York City's home game with Southend United on Saturday could see a new chapter in the Minstermen's history after the Supporters' Trust inched closer in their takeover bid.

The fans' body could be in control as soon as tomorrow after they finally thrashed out an agreement with the Inland Revenue over the offer of the Company Voluntary Arrangement last night, meaning the visit of the Shrimpers will unveil a new-look to the club.

It had seemed as if the wrangle with the Inland Revenue would scupper the hopes of the CVA going through with the Football League's backing, with the Trust left frustrated by the tax authorities' refusal to accept the latest offer on the table. That would have yielded £80,000 to the taxman, equating to 50p in the £1.

But the demands of the taxman had meant that the deal to see fans' power running the club had been delayed last Monday and then again yesterday, with a total of five attempts to hold the creditors' meeting needed to accept plans to clear the club's debts adjourned.

However, the Trust and the administrator, Jacksons Jolliffe Cork, last night decided to work together to meet the demands of the Crown of whom the Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise are owed in the region of £160,000.

The Evening Press has been led to believe the Inland Revenue had wanted a set non-negotiable fee of £100,000 rather than a figure in the pound.

And although the demand - which works out at 63p in the pound - exceeded what the Trust were willing to pay, the administrator will now help the fans' group to meet the new costs estimated at a further £20,000 to save the club.

Sophie McGill, who would be one of the new football club set-up's five directors, told the Evening Press: "The key issue has been the Inland Revenue insisting on £100,000. But after another difficult day of hard negotiations at Bootham Crescent we finally feel we have achieved a breakthrough with the Inland Revenue.

"We are pleased that we might now be able to move on to more important issues like running a football club."

Confirmation of the Inland Revenue's acceptance of the new terms was being awaited by the Trust hopefully in time for today's meeting with the Football League in Preston. Trust board members Steve Beck and Paul Rawnsley attended the meeting at the League's headquarters.

The FL terms of administration means that all creditors with preferential status - such as the Crown - needed to be satisfied, along with a 75 per cent total of all creditors.

And with the Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise now seemingly satisfied, the FL were expected to ratify the take-over and transfer the Football League share to the Trust.

With this in place, tomorrow's reconvened creditors' meeting at 10am should at last see the Trust complete the sale agreement - 15 months after the birth of the supporters' group.

York City president John Greenway, the MP for Ryedale and Shadow Minister for Sport, said today that the Football League ruling about satisfying the taxman needed re-examining.

He said that it worked against Supporters' Trusts, like the one at York, which was trying to mount a takeover.

"It means that the money is coming out of the pockets of the ordinary fans. It was not their fault that the club went into administration in the first place," he said.

Greenway added that it was "bizarre" that Leicester City and Barnsley, two other clubs in administration, had to pay less to the taxman in their settlements. The Foxes only needed to stump up 10p in the pound to the taxman and Barnsley 35p in the pound.

He said that once the whole issue of York City's future was sorted out he would be raising the matter of the financial anomalies with the Government.

"It seems ludicrous that York have to pay 63p in the pound which is much less than the likes of Barnsley and Leicester where the debts are greater. It seems totally unfair." said Greenway.

A spokesman for the Inland Revenue today told the Evening Press it could not 'divulge' the specifics of any given case.

But he added: "It's up to the administrators who decide how much preferential creditors (like the Inland Revenue) will get. It's their duty to find the best return for creditors and that includes ourselves.

"We lodge our claim for whatever the outstanding tax is once a club goes into administration. It's really the action of the administrator that settles the liabilities."

Ironically, the law is changing after April 1 which would mean the Inland Revenue would no longer become a preferential creditor. That is no use to City as even if proceedings drag on beyond that date, their case will still be dealt with under the old rules.

Updated: 11:09 Tuesday, March 25, 2003