Business as usual

The news will come as a relief to City manager Terry Dolan, who was forced out at former club Hull City when new owners took over at Boothferry Park in 1997.

The Minstermen's new chairman said he would not be considering wielding the axe until he had properly assessed just what needed to be done.

"It is business as usual while we catch our breath and while we ascertain just where we want the club to go," he said.

"I have made it clear I do not want to go in with a hatchet and at this stage of the season it would be pretty fruitless to change things desperately.

"What I would like to see happen is us achieve a mid-table finish that gives us time between now and the summer to make the changes that are required."

Dolan said: "We have been expecting it but until it happens there is always an element of doubut in everyone's mind until it is completed.

"It has been completed now and it is important for everyone connected with the club, more so the supporters, that they have got a club to support in the future."

Batchelor, who has pledged a "cultural change" at Bootham Crescent, said his immediate aim was to reduce the difference between income and expenditure at the club.

In the last financial year City were losing £24,000 per week.

While he pledged funds would be made available for team strengthening, he insisted City will have to cut their cloth accordingly with only what can be afforded being spent. That could lead to a cap on players' wages.

"Obviously, we are making funds available but we also have to balance that with the commercial issues as well," he said.

"Before you pour water into the top of a bucket you have to make sure you have fixed the hole at the bottom and that is the first issue we have to address.

"In general, Football League clubs are in a mess and players are paid exorbitant levels and we are not going to participate in the end of the game.

"Everyone at this club has to be affordable. That can be done in two or three ways - increasing sponsorship and commercial activities or reducing wages or by a combination of both.

"It might not be the most palatable approach but it is certainly a prudent approach."

Batchelor said a major new sponsorship deal will be announced next week, which will be tied to his British Touring Car Championship team, now titled Team B&Q York City Racing.

He reiterated his pledge to be a "hands-on" chairman even though he will be racing in the upcoming BTCC season, which gets off the grid on Easter Monday, April 1 - the day City entertain Oxford.

"I will be at York on a daily basis but there is no job description with this, there is no template," he said.

"It will be a matter of 'suck it and see'. Some difficulties may arise but there is not that much overlap between the two seasons."

The 43-year-old said he was looking forward to working closely with City's current sponsors, the Evening Press, and other local companies.

"I would actively encourage local employers to address the way they look to sponsor local clubs," he said.

"They seem to look at the balance sheet before investing in the community."

Richard West, a former commercial director of the Williams Formula 1 team, is expected to join Batchelor on the board in the near future.

"Richard sits on the board of a very large asset management business in the City and through his London connections he is responsible for some of the extremely big sponsorship deals we will be announcing soon," said Batchelor.

Updated: 11:48 Friday, March 15, 2002