York City FC has often featured local youngsters in its first team, which can be traced back to the earliest fixtures in the 1920s.
City’s first-ever football league goal scorer was local lad Reg Stockhill who was only 15 when he made his debut at Wigan Borough in August 1929. Then, almost 30 years later, another youngster who played for Cliftonville in the York & District league made his debut in August 1958 and was to enjoy a 12-year career during which he made a club record 539 appearances – Barry Jackson.
The youth team was formally established in 1968, known as the ‘Intermediates’, and City’s first-ever apprentice professional was Chris Topping. He progressed to the first team and went onto play 463 times for the club including an incredible 355 consecutive appearances for the club between 1970–1978.
City Inters in 1969
Over the last 60 years or so, there have be many other notable players who have progressed through the junior ranks and gone onto to play at the highest levels of the game. Amongst the most well-known have been Jonathan Greening (who was part of the Manchester United squad that won the treble in 1998/99). Marco Gabbiadini, and Richard Cresswell. Everton’s Ben Godfrey, who has recently played for England, also played for City in the early part of his career after being a product of the York youth system.
Several other players have represented their country at junior levels, such as schoolboy and U15-U19.
A list of youth players who have gone onto make at least one first team appearance since 1968 is shown below, although it may not be exhaustive. There are countless others not listed who started their youth careers at other clubs and academies before latterly joining the club’s youth scheme.
Tom Allan
Adam Arthur
Kane Ashcroft
Mike Astbury
Peter Bainbridge
Jimmy Beadle
John Bentham
Adam Boyes
Alex Bruton
Lee Bullock
Steve Bushell
Martin Butler
John Byrne
Cliffe Calvert
Neil Campbell
Tom Chamberlain
Brain Chippendale
Matthew Coad
Nigel Costello
Richard Cresswell
Richard Crossley
Andy Curtis
Chris Dale
Kieran Darlow
Sean Davies
Andrew Dawson
Richard Dawson
Mike De Placido
Chris Dickinson
David Downing
Iain Dunn
Nathan Dyer
Ryan Edmondson
Scott Emmerson
Stewart Ferebee
John Fielding
Sam Fielding
Gary Ford
Christian Fox
Marco Gabbiadini
Riccardo Gabbiadini
Martin Garratt
Ben Godfrey
Lee Grant
Jonathan Greening
Jonny Haase
John Harrison
Rob Haw
Gary Himsworth
Ben Hirst
Bobby Hosker
Russell Howarth
Bobby Hoy
Gordon Hunter
Charlie Jebson-King
Scott Jordan
Alan Kamara
Nathan Kamara
John Keegan
Reece Kelly
Graeme Law
Andy Leaf
Stuart McKenzie
Flynn McNaughton
Andy McWilliams
Nick Murphy
Cameron Murray
Graeme Murty
Glenn Naylor
Joe Neenan
Wayne Osborne
Scott Oxley
Alan Pearce
Tom Platt
Brian Pollard
Josh Radcliffe
Martin Reed
Arran Reid
Graham Rennison
Alex Rhodes
Ben Rhodes
Ian Robb
Callum Rzonca
Marc Salvati
Steve Senior
Liam Shepherd
Elliott Simpson
Neil Smallwood
David Spofforth
Michael Staley
Tommy Stanley
Bryan Stewart
David Stockdale
Phil Taylor
Marc Thompson
Chris Topping
James Turley
Steve Tutill
Tyler Walton
Andy Warrington
Byron Webster
Ryan Whitley
Darren Williams
Stuart Wise
Leigh Wood
Mark Wood
Lev Yalcin
