Aristocrats fly in as a city fights for its football life

As Dr Tristram Hunt left it in his documentary on BBC2 on Monday night, the city of York was under siege. He was referring to the events of 1644 and the Civil War struggle for control of York, but Yorkshire's capital city has been in a state of some unrest these past two weeks.

Eight days ago a gathering of more than 1,000 folk marched from the city centre to Bootham Crescent – to protest against the sale of York City Football Club. They paraded an effigy of Douglas Craig, the York City chairman, and "vented their anger," as the Evening Press put it, at another of the club's directors, Barry Swallow.

That is the same Barry Swallow who became one of the most popular all-time playing sons of Bootham Crescent as he led York City from the Fourth Division to the Second in the 1970s. And among the protesters marching to the Third Division game against Torquay United happened to be the same Chris Topping who forged such an inseparable partnership with captain Swallow in those York City glory days.

For seven years the pair were a fixture at the heart of the York defence. Three decades on, they are fighting on opposite sides in the decidedly uncivil war that has broken out in York since Swallow and his fellow board members put City and Bootham Crescent up for sale for £4.5m and served provisional notice of the club's intention to withdraw from the Football League on 1 April unless a buyer could be found.

After the Torquay match the protesting fans took their grievance into the car park at Bootham Cresent, throwing coins at the window of the directors' lounge. Three arrests were made. At the FA Cup third-round replay against Grimsby on Tuesday, supporters wore T-shirts featuring the face of the chairman and the word "Judas". On Friday the Evening Press carried a full page of letters from fans such as Keith Turner of Clifton Moor, who accused Craig and Swallow of "selling our team down the river".

Meanwhile, amid all the unrest, Terry Dolan has managed to guide York City into the fourth round of the FA Cup for the first time in 16 years. On Saturday the club who need a £4.5m saviour play host to the club with the billionaire backer. Mohamed Al Fayed's Fulham could not have timed their visit to Bootham Crescent with greater irony.

That much was evident on Friday, the day it was reported that Fulham had been given the go-ahead for a £70m revamp of their home at Craven Cottage. Whether the funds available to Jean Tigana might be affected was not clear, but Fulham's French manager spent £30m on players last summer and has been looking to invest £7.5m in a new striker in recent weeks.

Dolan, meanwhile, could be found in his office at Bootham Crescent quibbling about £55,000. According to the York City website, that is the amount he has spent in two years at the club. "I haven't spent a penny," the former Huddersfield midfielder insisted, somewhat put out by the claim.

Subsequent examination of the website list of Dolan's acquisitions showed one outlay of £50,000 and another of £5,000 – the larger amount on Alan Fettis, the Northern Ireland international goalkeeper. "Ah, that was an agreement to pay £50,000 if he played 50 games," Dolan said. "He came for nothing... And who was the £5,000 player?" The fee registered for Peter Duffield also proved to be duff information. "He was a free," Dolan said. "There's only one player at the club who cost a fee – Matty Hocking – and he came here before I did. I haven't spent a penny on transfer fees in the time I've been here. Fulham not so long ago paid £11.5m for one player. You couldn't have a greater contrast, could you?"

Indeed not, though there is also the matter of the contrasting positions of the two clubs. At start of play yesterday Fulham were ninth in the Premier League; York were 23rd in the Third Division. The Nationwide Conference happens to be another threat hanging over Dolan and his side, although judging by their form in the FA Cup they are more than capable of beating that particular drop.

En route to the fourth round they have beaten two clubs from the Second Division (Reading and Colchester) and one from the First (Grimsby). "It's not been an easy path to get to this stage," Dolan said, "but we've deserved every victory. Now we're faced with the aristocrats from the Premiership and it's something for everyone to look forward to. The supporters were not too happy when the club was put up for sale but for 6,500 to turn up on Tuesday was amazing."

Two prospective buyers also turned up at the Grimsby replay, from which York emerged deserved 1-0 winners, albeit courtesy of an Alan Neilson own goal. "To be fair to the chairman, he has kept me informed of the situation," Dolan said. "The board are talking to two serious people at the moment. That's all I can say. They don't want their names known at this stage. I can understand their reasons for that.

"There has been an air of uncertainty around the place since the club was put up for sale but everyone seems optimistic now that something positive will happen. It's been a worrying time for the players but they've got on with the job and just recently we started to pick up our form. Let's hope it can continue."

Dolan himself has got on with his job despite the obvious worry that new owner might well mean new manager too. It did, after all, happen to him at Hull City five years ago. When the Needler family sold the club to David Lloyd, Dolan was replaced by Mark Hateley. Four years later, of course, Hull were wound up. And Dolan's fear for York, with or without him, and assuming they find their short-term saviour, is the long-term implication of the new law of diminished returns for lower League clubs.

"This club has survived over the last few years by producing young players and selling them," Dolan said. "We've sold Richard Cresswell, Jonathan Greening and Graeme Murty for something approaching £3m and that has kept the club going. But now the big clubs are not taking a chance on young players from the lower leagues. They're either getting foreign players or waiting until players' contracts are up and signing them for nothing. The Bosman ruling is killing the market for clubs like this."

A giant-killing on Saturday could repair a little of the damage that has been done to York City, whose manager was left wondering on Friday just when it was that he last spent a penny on a player himself. "It was 1994, I think," he said, after some deliberation. "When I was at Hull. I bought Warren Joyce from Burnley – for £30,000."