York United roster announcement littered with departures and doubt

The Nine Stripes made some sweeping changes, but how much does it do?

Chrisno N’sa (far left) and Triple L (centre) are amongst the group leaving (photo by David Chant)

The greatest teams in the history of football do have one thing in common other than trophies: the ability to be ruthless when the time is right. Tough decisions must be made but business is business and they move on.

We can only hope York United is going to do the same.

Only a few days from 2023 (and therefore a countdown to the season approaching) the Nine Stripes made a significant roster announcement, slimming the lineup down to 15 players but the bigger headline being those who are leaving. Among the group there is Chrisnovic N’sa, which is predictable, he is out of contract and has interest from USL and MLS Next Pro sides; but perplexingly, both Luis Lawrie-Lattanzio and Tobias Warschewski won’t be taking the pitch for York next season. The latter was on loan at the now-defunct FC Edmonton last season, scoring some worldies while at it. The former signed on from Melbourne Victory and impressed enough to merit at least his option being picked up.

But here we are, pondering just how well this club will do in 2023. On paper, the team is still very good - Molham Babouli, Osaze De Rosario, Max Ferrari, Tass Mourdoukoutas, Niko Giantsopolous, etc. - but it can be better and should be given the contracts that could have been easily renewed. There then is the question of can stars perform without a supporting cast?

It’s a bit more painful given that York will not bring in any money from the players leaving.

Some of the changes do cut Angus McNab a little slack, he cut down on midfielders when York seemingly could field an XI only with them, and some international slots were also freed up. We most definitely will see some more moves from the Nine Stripes in the coming winter months, but what people really want to know is whether those who come in are League1 Ontario stars (like Marki Voytsekhovskyy) or athletes who have managed in Europe. (See Lassana Faye, who has been in Eredivisie contests consistently in the past few years. Faye also seems to be the replacement for Lawrie-Lattanzio as a wing-back.)

I will look at it this way: when York kicked off 2022, the roster (let alone the starters) was extremely different from the final match. Squad overhaul and turbulence should be expected at this point.

However it’s hard to not think the group that ended 2022 was special. They were championship-calibre in my opinion, to waltz into a new year having high hopes without some of those guys won’t be easy.

York’s final third was already lessening thanks to Dom Zator’s move to Poland, and now that N’sa is gone there are at least two gaping holes on defence.

In the roster announcement, though, the Nine Stripes also hinted at what might be coming in the future: they are in contract talks with Michael Petrasso, Jordan Wilson, and Roger Thompson. They also cleared up what were only rumours about Ronan Kratt’s future. He trained with Bundesliga outfit Werder Bremen following the 2022 CPL season, and it was reported that he would be signing a contract to be in Germany. However, York and Werder are “in talks.” If Kratt does return, there is potential York can play with a two-striker system, Babouli can be right behind them.

At least it wasn’t all doom and gloom, but now there is expectation that McNab and Martin Nash will keep luring players to York and fill out a competituve roster, one akin to the second half of ‘22 lineup.

If the Nine Stripes open the season on the down, though, and seem lacking the positions dropped via this roster announcement, there will surely be more hard decisions to make in the front office.