July 30, 1966, is a day no English football fan will ever forget – the day Sir Alf Ramsey’s England team beat Germany to lift the World Cup.

Long before he became a legend as the national team’s triumphant manager, however, Ramsey was a player. And on February 19, 1955, as plain A Ramsey, he was a member of the Tottenham Hotspur side who travelled to York City in the fifth round of the FA Cup.

It is a game he would probably rather forget. There were 21,000 in the crowd that day who saw Spurs humbled 3-1. Our stunning first photograph shows Ramsey himself desperately racing to cut off Billy Fenton. He failed. Fenton slotted home to score City’s second goal of the day.

That 1954/5 season was, of course, the year of City’s glorious run to the semi-final of the FA Cup.

The Division Three North team followed up victory over Spurs with a 1-0 away win at Notts County. Then came the first leg of the semi-final against Newcastle, at Hillsborough. The 65,000 crowd was the largest ever to watch a City game. The match was drawn 1-1 – but Newcastle won the return leg at Roker Park a few days later 2-0, to end City’s dream. For those of a certain age, however, it is still a memory to treasure.

In York City’s long history there have been plenty of those – and plenty of moments of despair, too.

With the team Wembley-bound on Sunday for the second year in a row, now seemed like the perfect time for Yesterday Once More to look back at just a few of those highs and lows.

According to David Batters and his definitive York City: The Complete Record, York City Football Club was first formed as an amateur outfit in 1908. The newly formed club obtained a ground in Holgate Road at the end of Lindley Street and Murray Street, and entered the Northern League. Another photograph shows the team in those very early, formative years, pre-1912. We believe the players shown are, (from left to right), back row: Howie, Corrigan, Tommy Holmes, Reed, Dick Tindale, unknown, Tommy Collyer; second row Park, Wardell, Mr Powell (landlord of the Bay Horse Hotel, Blossom Street), Dick Waterworth, Willis; front row, unknown, Teddy Ledgard. The club turned professional in 1912, but folded in 1917 during the First World War.

It reformed in 1922 and was elected to play in the Midland League, joining the Third Division North of the Football League in 1929.

There have been plenty of high and lows since. Among the highs were that 1955 FA Cup run; promotion from the Fourth Division to the Third Division in 1958/59; promotion to the Second Division in 1974; finishing first in the Fourth Division in 1983-84 with 101 points; and promotion to the Second Division again after a play-off against Crewe Alexandria at Wembley in 1983-84.

The lows have included having to apply for re-election to the Football League in 1978 following two successive relegations, and relegation to the Football Conference in 2004.

Our photos here can hardly do justice to all that history, but we hope they give at least a flavour.

The remaining pictures show:

• York City v Sheffield Wednesday, Football League War Cup semi-final, 1942/43.

• Fans watching York City v Huddersfield Town in the FA Cup, 1938.