Bootham Crescent

28^th September 2002

York City 0-1 Oxford United

Watch enough football, I suppose, and you end up seeing the same players again and again.  This is certainly true within the relatively small gene pool that is Scottish Football, but browsing through my programme for this encounter between York City and Oxford United (I shall not bore you with details of how I found myself in that fascinating city), I saw a very familiar name: Peter Duffield. 

I had seen him play a couple of times for Hamilton Accies, and even during the lifetime of this blog I had witnessed him turn out for Morton at Falkirk.  Duffield had enjoyed a fruitful two years at Hamilton, before being transferred to Airdrieonians where had rather less fun.  The law of diminishing returns hit in during subsequent equally unhappy periods at Raith Rovers, Morton and Falkirk before he dropped off my particular radar.

And here he was, large as life and just as good-looking, a few years later in York City colours.  That one of the tabloid newspaper reports of the match headlined with “Duffer Duffield” maybe gives the reader a clue as to how he fared in this match.  Not one of his vintage displays, he rounded it all off perfectly by missing a first-half penalty.  He and his team-mates were made to rue that miss when, in the 61^st minute, Oxford’s Gavin GORDON headed in a pin-point cross from Matt Robinson, presenting York with their first home defeat of the season.  

What a great entrance to a football ground!

The Home End.



The Enclosure.



The Away End.

Panorama of Bootham Crescent, York.

      

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In 2024 I dropped back in to Bootham Crescent, basically to see if there was anything left of the old ground.

I managed to get a few pics before being huckled out by a pair of, admittedly friendly, workies.  There are a few lengths of red brick wall which look as if they were part of the perimeter of the old ground, including one with a series of odd looking barred windows.

Rather more interesting was a small section of the Popular Stand terrace which had been saved from demolition, and intended eventually to form part of some sort of memorial commemorating the football ground.  

I look forward to seeing that completed.

The entrance to ground in 2002

The same view in 2024

 

I note the white sign and the blue sign which were attached to the
brick building wall in 2002, have now been attached to a lamp post.

This is the stretch of former terracing being retained

This tunnel, I assume, ran beneath the terracing to allow fans access?

I have no idea what function these little windows served.
Perhaps to allow light into the tunnel?

Development of the former Bootham Crescent site is well underway.