INSTEAD of reflecting on the nightmares of the past, York City's supporters can now start dreaming about the future.

That was the message this week from club director Jason McGill - the man chiefly responsible for Project Gold which has delivered a long-term solution to the Minstermen staying at Bootham Crescent.

Since the Supporters' Trust takeover in March, a ground-breaking and historic 11 months have seen the club board's mission statement change from survival to playing entertaining First Division football.

York have only reached such lofty heights once in their history, spending two seasons (1974-75, '75-76) in the old Division Two but McGill said this week: "We are a dedicated and ambitious board and our aim now is to develop a club at the heart of the community, playing entertaining First Division football.

"I am sure we will have a football club the people of York can be proud of."

Such comments are not based on the euphoria of this week's news but on a sound business sense and with the keen examples of clubs like Crewe Alexandra, Walsall, Gillingham and Rotherham in mind.

All four of those clubs operate on four-figure attendances but are currently out-performing City's boom-and bust near neighbours like Sheffield Wednesday, Bradford City, Nottingham Forest and Derby County.

Leeds United, of course, are an even more spectacular casualty of bad financial management and look likely to become another fallen giant visiting the likes of Millmoor, Gresty Road, Priestfield and the Bescott Stadium next season.

Crewe, Walsall, Gillingham and Rotherham can all be held up as shining examples of what can be achieved and City's open-minded and progressive board are already planning to monitor how they have maximised the potential of clubs, traditionally regarded as "small".

Equally, City's achievements over the past year should be analysed closely by the rest of the footballing nation.

A good first-team manager, allied to sound financial acumen, appears to be the key to clubs with modest fan bases achieving relative success.

Crewe legend Dario Gradi and Rotherham renaissance man Ronnie Moore are rightly considered to be two of the best managers outside of the Premiership, while York's board will be hoping Chris Brass can prove to be as astute a player-manager as Andy Hessenthaler has developed into at Gillingham.

Colin Lee's experience has also helped Walsall build on an excellent reputation for their work off the pitch.

The Bescott Stadium is rarely not in use with weddings, conferences and other functions responsible for a daily source of income at the 10,700-capacity stadium just off the M6.

The 1980s achievements of Wimbledon and Swansea rising from the bottom to the top may now be an unrealistic dream in today's Premiership without the presence of a Mohammed Al Fayed or even a Sam Hammam.

But well-run lower division clubs can still aspire to a competitive status in the Nationwide League's upper echelon, especially if they appoint a first-team manager who places importance on coaching and the development of young players, as well as demonstrating excellent judgement in the transfer market.

Of course, even with all those requirements in place, there are no guarantees of success in football and Brass' job of combining a modest wage bill with a winning team remains a tough one but, at least, the dream is now possible.

City fans went to bed on Tuesday night still haunted with thoughts of the past and what it meant for the present, but on Wednesday morning they woke up to the news that their club can, at the least, aspire once more to emulating former glories.

Former chairman John Batchelor joined the well-wishers this week but went on to express his regret that he could not have saved the club.

His comments came just days after his predecessor Douglas Craig re-iterated his opinion that there would not be a York City Football Club if he had not transferred the ownership of Bootham Crescent into Bootham Crescent Holdings.

Batchelor claimed the collapse of ITV Digital was the chief reason behind him no longer being at the helm of the football club although those funds were considerably less than the £400,000 he received from Persimmon Homes for his motor-racing team.

Super McAndrew's role

Perhaps one unsung hero this week following the news that City were staying at Bootham Crescent was Stadium Development Director Ian McAndrew - the man assigned with the tremendously troublesome task of putting a feasible plan together for moving to Huntington.

McAndrew, as all City supporters, always favoured remaining at Bootham Crescent but, because of necessity, spent endless days on a project the club hoped would never need to come to fruition.

Jason McGill recognised his fellow board member's selfless work this week when he said: "Huntington Stadium played an important role in this situation as, for many months, it did remain our only option for survival and allowed us to maintain our Football League share.

"Ian McAndrew has worked tirelessly on this project and we would like to thank him for all his dedication and commitment."

Club owners, the Supporters' Trust, announced in their press release this week that they have "commenced a review of the corporate governance and processes at York City".

Whether this will mean more public roles for people like McGill and McAndrew who have been working hard behind the scenes over the last six months, remains to be seen.

Questions about the long-term solution over Bootham Crescent might remain to be answered but 'long-term' is a very welcome and reassuring adjective for City fans and the Supporters' Trust press statement also confirmed that "relevant details about the agreement for City to remain at Bootham Crescent will be made available when all of the legal agreements have been concluded in some months."

City's next five games

Today: Hull City (A); Saturday, February 14: Mansfield Town (H); Tuesday, February 17: Lincoln City (H); Saturday, February 21: Boston United (A); Saturday, February 28: Scunthorpe United (H).

Updated: 10:58 Saturday, February 07, 2004