Ex-EFL stadium where Gazza played still standing and became home of amateur team
A former EFL stadium where Paul Gascoigne played his last match in English football is still standing – and even hosted an amateur side.
Boston United played at their beloved York Street ground between 1933 and 2020 before moving to a new all-seater stadium on the outskirts of the Lincolnshire town. Five of those seasons were memorably spent in the Football League after they secured a long-awaited promotion from the top-flight of non-league.
Incredibly, their time in League Two included the signing of Gascoigne, then 37, who arrived as a player-coach on the eve of 2004/05 season. After just five appearances, with the last against Fulham in the League Cup, he left to further his coaching career.
READ MORE: Beloved EFL stadium that last hosted match in 2008 still standing after being abandoned
“I’ve left on professional terms. I just think I needed to extend my career on the coaching side,” he said at the time. “I've shaken hands with the gaffer [Steve Evans] and said bye-bye to the lads. I wanted to do more on the coaching side a bit with Boston.
“Like I have said to Boston – and there are no hard feelings between me and Boston – I have left on professional reasons and hopefully, they can understand that.”
The Pilgrims slid out of the Football League in 2007 after losing a winner-takes-all final game at fellow strugglers Wrexham, who would go down a year later.
Amid crippling financial problems, which almost saw the club liquated, Boston were demoted to National League North and then the Northern Premier League before bouncing back up to National League North. They have been at that level since 2010.
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Sadly their final games at York Street, in the National League North play-offs, were played behind closed door because of the pandemic. After a brief spell ground-sharing at county rivals Gainsborough Trinity, Boston eventually moved into their new home, the Jakemans Community Stadium.
But York Street, which had a capacity of around 6,500, remains standing and was briefly the home of a local amateur side. Railway Athletic, of the Boston Saturday League, played at the ground during the 2021/22 season.
Ahead of the exciting move, Railway club secretary Lee Vacey told the Boston Standard: “It came about after a chance conversation with a friend of the club and the Malkinsons [the family who own the stadium].
“The lads are buzzing, group chat’s never been so lively. Hopefully, playing at such a historic ground, it raises the levels.”
Sadly, Railway folded after one season at York Street, which has been uninhabited since.
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