Thousands of fans join York City promotion parade

Thousands of fans have joined a parade celebrating York City's promotion to the Football League after a 10-year exile.

The club earned automatic promotion to League Two after securing the National League title in a dramatic 1-1 draw at Rochdale - scoring in the 13th minute of stoppage time.

The 1.2 mile (2km) parade route started at St Leonard's Place, outside York Art Gallery, before crossing the River Ouse twice and finishing at the Eye of York, near Clifford's Tower.

Speaking at the parade, co-owners Matthew and Julie-Anne Uggla said they were "elated" to be returning to the Football League.

The parade was originally due to take place last Tuesday but was postponed because of safety concerns raised by City of York Council and North Yorkshire Police.

However, at a promotion party at the LNER Community Stadium last week, Julie-Anne told fans a parade had been reorganised.

Paul Baker, 49, and Mark Gill, 43, joined the parade on Ouse Bridge.

Paul said it felt "amazing" to be promoted after such a positive season.

"The owners have reconnected the club to the community and reborn the club and it feels amazing," he said.

He was listening to the game on BBC Radio York in his living room when the 103rd-minute equaliser crossed the line.

"I jumped on my father who is 81 and we burst into tears in a good way," he said.

"He's been going since 1955 so it was very special."

Mark said it was "one massive celebration for everybody".

"I was lucky enough to be at the game," he said.

"I queued up at 01:30 and I had this inkling - I wanted to share it with my six-year-old son Callum because it's an experience he's not going to forget."

Beneath Clifford's Tower at the conclusion of the open top bus parade route, supporter Jack said it had been a "crazy" couple of weeks for the team.

"It's great for the city to be back up in the league, it's a great turn out with thousands of fans," he said.

"Next season, I don't want to set the bar too high – just staying up would be a start."

Andy, who has been following the club for 56 years, said the party would be continuing "for the next few weeks".

He said: "It's great for the city, and it's great for everybody who has been here.

"We've had a lot of bad times so we'll enjoy it while we can."

Speaking from the top of the bus, York City manager Stuart Maynard described the support the team had received as "unbelievable".

"They spend their hard-earned money week in, week out, up and down the country and it's incredible," he said.

"I know when people talk about sleeping giants, this really is a sleeping giant and it's just the start of the journey for this club."

He added: "The people behind the scenes, they all play a key part - there's so many and they deserve the success."

Supporter Mike Warwick said: "Just look at the team on the bus, they ooze confidence, they've got this togetherness.

"Look around, the whole city is together."

"It's been incredible to be honest," said fan Lauren Backshall, adding the club was now "back where we should be".

"It's just been a mad season," she added.

"It feels surreal that we're actually going up again."

Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.