YORK City Knights majority shareholder John Guildford has refused to comment on City of York Council's plans for a phased redevelopment of Huntington Stadium.

Guildford reiterated that the Knights wanted to "work with all parties to come to a satisfactory agreement", but said that as he had not seen any official copy of the plans, he was unable to pass judgement on them.

However, he suggested the proposals be put up for public debate so that fans of all clubs could give their own comments. He also suggested putting them on display at Huntington Stadium on Sunday prior to the Knights' big match against Keighley Cougars. That way, he added, people could also see what the match atmosphere was like at the ground.

"I did not know this was a proposal until I saw it in the Evening Press," he said. "It's never been passed to us for our comments, and until we officially get a proposal from any party we can't really comment.

"We're in favour of getting a decent stadium for the city and a solution that suits everybody. It would be better to not have the track at Huntington Stadium but not at the expense of the athletics club. The athletics has got to have a home, we can't just kick them out, and we're committed as much as anybody to finding them a place. I'm in favour of everybody getting a fair deal."

He added: "At the moment we're concentrating on winning on Sunday, that's the big thing for us right now.

"If people come along to the game they'll see what the atmosphere is like at the ground as it stands. It would be an idea to put all the plans on show there. We can put the proposals up in the bar on Sunday and open up early and let people have a view for themselves."

Updated: 09:52 Thursday, July 10, 2003