate the ground by June 2003.
In late summer 2002 Persimmon lodged a planning application to build housing on the Bootham Crescent site. Objections to the application were encouraged by the York City Supporters' Trust and by Friends of Bootham Crescent. Fans and local residents made their feelings known by submitting what was, by early 2003, a record number of objections.
By November 2002 the club had entered into a Creditors' Voluntary Agreement, while fans and the local press continued to campaign for answers from BCH and other parties on the future of Bootham Crescent.
BCH released a statement outlining their position, which reiterated a suggestion made in the original Terms of Sale, that the club move to the only other stadium available locally.
"Despite all the derogatory comments made by, and in, the media and elsewhere, BCH and Persimmons are still willing to try to help save YCFC. They are prepared to allow YCFC to remain at Bootham Crescent for a limited period subject to a binding legal agreement which inter alia specifically lays down a time limit for starting and completing the necessary works required at Huntington Stadium to make it capable of achieving Nationwide Football League ground criteria and YCFC irrevocably committing itself to going to Huntington Stadium."
Extract from BCH statement, December 2002. Full statement (Evening Press web site)
In January 2003 the club went into administration, while the York City Supporters' Trust, formed in 2002, continued to work to save the club. With the price tag for Bootham Crescent well beyond its reach, the Trust had only one option - to agree to relocate as suggested to the Huntington Stadium (aka Monks Cross, formerly the Ryedale Stadium). In return BCH allowed the club to stay at Bootham Crescent for another season.
Plans for the redevelopment of Huntington Stadium were submitted, but have since been withdrawn, after a solution was found that will allow York City FC to remain at Bootham Crescent for the forseeable future (see latest news). A joint statement was issued by Bootham Crescent Holdings, Persimmon Homes Ltd and York City Football Club, which read:
"The Parties are now very pleased to announce that subject to finalising the legal arrangements, an agreement has been reached in principle to enable the Football Club to continue to play professional football at Bootham Crescent for the foreseeable future. The legal arrangements will now have to be put in place and these will take a period of some months. This means that the relevant details of the agreement cannot be made public at this time. The necessary details will however be made available when all the legal arrangements have been concluded."
After uncertain times, it seems that Bootham Crescent's immediate future is secure and that the Persimmon housing development will not be built.
Bootham Crescent is still a valuable piece of land. Worth, in monetary terms, several million. In our view, priceless, for its atmosphere and its history - our history.