After going on a season-long loan to fellow Vanarama National League team Ebbsfleet United, Tyler Cordner, the centre back for York City, is hoping to get back to his best.
The defender, who cost a six-figure sum to sign from Aldershot Town when the team activated his release clause, was one of the Minstermen’s marquee acquisitions of the previous summer.
Shortly before moving to City, Cordner was selected the Supporters’ Player of the Season and the Players’ Player of the Season after making 50 appearances for the Shots and scoring nine goals.
Nevertheless, despite a tumultuous debut season at the LNER Community Stadium, he has fallen short of expectations.
The center-back had made a strong start at his new club, missing just one game—a 4-2 home loss to Barnet after receiving five yellow cards—until the end of November. He had scored his first goal for York in a 2-2 draw with Altrincham in mid-August.
During that run, the team scored back-to-back goals against Oxford City and Hartlepool United, the latter of which was a spectacular long-range goal that ranked among the team’s season goals.
But under Neal Ardley, he only made one more appearance—in a 1-1 draw with Ebbsfleet a few days before Christmas—and for the remainder of the former Solihull Moors manager’s stint, he was either named on the bench or kept out of the starting lineup completely.
For Adam Hinshelwood’s first game in charge, Cordner was reinstated, but he hasn’t played since.
With Adam Hinshelwood’s hiring at the end of February, Cordner had another chance to make an impression after being placed back into the starting lineup for his first game as manager against Wealdstone.
Despite playing 66 minutes in the Minstermen’s 3-2 loss, the 25-year-old was not included in the matchday squad for the rest of the campaign.
The defender has been making a lot of effort to address concerns raised about his fitness.
However, co-chairman Matt Uggla revealed on the York Hospital Ball podcast earlier this month that Cordner was set to go on loan. He gave the explanation that although neither party had benefited from the center-half’s signing, the club did not want to sever connections with him.
“The opinion on Tyler is that he is a top guy, and I really like him, but when it comes to reliability, his talent level is probably far too high for this level,” the speaker stated. He ought to be performing far better.
“For some reason, it hasn’t been successful. We don’t want to sever our relationship entirely because he is still an amazing player. He needs to go out there and demonstrate his ability for a season.
“If you look at the season he had at Aldershot before he came to us, he was fantastic. I think he scored 12 goals, captained England C, and it really should have gone well on paper.” He’s actually not kicked on here for a number of reasons.
“We’ll reevaluate it after seeing how he does this year.”
After making 20 appearances during the shortened 2019–20 season while on loan from Bournemouth, Cordner is back at the Kuflink Stadium for a second stint.
He intends to use his loan to regain his form since he feels he still owes the Fleet something.
“I won’t be the first to say it, but I haven’t probably lived up to the expectations that I should have done at York,” he said in an interview with the club’s media.
“I’ll be the first to confess that things haven’t gone as planned, and I’m not hesitant to say that.
“This is undoubtedly a reset for me to get back to the form I was in at Aldershot and try to show everyone that I am capable of that, not just myself.”
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