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York City set biggest home attendance in 20 years despite limit in place amid crowd trouble

York City are getting set for what will be their biggest home attendance in 20 years despite a limit in place amid recent crowd trouble.

The Minstermen have revealed that all 7,500 tickets for Saturday’s National League North playoff final against Boston United at the LNER Community Stadium have been sold.

All home tickets were sold out by Tuesday evening, just over an hour after going on general sale, while Boston fans have purchased all the available 878 away tickets.

It means that York will set a record for their new stadium while it’ll be the club’s biggest attendance since the 2-0 FA Cup Fourth Round defeat to Fulham in January 2002.

YORK CITY STATEMENT:

We can now confirm ticketing details for our Promotion Final on Saturday at the LNER Community Stadium.

We would like to make supporters aware that after a meeting with the York Safety Advisory Group (SAG), which comprises of the City of York Council and Fire, Police and Ambulance services, we have unfortunately been restricted to 7,500 capacity due to the damage to the stadium, pyrotechnics and pitch encroachment on Wednesday night.

Please see further information below which supporters must be aware of for this fixture.

Important Information from the SAG:
  • Turnstiles will open at the earlier time of 1pm on Saturday.
  • No ticket sales will be available on the day and all tickets must be purchased in advance.
  • The whole stadium, including the Nfinnerty (South) Stand will be allocated seating.
  • Some areas of the stadium including the front rows of the stands will be sectioned off and not available for sale.
  • The Fanzone will be split in half to segregate the Azuma (East) Stand and Nfinnerty (South) Stand.
  • North Yorkshire Police will have a presence on the day and have said that any pitch encroachment either during or after the game will result in arrest.
  • Detection dogs will be present in and around the stadium. Please note that these dogs are friendly and are being used for Rugby World Cup training purposes.
Ticketing

The full home allocation of 6,700 has now SOLD OUT in under an hour of General Sale!

Thank you for your incredible support!

We are currently seeking clarification from the National League on the possibility of Livestreaming Saturday’s Promotion Final and will update as soon as possible.

Ticket prices, as agreed with the National League and Boston United are as follows:

Adults – £20

Concessions (Over 65s and Students) – £15

Juniors (Under 16s) – £7

Under 5s – FREE

Please note that all price categories are set by the National League and not the clubs involved in the Promotion Final.

Ticket Office Opening Hours

Tuesday 8am – 6:30pm

Wednesday 10:00am – 6:30pm

Thursday 10:00am – 5:00pm

Friday 10:00am – 5:00pm

Phone: 01904 942232 / 01904 933784

Email: Tickets@YorkSMC.co.uk

The LNER Community Stadium will have a limited capacity for York City’s playoff final after seats were damaged by home fans when winning 2-1 against Chorley in the eliminator

Seats in the South Stand was damaged, while flares were thrown and fans invaded the playing surface prior to the full time whistle.

A York statement read: “We would like to make supporters aware that after a meeting with the York Safety Advisory Group (SAG), which comprises of the City of York Council and Fire, Police and Ambulance services, we have unfortunately been restricted to (a) 7,500 capacity due to the damage to the stadium, pyrotechnics and pitch encroachment on Wednesday night.”

The SAG say that North Yorkshire Police will be at the ground and that “any pitch encroachment either during or after the game will result in arrest” while detection dogs will also on standby in and outside the stadium.

Parts of the stadium’s seating will be cordoned off, including the front rows of the stands, report York Press, and the club’s fanzone will also be segregated.

The club’s highest attendance at their former Fulfordgate ground was 12,721 against Sheffield United in the FA Cup on the 14th January 1931, while the lowest was 1,500 against Maltby Main on the 23th September 1925 in the same competition.

Their highest attendance at Bootham Crescent was 28,123, for an FA Cup match against Huddersfield Town on the 5th March 1938; the lowest was 608 against Mansfield Town in the Conference League Cup on the 4th November 2008.

Credit: York City

Meanwhile, midfielder Paddy McLaughlin said ahead of the final: “To sell out the stadium is incredible, it’s just a shame that the capacity was reduced because I think we’d have sold out the extra thousand without a problem.

“I think I’ve had about a thousand people texting me asking about tickets.

“To sell out the stadium, it’ll be a fantastic day for everybody. Hopefully we come out on the right side of the result.”

“No matter what happens, you can’t take away those happy memories and they’ll always be happy memories,” he said with it 10 years since he was an integral part of the York side which won the double of Conference Premier playoffs and FA Trophy.

“But that’s what they are, they’re memories and I don’t want to rest on that.

“I want to go again and get another promotion under my belt at this club and something that I’m really hungry to achieve on Saturday.”

He added: “I’ve seen this (feeling) before, obviously 10 years ago, how the city can come together and how everybody can get behind the club.

“It’s no secret that that has been missing.”

Questioned what has changed under the management of John Askey, after York sat in 15th place going into February before going on reaching the playoff final, McLaughlin joked: “You’ll have to ask him, I don’t really know.

“We’ve had some new lads come in, training has been slightly different and there’s been more detail in some areas.

“We’ve got on a nice roll and picked up momentum and we now find ourselves in the playoff final.

“To get to where we’ve got is incredible. But we’re not happy there, we want to go on and finish the job hopefully on Saturday.”

“The most important thing is for the football club,” manager John Askey said (via York Press).

“It’s desperate to get back into a league where the pitches and crowds are decent and hopefully this will be a starting point for the club again.

“It’s a really difficult league to get out of. You go to some of these grounds and it becomes a level playing field.

“We go there thinking you can play football but you’re sadly mistaken, as I’ve found out.

“To get out of this league, it’s probably one of the biggest games that this club has ever had, to get back into what I would call proper football.

“It’d mean a great deal and as much as it meant last time I got promoted, considering where we were when I came in,” he said.

“My main focus is for the football club rather than me personally. I just want the club to get back to somewhere where it can push on because the club deserves it.

“For clubs like York City, it’s sad when they’re not playing in at least (Football) League football or at level where there’s going to be good crowds.”

Fans reacted as York City set their biggest home attendance in 20 years despite a limit in place amid crowd trouble…

@dave_olsen16: Time to put the nonsense to one side and back the lads, get behind them and make some noise

@bobbinsoncrusoe: Would have been a record NLN attendance if the SAG lived on planet Earth like the rest of us.

@Ryan7Morris: *not sell out* 1000 seats will be empty…

@joshuajoshy123: Should have been 8,500

@chrisrutt3: Plz go up wanna day out in York

@Sam13rown: Could be bigger… #FreeTheFrontRows

@elland_toad: Shame the jobsworths have stopped it being a true capacity crowd.

@bostonutdstats: It’ll be the biggest crowd for a Boston game since 2007, away at Wrexham in League Two (12,374). The last time United got a result in front of more was in 2003, away at Lincoln (1-1, 7846). Boston’s last outright win in front of 7000+ was in 1957, at home to Peterboro’ (9288).

@lennongrayson: Proper can’t wait for Saturday gonna be some buzz cmon the boys get out of this tinpot league finally

@Tom_Smallwood: Unbelievable effort for the 6th tier of English football 👏🏻

@CindyBenton13: It holds 8,500 so not a sell out. We lost out on tickets because of your disorganisation. Blocking those seats off WILL NOT stop people running on the pitch from any side of the ground when we win.

@CamembertPierre : Sure, the general sale could have been handled better and I would’ve loved to go too, but demand was always going to far outstrip availability for this match. As for the -1,000 capacity, the neanderthals who keep damaging their own stadium are the ones to blame.

(Featured photo for the article – @gavwilson16)

 

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Gavin Wilson. (@gavwilson16)

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