YORK City’s promotion to the Vanarama National League in 2022 was one of Scott Barrow’s ‘biggest achievements in football’.

After news broke that Barrow would depart York upon the expiry of his contract on Monday, BBC Radio York sat down with the City stalwart to discuss a memorable stint with the Minstermen.

Barrow reflected on a fond spell with the club, and in particular his memories of the incredible 2-0 play-off final victory over Boston United.

An injury sustained in the final may have hampered Barrow’s memory of an exceptional afternoon, but the City defender still looks back on that treasured memory with a smile on his face.

“It shouldn’t have been the highlight of my time at York as it was hampered by a serious knee injury, but I’m still proud of getting promoted,” he said.

“I came to York to get promoted, something I hadn’t done in my football career and it’s something that I knew I could do at York.

“To do it in front of a home crowd of seven or eight thousand is one of my biggest achievements in football.

“The main game for me would probably be the Brackley game before it, 21 points they were ahead of us and we played them a couple of weeks before. We knew what they were like, we just needed to be solid and be tough to beat, like we had since the start of the season.

“To go there and get the early call, obviously Pete [Jameson] saved that penalty and after then it didn’t change anything, it just shows in that second-half of the season how solid we were and how well the club were playing. They deserved promotion in the end.”

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A 3-0 defeat to Alfreton Town in April 2022 forced City to respond with an eight-match unbeaten streak, with Barrow explaining what changed after that horrendous afternoon in Derbyshire.

“The discussion in the changing room [changed], we knew that we weren’t good enough that day and we were a side that played some good football but sometimes we needed to roll our sleeves up.

“On that day we didn’t. It was a hot day, the pitch wasn’t great and they didn’t really keep the ball on the floor, they just lumped it to the big man up top and we couldn’t really handle it.

“There was a lot of discussions in the changing rooms after the game, a few words were said but in football it was needed. We went on that massive long run to get us into that situation and then all of a sudden we hit a little stumbling block.

“You can either just push your side to go onto the next game or you can talk about it.

“After that it just showed that those words pushed us on and then we were solid to beat, we were a tough side to go against and that’s what we needed going into the play-off run-in.”

York Press: Barrow admits he knew he would be released, having spent the latter part of the season on loan at Darlington.Barrow admits he knew he would be released, having spent the latter part of the season on loan at Darlington. (Image: Dave Arrowsmith)

Barrow also revealed how the conversation unfolded with current City boss Adam Hinshelwood, after an agreement was reached for the veteran defender to leave the club, and also spoke on the expectations placed on the Minstermen from being a National League club.

“It was a strange one, we both haven’t seen each other and we both haven’t spoken to each other in person so it was a strange one.

“The conversation went well, obviously it’s never nice to be released but it was expected.

“For me to go out on loan to play 21 games at Darlington, the only downside of that was that nobody at the club really checked in on me to see how I was or how my knee was.

“Other than that, the conversation that I had with the manager, the assistant manager and the two first-team coaches was all positive, I have no bad thoughts against anybody and for the four years that I have been there, the club has been fantastic.

“They looked after me when I was injured and the number of roles that I did when I was injured, I can’t thank the club enough and I wish them all the best for the future. I’m not a player anymore, but I’m certainly going to be a fan of York in the future.”

Barrow went on to discuss the pressure of being a York player, explaining: “It was a huge difference, there’s no pressure at Gateshead. It’s a club run by the fans and yes, they want to win every week, but they’re not expecting to because they haven’t got a big budget or the biggest fanbase, they’re a club with a duty.

“At York it is different, there is expectation. I remember watching York when I was following Swansea in the Football League so to see where it was when I came in, it shouldn’t be where it is.

“In the National League now, they shouldn’t be in the National League because they are a Football League club.

“My dad would speak about it all of the time, and there is a lot of pressure because there are a lot of fans who have seen the good times at York City.

“The older generation will still come and watch, they’ve seen the good times, the FA Cups against Manchester United and stuff like that, they’ve seen that. Now they see a football club who are down in the pyramid, when it shouldn’t be down in the pyramid.

“You have got the youngsters then coming through the fans, they’ve kind of seen the success now, since we had the success of the promotion.

“We had to fight against back-to-back relegation, so they’ve now seen the heights of football and the lows of football.

“That’s the pressure when you come to a big club, there is a lot of expectation at York and we’ve got to deliver on-the-field and more importantly off-the-field as well.”