York City could kick off next season in a Huntington Stadium that resembles a building site should landlord Douglas Craig refuse a 12-month extension to the club's lease at Bootham Crescent.

The club are hoping that Craig will agree to let the Minstermen play at their current home ground until the end of the 2004/2005 season.

That would allow time for the Huntington ground to be redeveloped to Football League requirements if a planning application, submitted yesterday and likely to be approved or refused next April, is successful.

City's lease expires at the end of this season and the club are already considering other options should Craig reject an approach to stay at Bootham Crescent.

But the possibility of ground-sharing with a rival club was today ruled out by communications director Sophie McGill, who said: "If an extension was refused the most likely scenario would be some construction work taking place prior to the start of the season.

"If planning permission is granted we would have three months in May, June and July to make some progress and that's a situation we would have to discuss with the football authorities. But that would be extremely damaging in terms of income generation.

"For example, if construction started on one of the stands we don't want to be in a position where we are turning people away because we cannot get them in. You can erect some sort of temporary stands but that's costly as well and we are already working on a tight budget in terms of redevelopment."

Should construction work at Huntington Stadium take place in May, June and July it would coincide with five York City Knights league fixtures.

Football club officials will also meet with the athletics club tonight to discuss the future of the stadium's running track.

McGill added: "I am not sure how construction would effect the Knights' season but we do not want to cause any inconvenience or detriment to the rugby or athletics clubs."

About the possibility of ground-sharing with another football club, McGill said: "It's not something the football club would consider. It would kill the club financially. We could not afford to lose essential income and pay any sort of rent to another club."

The Football League would also require certain assurances to be in place before sanctioning such a move.

League press officer John Nagle said: "Ground-sharing will only be approved at the discretion of the Football League board but it will not generally be approved if the club plays outside the conurbation from which the club takes its name or with which it's otherwise generally associated.

"The main mistake with Wimbledon was to allow the club to ground share all those years ago without any promise to return to the Wimbledon area. That created a homeless club and it's now a league policy not to allow that to happen again.

"Brighton have since been allowed to play in Gillingham and Bristol Rovers at Bath but that was on the basis that both were short-term measures. If York City were to make an application to the board they would need to show there's a clear plan to return to the conurbation at a venue that offered ten years security of tenure."

The club have yet to approach Craig for permission to extend their lease but McGill said: "We are in regular communication with Douglas Craig.

"He has been made fully aware of the status of the application on a week-to-week basis. We have felt it's important to maintain a professional relationship despite what's happened in the past.

"He's our landlord and we have got to negotiate with him."

Updated: 11:04 Tuesday, November 25, 2003