YORK City are budgeting for crowds of around 3,500 next season, reckoned finance director Terry Doyle.

That would allow for a dip in attendances from last season, when the club's fight for survival reawakened interest in the Minstermen.

But even last season's healthy average of 4,200 was way below Batchelor's expectations of crowds of around 6,000.

"If you start from a realistic basis then nothing can go too disastrously wrong," explained Doyle.

"From a personal opinion, to expect an average gate of 6,000 or 7,000 was totally unrealistic and I think most City supporters would agree with that.

"It is fantastic to dream of, but we are, as I'm sure you have heard before, interested in reality football not fantasy football."

Unlike Leeds, the Minstermen, despite the overspending of the club's previous regimes, have not been splashing the cash on goldfish or private jets.

Given City's few obvious luxuries Doyle points out it is not just cut-backs the club has to consider.

As pressing is increasing the revenue coming into Bootham Crescent.

"Getting the income up is equally important and I can't over-emphasise that," said the City director

"We are a board full of ideas in terms of ways of increasing income.

"We are also in discussions with the Supporters' Trust. They have a board every bit as keen as the football club board to get income coming in."

Moving to a redeveloped Huntington Stadium, complete with new hospitality suites and boxes, will play a major part in increasing the club's income.

"With a new stadium to go to we have got a fantastic opportunity," he reasoned.

"If you look at Bootham Crescent, it is not very well situated and it does not have the facilities you now need to run a football club."

While confident of the club's long term future, Doyle admits City will face a testing time trying to balance the books in the short-term.

However, he prefers to see the glass as half-full rather than half-empty and the problems the club has encountered in recent months have given the board a mandate to make some tough decisions.

"What none of us should forget is that this football club was saved by the £20s collected in the buckets," he said.

"It is quite fantastic that those notes were the difference between this football club surviving and not surviving.

"That is a very powerful message to us that people want this football club and they want it do well.

"But they also have a right to expect us to manage it financially soundly.

"We will do the public of York a tremendous disservice if we ever get into the situation (under new Football League proposals) where points are deducted or relegation is imposed.

"That is a very powerful deterrent. And whilst we will have the odd tough time, I would rather have the odd tough time than not be here."

Updated: 10:17 Saturday, May 24, 2003