STEVE Ferres is to sensationally quit as chief executive of York City Knights.

The man who did much to lift York rugby league up by its bootstraps will leave Huntington Stadium after the opening Northern Rail Cup game of the 2005 season, away to Castleford Tigers on February 13.

The decision was announced today, with Ferres telling the Evening Press he thought the time was now right for him to step aside.

Club bosses have not yet discussed a replacement chief executive and will continue with the staff in place for the immediate future.

"It all happened last week," said Ferres. "I had thought about it at the end of last season after the Grand Final but I did not think the timing was right.

"The club had just lost a Grand Final and about ten players had left and that needed to be rectified.

"I wanted to put the work into that to make sure we would be competitive again and get key appointments in place."

He also explained the reasons behind his decision. "It's not the workload, I'm not afraid of hard work," he said.

"But I've had three years of 24 hours a day, seven days a week thinking about York City Knights.

"I think you can become exhausted and it can become time to step aside and let somebody else move it forward.

"After dedicating three years to the Knights, I feel the timing is right for me to step aside and to re-charge my batteries. I do so knowing that I have left the club in the hands of some dedicated professionals who will continue to take the club forward."

Ferres is to leave rugby league as a whole, but hopes one day to come back to the game - and he hasn't ruled out a return to York.

"You don't know things like that until things happen," he said.

"At this moment I'm taking a bit of a break and whether I get a new challenge I don't know.

"I have no plans at the moment. I haven't got a job to go to and I'm not going to start looking for a job.

"If a challenge came along I would have to see if I'm up for it, whether that be one month, three months, six months down the line, I don't know. It's a case of what's right at the time.

"I would like to think at some stage I will get involved in the game again, but there are no offers on the table."

Ferres, a former Bradford, Dewsbury, Carlisle and York stand-off, had come on board at Huntington Stadium after the demise of York Wasps in early 2002.

Following talks with the Supporters' Trust working party, he agreed in April of that year to be the chief executive of the proposed new club and thereafter was arguably the main man in the successful bid get York RL back into the Rugby Football League for the 2003 season onwards.

Ferres had previously been assistant manager at Sheffield Eagles to current Leeds Rhinos chief executive Gary Hetherington, coach at Hunslet and Huddersfield, and chief executive at Wakefield.

Updated: 10:31 Tuesday, February 01, 2005