The uncertainty regarding Jackie McNamara’s future as York City manager goes on after the Scot refused to confirm whether or not he will remain at the club following their 1-1 draw with fellow National League strugglers Braintree Town.
York took the unusual step of issuing a statement following Tuesday’s 6-1 defeat to Guiseley stating McNamara would resign if the team did not earn a “positive result” here. And having been denied what would have been a first away win in 29 attempts by an 89th-minute Braintree equaliser, the manager said he would speak with the chairman, Jason McGill, during the team’s coach journey home from Essex before deciding whether to stay on or not.
“I’ll process this game because it’s still very raw and by the time we get back to York I should know [what I’m doing],” said McNamara. “This has been 90% of my life since last November [when he was appointed]. The results on the pitch haven’t been good enough but I’ve been humbled by the support of the chairman and the players. I’m here to do the best job I can. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.”
That is something of an understatement given McNamara’s 11 months in charge of York has seen the club relegated from the Football League after finishing bottom of League Two and winning just three and losing eight of their first 14 fixtures of this campaign. Tuesday’s defeat is the undoubted low point of that run given Guiseley began that game at the foot of the National League.
McNamara actually tendered his resignation immediately afterwards only for the former Celtic and Scotland full-back to be persuaded to remain in place for yesterday’s game by McGill, partly so the chairman could begin collecting CVs for would-be successors without having to make an immediate appointment.
The club statement followed with the hope that it would lead to a positive reaction from the players, and that did materialise. The visitors delivered a fully-committed performance here and began with the perfect start thanks to Simon Heslop’s fifth-minute goal.
Moving into the closing stages, however, York were hanging on. But they looked on course for victory, thanks in large part to their goalkeeper Kyle Letheren, who made two smart double saves and had earlier stopped an 11th-minute penalty from Sim Akinola. There was nothing he could do, however, when Braintree were awarded another spot-kick a minute from full time and Lee Barnard drove it into the back of the net.
The draw moves York up one place to 19th before their FA Cup fourth qualifying round tie against Curzon Ashton at Bootham Crescent on Saturday. Whether McNamara will be there to witness the fixture remains far from clear.