NO-ONE Likes Us might be a popular terrace chant at football grounds up and down the country but, at Bootham Crescent, it appears that exactly the opposite is true.

According to results released this week from the Football Fans Census Survey, City, along with Gillingham, Macclesfield, Stockport and Torquay, share the distinction of not being disliked by supporters of any other Football League or Premiership club.

All the other 87 outfits have at least one club that consider them rivals with Manchester United leading the way in the hatred stakes with Arsenal, Bolton, Liverpool, Leeds and Manchester City supporters all professing to despise the Red Devils more than any other team.

City fans named big-spending, perennial under-achievers Hull City as main rivals in the census that canvassed the views of more than 2,800 football supporters.

The Minstermen, of course, visit the Tigers' plush KC Stadium next Saturday where a mauling masterminded by Chris Brass would, no doubt, prove one of the sweetest successes of the season.

It would appear the bad feeling is not mutual however as Hull, perhaps with a touch of arrogance, name Premiership Leeds as their main rivals with Scunthorpe the Humbersiders' second most disliked team and Grimsby third.

But by the same token, Scarborough have been relegated to second rivals' status by City supporters although the survey finds that the Seadogs are still considered the Minstermen's traditional rivals but the intensity has died since their drop to Conference football.

Newly-promoted Doncaster are deemed City fans' third-most disliked team but the South Yorkshire club prefer to hate Rotherham, Scunthorpe, Barnsley and Chester in that order.

The survey, which was conducted on www.footballfanscensus.com, also found that fans of Blackburn, Burnley and Wolves are known as the Dingles by rival supporters, based on Yorkshire TV's rough and ready Emmerdale family.

In response, Wolves supporters refer to their West Brom counterparts as Bennies in tribute to the famous Crossroads character.

Norwich fans also take great pleasure from calling Ipswich followers the Binmen, inspired by an episode of Lovejoy in which a bin-man pulled an Ipswich scarf out of a bin and wore it.

Maybe City's status in the survey is not necessarily based on the football nation's ambivalence towards the Minstermen but is, instead, a thinly-disguised admiration for the club's fans' achievements off the pitch.

The Supporters' Trust will celebrate its two-year anniversary tomorrow and is now being proudly heralded as an example to every one of the 91 other Premiership and Football League clubs.

Since the fans body was formed and launched in record time during a fantastic night at the Barbican on February 1, 2002 with around 1,000 supporters joining a host of City stars and host Jon Champion, the Trust has grown to be the best supported in the country and, of course, now owns the football club.

Paul Rawnsley, a Trust Board member and a driving force behind the achievements of the past two years, admits that, at that time, nobody could have predicted the roller-coaster ride of high emotion and hard work that has happened since.

He said: "Two years on, on behalf of the Trust Board, I want to offer my thanks to everyone who has positively contributed in whatever way to the great achievements by City's fans. With hard work, commitment and unity, we can achieve even more going forward."

City's first game after the Trust's formation was a 5-4 home defeat against Rochdale that left the club 23rd in the Division Three table.

The only surviving members of that side are player-boss Chris Brass, captain Darren Edmondson and prize midfielder Lee Bullock.

All three have played key roles in transforming fortunes on the pitch while the Trust have impressively managed to stabilise financial matters off it.

RICHARD Hope and Lee Bullock will be the Harrogate Minstermen's guests at the Knaresborough Working Men's Club on Monday night.

Both players have agreed to take part in a fans' forum and the evening will kick off at 8pm.

Bookings will also be taken for forthcoming home and away travel and there will be "Open the Box" and "Guess the Crowd" competitions.

Harrogate Minstermen members and non-members are welcome to attend.

Updated: 10:39 Saturday, January 31, 2004