York City director Jason McGill is confident the first hurdle on the track to legally securing Bootham Crescent for the foreseeable future will today be cleared.

Shareholders of Bootham Crescent Holdings Plc - the company which owns the ground - were gathering today for an extraordinary general meeting to revert its public status back to a privately-owned company.

If the motion is approved, Bootham Crescent can become the security of a mortgage-style agreement for the £2 million loan from the Football Stadia Improvement Fund.

This cash will then be used to buy effective control of the ground with 75 per cent of the shares and it is hoped Bootham Crescent will ultimately be brought under the same administrative umbrella as York City.

But in order for this chain of events to be triggered, shareholders must first agree to convert BCH back to a private company - and effectively agree to hand back their shares for £1 each.

Major shareholders including Douglas Craig, Barry Swallow and Colin Webb will receive £12.10 per share, and have signed up to an agreement letting City buy back the remaining shares at a fixed price over the next three years when funds allow.

But tight finances mean the offer cannot be extended across the board.

Football club director and BCH co-founder John Quickfall, has pledged to exchange his 19,282 shares for £1 each, which was the same price he bought them for.

And McGill believes the vast majority of the minority shareholders, who only have a few shares, will follow suit.

He said: "My initial thoughts are that we will be okay and the resolution will be passed.

"I would be surprised if the majority of the minority shareholders don't vote for the conversion from a Plc to a limited company because those individuals originally put their money into the club in its hour of need and we are basically asking them to do it again.

"The majority of them are York City supporters and we know that they will want what's best for the club."

He added: "If it doesn't go through, we would go for another vote and we would have to lobby people in a way to explain to them that it is the best thing for the club.

"But I don't think that will be the case as I believe we will get 95 per cent of the minority shareholders voting in favour, which is the magic number.

"I am quietly optimistic that we will have the necessary votes for the conversion from a Plc into a limited company because most of the shareholders are York City supporters."

Updated: 10:36 Tuesday, July 06, 2004