John Askey Responds To Fans At York City Fans' Forum

On Monday 8th August, a panel made up of Glen Henderson (Chairman), John Askey (Manager) and Alastair Smith (Chief Executive) took questions from the York fans, after the recent changes around the club.

John Askey was up first to face the fans and we take a look at what he said right here:

On the late turnaround last season

Askey admitted that his side struggled on the low-quality playing surfaces in the National League North last campaign.

"We played Kettering and Alfreton on an awful pitch. We weren't able to cope so we had to change something, and we did.

The start to the current season

On their return to the National League, The Minstermen produced a fantastic 2-0 win over Woking, which really pleased fans.

The City boss talked about the energy levels, joking, "it's all down to me, obviously.

"In pre-season, we worked (the players) really hard, we were lucky enough to go to Scotland for four days and we were able to get four sessions in a day. Some of the performances in pre-season were under-par, and that's probably because we've worked them so hard. When we've gone into games, we've been tired, but it was always looking at the first game of the season. Luckily enough, they turned up and performed really well."

Players

The questions continued with many asking regarding current and former players.

Afghanistan-international Maziar Kouhyar was the first to be discussed.

"Maz is with us for another year, he's done well since he's come in, I still think there are things he can do better, and time will tell over the season - it's still a new level for him, but on Saturday, I thought he's done well and obviously got the first goal, and the last goal of the previous season.

"I like exciting players and we've got one or two that can do that."

A rather interesting inquiry was put forward, whether goalkeeper Ryan Whitley would be heading back out on loan to Scarborough, after losing the number one shirt to fellow shot-stopper Ethan Ross.

"Not from what I've heard of, no. I want two good goalkeepers, so at the start of the season, I said to both of them, the position is up for grabs, and Ethan (Ross) has done slightly better than Ryan (Whitley) over pre-season.

"As the season goes on, and Ethan isn't performing, then we know we have got a second-choice 'keeper to come in. I am also aware that he does need game time, and it might get to a stage where we have to look at trying to put him out, and to do that, we need someone of equal quality coming in."

City's head coach then discussed which players were the hardest to let go of following the promotion:

"It was difficult to let Matty Brown go, Clayton (Donaldson) was a difficult decision. They were the main ones.

"Then obviously, we lost Pete (Jameson) and Akil (Wright), which we couldn't do anything about."

Title rivals

Some fans may be looking at settling in the National League, but one was certainly very optimistic, asking who the main rivals are for the title this season.

"There's a lot of big clubs, Wrexham being the biggest, and they've got a goalkeeper on £6,000 a week, so that tells you the sort of money that they are spending. Then obviously, there is Notts County, Southend, Scunthorpe, Oldham. They are all big lower-league football clubs, so it is going to be tough, but I think we are all looking forward to it.

"To get out of the league that we were in and to be going to those clubs again, I'm excited about it.

"The last thing I wanted to do is go back to Kettering, Farsley Celtic, and teams like that. Now to be going to proper grounds and feel like a proper football club again feels good."

Notts County rumours

During the break from the season, there were strong rumours of John Askey heading to Notts County, and he talked over that matter at the fans' forum.

"It wasn't true at all. I had no intention of going anywhere. Anybody who is in the same league as us, there is no way that I would want to leave.

“I've enjoyed it, I've felt relaxed coming into the football club, people have made me feel welcome, and we've got a great city, so I wouldn't want to go anywhere else. I had a couple of clubs approach me, but there was no interest."