York City Football Club York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sy ...

is a professional

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

club based in

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

, North Yorkshire, England. Founded in 1922, the club was elected to play in the

Midland League The Midland Football League is an English football league that was founded in 2014 by the merger of the former Midland Alliance and Midland Combination. The league has four divisions that sit at levels 9–12 of the football pyramid. History Th ...

, and competed in this league for seven seasons before being

elected Elected may refer to: * "Elected" (song), by Alice Cooper, 1973 * ''Elected'' (EP), by Ayreon, 2008 *The Elected, an American indie rock band See also *Election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a populatio ...

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

as members of the

Third Division North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated to ...

in 1929. York reached the second tier of English football with

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

to the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

in 1974, but were relegated two years later. York became the first team to reach 100 points in a Football League season after winning the 1983–84 Fourth Division championship with 101 points, which remains to be the club's only league title. The club was relegated to the

Football Conference The National League (named Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons) is an association football league in England consisting of three divisions, the National League, National League North, and National League South. It was called the ...

following the 2003–04 season, but returned to the Football League with victory in the

2012 Conference Premier play-off Final The 2012 Conference Premier play-off Final, known as the 2012 Blue Square Bet Premier play-off Final for sponsorship purposes, was a football match between Luton Town and York City on 20 May 2012 at Wembley Stadium in London. It was the tenth Con ...

. The York City Clubman of the Year award is voted for annually by the club's supporters to name a player who throughout the season has met the three criteria of sportsmanship, effort on the field of play and ability. Previously fans voted by either handing a voting form to the club or by e-mailing the club and can now vote via an online poll. As a mark of respect, the trophy is named the Billy Fenton Memorial Trophy, after player

Billy Fenton William Hartas Fenton (23 June 1926 – 16 April 1973) was an English footballer. He played as a left-winger in the immediate post-Second World War period. The highest level he played at was with Blackburn Rovers, but spent most of his profess ...

, who died suddenly in 1973. The award is presented before the final home match of the season, for many years by Fenton's widow, Margot Fenton. However, the presentation of the award took place at an awards night in 2011, while the following year it was presented after the final home game of the season. From 2014 to 2015, an awards night was held at

York Racecourse York Racecourse is a horse racing venue in York, North Yorkshire, England. It is the third biggest racecourse in Britain in terms of total prize money offered, and second behind Ascot Racecourse, Ascot in prize money offered per meeting. It att ...

to present the award. In 2016, the award was presented before the final home match of the season. Since the inaugural award was made to Phil Burrows in 1974, 38 different players have won the award. Eight of these players have won the award for at least a second time, the most recent being

Sean Newton Sean Michael Newton (born 23 September 1988) is an English professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Buxton, on loan from club York City. He has played in the Football League for Chester City and Notts County. Club career Early car ...

. Newton and

Daniel Parslow Daniel James Parslow (born 11 September 1985) is a Welsh former professional footballer who played as a centre-back in the English Football League for York City and Cheltenham Town. Parslow started his career with Cardiff City in their you ...

are the only players to have received the award on three occasions.

Gordon Staniforth Gordon Staniforth (born 23 March 1957) is an English association football, football Coach (sports), coach and former player. He played in the Football League for Hull City A.F.C., Hull City, York City F.C., York City (two separate spells), Carli ...

was the first to win the trophy in consecutive seasons, a feat since emulated by

John MacPhail John MacPhail (born 7 December 1955) is a Scottish former association football, footballer who played as a defender (association football), defender. Career Born in Dundee, Scotland, MacPhail started out at St Columba BC before moving to Dundee ...

, Barry Jones and Alan Fettis. Three winners of the award have represented their country at senior international level, of whom

Jon McCarthy Jonathan David McCarthy (born 18 August 1970) is a former professional footballer who is the assistant manager at Cymru Premier club Connah's Quay Nomads. McCarthy played as a winger and made around 700 appearances in his career, many of whi ...

and Alan Fettis went on to become Clubman of the Year for a second time.

Chris Brass Christopher Paul Brass (born 24 July 1975) is an English former professional Association football, footballer and Manager (association football), manager who works in a senior recruitment role at Premier League club Nottingham Forest F.C., Notti ...

, the winner of the 2003 award, went on to manage the club from 2003 to 2004. The current incumbent of the award is Peter Jameson, who was the 2021–22 recipient.

Key

* denotes a divisional change due to promotion or relegation. * denotes a player registered with York City in the 2021–22 season. *Player (X) denotes the number of times a player has won the award.

Winners

Wins by playing position

Wins by nationality

Notes

References

General * * * * Specific {{Lists of football players in England Clubman of the Year York City Clubman of the Year York City F.C. Clubman of the Year Association football player non-biographical articles