|
|||
| » York City Supporters' Trust | 30th October 2003 | ||
In December 2001, York City AFC plc was put up for sale by Bootham Crescent Holdings plc, the company which owned the club. A month later it was announced that Bootham Crescent, York City's home for over 70 years, was also for sale with a price tag of £4.5M. The inflated value was due to the location of the site rather than the management of the club, which over the last ten years, had been poor at the best of times.In March 2002, John Batchelor purchased the club for £1. At the same time, Batchelor received a £400,000 payment and the club's security of tenure at Bootham crescent was ended. Eight months later, Batchelor was gone. He had lined his own pocket with professed sponsorship money and it emerged that he had only made a bad situation worse. Meanwhile, a deal was being agreed between Bootham Crescent Holdings plc and another company, Persimmon plc, to demolish Bootham Crescent and replace it with 93 houses. A planning application for this was submitted to the council in July 2002. The poor management of the club had resulted in debts of around £1M by December 2002, which forced the club into administration. The forecast accumulation of debts made the prospect of liquidation very real, but the York City Supporters' Trust were not prepared to let the supporters and the community suffer such a blow. The Trust was established with its primary aims being to ensure the future of professional football in York and to gain supporter representation in the ownership and operation of York City AFC. Against all odds, they have achieved both of these aims as the club is now owned by the York City Supporters' Trust. Despite this, the fight to save Bootham Crescent is ongoing. The club are due to be evicted in May 2004. But the Trust's campaign to save the home of York City has received considerable support from the community and a large number of comments have been submitted to the council's planning office. This provides yet another example of a successful Supporters' Trust. Visit the York City Supporters' Trust website or the Friends of Bootham Crescent website for further details. |
|||
This Page:
http://www.killietrust.org/?id=features&item=5 |
|||
