Matt and Julie-Anne Uggla keen to improve fan experience at York City

The pair completed their takeover at the club in June, and have been steadily making improvements on and off the field since.

Their takeover has brought with it an influx of players and a new manager in Neal Ardley, as they seek to improve on a mixed start to the season that sees City currently sit 17th in the Vanarama National League table.

But the club has still had its problems off the field, including the sales of replica shirts, delays to season tickets, and the long queues faced by fans on a matchday.

Julie-Anne highlighted that off the pitch, improving the matchday experience had been one of her priorities, but that it had come with its challenges.

"The Stadium definitely comes with its challenges because there's quite a few stakeholders," she explained to the club's media.

"There's quite a few things to take into consideration every time that you're making a decision on anything, and it's challenging.

"We're hoping to work alongside the Council and the other two stakeholders to alleviate some of the challenges and to enhance the matchday experience for our supporters.

"That's where we're seeing that there needs to be more alignment. So far the conversations are going on and everybody's willing to speak about it, so they are the first steps.

"I think that one of the biggest things that Matt and I want to improve on from the Stadium side is that matchday experience.

"If the football is all working, gelling and moving along, then the other important thing for us is making sure that our supporters and our fans that are coming and supporting us have that incredible experience and that undoubtedly still needs a little bit of work.

"A lot of supporters and fans have been really vocal and really honest with us about that and we are 100 per cent working on it.

"It's not going to happen overnight, but we are 100 per cent working on it because we want it to be a great experience for everybody when they get here.

She continued: "Our retail is really, really starting to improve, but our hospitality, that's challenging.

"We've got 5,000 fans showing up and we've got line-ups and queues at the South Stand, we've got line-ups and queues at the West Stand, there's issues with the music and getting into the atmosphere.

"But right now, everyone is willing to have a conversation about it and our hopes are that we're going to fix it - not overnight - but it's definitely in the works."

A fan forum, manager's Q and A and engaging with local businesses in and around York, are aspects being considered to widen the fan experience.

"There's things that we're looking at in terms of retail stuff and fan experience closer to the stadium," Matt confirmed.

"I think that we're probably overdue a fan forum at some point - it's probably good to get one of those going.

"We've got to look at that and when is the best time to do that.

Julie-Anne added: "We want to get a lot more involved with York city businesses and with how we can collaborate with other initiatives going on within York city and how we can get involved.

"We want to look at doing events, a manager's Q and A, we just want everybody to understand that there's not just Matt and I, there's a manager, there's an assistant manager, there's players. 

"We want to get everyone as involved as we can."

Recent weeks have also seen City dedicate last Saturday's home match against Bromley to mental health, something Julie-Anne is keen to continue, as well as widening the club's engagement in the community.

"For us, it's huge [to engage with the wider community in York].

"Working with the community and with the foundation as an arm into the community to be able to engage as much as we possibly can, whether its through education, whether it's through helping other charities achieve their goals, we're trying to get much more involved.

"We're trying to get much more involved but it's been three months, we've got a lot more initiatives planned for the coming year."