Former Celtic captain Jackie McNamara set himself a managerial ultimatum…and failed

Jackie McNamara's time in charge of York City seems to be up.

The former Celtic captain survived relegation to the National League last season, but a poor start to the summer campaign left his job on the line...in his own opinion, at least. McNamara took the bizarre step of attempting to gee up his troops by setting himself an ultimatum. Beat Braintree Town this weekend, or step down. For a while it seemed to be working, with the Minstermen taking a first half lead through Simon Heslop and seeing goalkeeper Kyle Letheren save a penalty to ensure they went into the break one goal to the good. However, it didn't last. Late on, City showed there's a reason they've only won three times in more than a dozen outings this season. Braintree won themselves another penalty late on, and this time there were no heroics from Letheren. Lee Barnard fired home the equaliser, and that was that. https://twitter.com/yorkcityfc/status/784783212564385792 A statement following the midweek hammering at Guiseley read as follows:

'Following a meeting with the Chairman this morning, and in light of the disappointing performance and result last night, York City manager Jackie McNamara has considered his position going forward. 'It has been decided that, if the team fails to gain a positive result at Braintree Town on Saturday, the York City manager will tender his resignation. 'The manager will be looking for a passionate and committed reaction from the players after the capitulation at Nethermoor Park on Tuesday evening.'

So that should have been that, right? Well, maybe not. According to local press, more talks were held between McNamara and chairman Jason McGill after the game. https://twitter.com/BBCYorkSport/status/784790389454692352 Unless it involved the phrase 'pwease' from McNamara and the response 'no takesies backsies' from McGill, we're struggling to work out what might have gone on. We're sure all will become clear soon. But hey, we're writing about the managerial goings-on of a non-league team, so in a way haven't they already won?