JUST when it seemed the future of York City Football Club was looking secure, a fresh blow falls.

On the face of it, city council leader Steve Galloway's insistence today that the running track will have to remain at Huntington Stadium, at least for the beginning of City's tenure there from the start of the 2004/2005 season, may not seem such a huge blow.

But City chiefs claim it makes the club's future all but untenable. They insist that redeveloping the stadium in three phases, as the city council is now proposing, would be an expensive waste. Putting in temporary stands then ripping them out again later would seriously eat into the club's £3 million redevelopment budget.

The lack of any shop, ticket office social club and food outlets in the first phase of the development would make it difficult for the club to survive financially, they add. And expecting fans to support their team at home matches where they are separated from the action by a running track is unrealistic.

In a furious response to the council's proposals, they hinted today that without more council support they would have to consider whether there was a future for professional football in the city. Not everything that emerged from last night's council meeting is bad news, however.

Coun Galloway is correct to point out that there is real urgency about the need to crack on with the development. Failure to do so could mean the stadium not being ready for use in time for the start of the 2004 season - and where would City be then?

The city council's new administration is in a difficult position. It has to balance its obligations to York rate-payers and to the city's athletes with its duty to ensure York retains professional football.

But no football club in the land can really be expected to survive long-term at a jury-rigged stadium with a couple of temporary stands squeezed into the corner and supporters separated from the action by the width of a running track.

The council must at the very least give guarantees that the running track will be relocated by the start of the 2005/ 2006 season, and the final phases of the redevelopment completed as quickly as possible after that.

Updated: 10:23 Wednesday, July 09, 2003