'One minute I'm positive, the next I'm unbelievably nervous'

"I've been six times to Wembley when we've been there - the highs and the lows. I've been to Old Trafford; seen us beat Man United; and I've been to North Ferriby and Cambridge on a Tuesday night. I've done the lot. The one thing I haven't seen is automatic promotion," says York City fan Vicky Fenwick.

Vicky says she was first carried through the turnstiles to watch the Minstermen playing at their Bootham Crescent ground in 1980 when she was just four years old.

"My dad was a typical Yorkshireman and didn't want to pay for me, so he put me on his shoulders, carried me through and I've been going regularly since 1990," she smiles.

Now 50, the nursery school manager has spent the week teaching football chants to children in her care as she prepares for a dramatic end to York City's 2025-26 season.

The Minstermen, currently top of the National League table, are due to travel to second-placed Rochdale on Saturday for the biggest of games.

If York win or draw, they secure automatic promotion into the English Football League. However, if Rochdale win, they go up instead.

"One minute I'm feeling positive," says Vicky. "The next minute I'm just unbelievably nervous."

Nicknamed the Princess of Pessimism among friends who are season ticket-holders, Vicky admits she "will not believe we've done this until that final whistle goes".

She and her dad both managed to secure tickets for the final game, but he will not be joining her for the trip across the Pennines.

"He just says he can't put himself through it," Vicky explains.

Vicky says that following York City together for decades, she has shared a "bond" with her father - and that is clearly not unusual among the club's fans.

Season ticket-holder Steve Ovenden says that by the end of the coming weekend, his wife and daughters will have watched 42 of York's 46 league games this season, with him having been beside them for just under half of those matches.

During home games and some away fixtures, Steve, 57, is better known as Yorkie the Lion, the club's mascot.

He says that even though this season has been "magical", York City has also seen "some really, really dark times".

He remembers the club's exit from the Football League in 2016 and its subsequent relegation to the National League North a year later.

"There were occasions were you'd go to away games with probably less than 100 people," he says.

"You're a fan of a club for a lifetime, and when it's a club that's previously been like York, it's far more average to bad times than good times."

However, Steve says that some memories are fonder, including the final game of the 1983-84 season.

That was when the Minstermen had become the first team in the league's history to achieve more than 100 points in one season.

"I remember being on the hill where I stood in the same position every week, but moving down towards the final whistle," he recalls.

"Then everybody was on the pitch and I'm stood in front of the tunnel watching Roger Jones and John MacPhail lift this trophy.

"It was just an amazingly joyous time."

Steve's eldest daughter, Mollie, says she remembers attending her first York City game in February 2011, aged five or six.

The match was against Aldershot and "it was so cold, you couldn't even see the away end because of all the fog," she remembers.

But, Mollie, now 21, says that since York's two wins at Wembley in the space of 10 days in 2012, she has "absolutely adored the club and everything it stood for".

Her sister Isobel, 18, recalls being "dragged along" to games at first, before she became more invested in the club in recent years.

On 18 April, they were both at York's home win against Yeovil, where crowds thought promotion for the club had already been secured - before Rochdale then scored in their game against Braintree.

Mollie, who works at a school in Harrogate, says she was "weirdly emotional at the thought we'd won".

"Being stood with my mum and my sister and seeing my Dad further down the stand, it made me feel really warm inside," she says.

"If I could bottle that feeling up and open it again on Saturday, that would be the best outcome yet."

Isobel says a win for York on Saturday would be a perfect tribute to the "passion" shown by non-league football fans, who she believes are like a family whether they are related or not.

"Football is a place to go and to be together," she says.

"That's what keeps me motivated, even when you're stood out in the rain and you're cold and maybe you're being beaten."

For Steve, he says he is "confident" York will score on Saturday.

He says he has felt "this aura, almost a sense of invincibility" ever since York beat Altrincham in December - and that is despite "a bit of a jinx", with many losses against the Cheshire side in his 50 years as a City fan.

"There've been 113 goals now, so there've been 113 moments of joy," he adds.

"Now, I get to be part of something so magical, having been rubbish - or average at best - as a sportsperson."

York City's last automatic promotion was in 1984, under Denis Smith as manager.

Smith was inducted into the club's Hall of Fame this month, something which he says came as a "total shock".

"The fact that York still remember me after all these years is important," he says.

Since leaving Bootham Crescent in 1987, Smith says he has enjoyed watching the club's exploits from afar and has occasionally visited.

He says he is "delighted" his former points record at York has been broken.

"There's always somebody who can go better and they've gone and done it, which is fabulous," Smith says.

Ahead of the big clash on Saturday, Smith says he wants to encourage the players not to feel too much pressure as "they're flying".

"They can go out there knowing how good they are. Go out and enjoy it," he tells them.

As well as Saturday's match being shown on a big screen at York's home ground, some pubs in the city will also be screening it.

One of those is the Terrace Sports Bar and Kitchen, where TV screens surround the room, which is filled with dozens of tables and chairs.

Chalkboard signs resting on a shiny bar top advertise drinks deals and ask customers not to make phone calls on loudspeaker.

On a mid-week afternoon, just a small group of friends are sharing a meal together, but staff say they are preparing for "chaos" on Saturday.

Molly Groves, general manager, says: "A few people have said they'll be queuing from nine o'clock. We don't open until 11."

A total of 180 tickets have been reserved for fans who regularly watch York City games at the venue, with space for about 100 walk-ins.

"Because we're one of the only places that do show the game, we've sort of become a hub for fans," Molly, 26, explains.

She says that interest in York City has grown significantly in the eight years she has worked there, and the club's games bring in a "really nice atmosphere", with more families than other matches.

"It's nice that everyone is supporting the same team."

Kitchen manager George Turnbull, 32, is a self-confessed Leeds United fan, but he says that having lived in York his whole life, he is pleased to see the success of his home city's club.

"You get to watch them grow and develop. More and more people are talking about it," he says.

"When Leeds played York back at Bootham Crescent, they would barely fill a stand."

Meanwhile, Molly says: "I'm from Sheffield. I didn't know York had a football team when I first came here.

"Now even my family in Sheffield are rooting for them and checking the scores."

It seems that football fever is taking hold across the city of York before Saturday's decisive clash.

In one shop, surrounded by model cars, boats and a railway display, there is also a model of a group of pigs playing football.

Andy Masheder, who owns the Monk Bar Model Shop, says big sports events in the city often result in "little mischievous pigs up to something" in his shop window.

He says he would "love to see" York City achieve promotion to the football league, but is mainly a rugby league fan.

Andy, now 51, was a mascot for the club "back in the old days" and saw Keith Houchen's famous goal in the FA Cup in 1985.

"It's sad when they've had ups and downs but, just as a city, it'd be great if they could do well and climb the leagues," Andy says.

"They've got a lovely stadium out there now, they're getting great attendances, so it would be great to reward the proper die-hard fans."

Additional reporting by Elly Fiorentini.

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