FORMER York City chairman John Batchelor has agreed to be a guest speaker at a Harrogate Minstermen meeting next month.

Batchelor was at the helm when the Minstermen plunged into administration in 2003 and the club's 25-year lease on the football ground with Bootham Crescent Holdings was torn up.

He also failed to pay money to the club last season as part of an agreement made to bring the club out of administration, relating to credit card payments made by supporters during his ill-fated half-price season ticket offer.

The meeting has been provisionally arranged for February 7 and Batchelor said: "As long as it is a fair and reasonable meeting I will give as open and honest answers to questions as it is humanly possible to give."

Meanwhile, Harrogate Minstermen's next meeting on Monday, January 10 will be at the Ivy Cottage pub in Knaresborough's Stockwell Lane, at 8pm when ex-City striker Ian Blackstone will take part in a 'fans forum'.

Updated: 11:31 Wednesday, January 05, 2005