Football that we can afford

We long suffering and loyal supporters at Bootham Crescent get the kind of football club, not that we deserve, but that we can afford!

A careful reading of the chairman's recent financial report to the shareholders demonstrates this. The brief Dolan seems to have been given when he took the job set out three priorities:

1. To reduce the wage bill to an affordable level.

2. To reduce the size and age of the playing squad (which obviously helps with the wage bill).

3. To rebuild the side while reducing the risk of relegation.

Given the constraints of the first two priorities, success with the third presents a considerable challenge.

Dolan seems to have succeeded with objectives 1 and 2. Objective 3, so far, eludes him. But two objectives achieved out of three, in job appraisal terms, may look to the board like a fair performance. He won't be sacked for failing to fulfil his job description.

But football managers at clubs like York City always have to make silk purses out of pigs ears, and for the fans, despite the impossible constrictions of finance and talent, objective 3 - success on the field - must be achieved.

So good luck to you, Terry. You have my sympathy!

Many of us doing other kinds of jobs in which we are asked to do several impossible things before lunch every day - and get abused when we fail - would be only too pleased to resign for the good of our health!

John Lacy,

Moseley Wood Walk,

Leeds.

...WITH reference to Terry Dolan's claim that the cash crisis has cost City points.

What a load of tosh. I'm sorry but he has bought the majority (if not all) of the current squad and it's not right to blame the lack of funds for the poor performances.

There are lots of players around of similar quality but it's getting them to perform as a team that is the vital ingredient. That is the manager's job.

The team are capable of beating clubs like Colchester and Reading so how can they be poor against the strugglers in Division Three.

Living in Devon, I made the effort of following the team for about a dozen or so matches a year without fail but this year I've only seen them at Bristol Rovers where they played quite well. The enthusiasm has gone because there is no ambition at the club.

We need new blood, so let's get a buyer, then a new manager and off we go up the league.

Bruce Benton,

Sawyers Mill,

Shillingford,

Tiverton,

Devon.

...AS someone who had not missed a game in four years (home and away) before I moved to the USA, leaving York City was just about the hardest thing I ever did.

I still get twitchy at 3pm every Saturday and wait impatiently scanning the web for the result.

One thing I took for granted, until today, was that when I come home the City will be there.

They have been there all my life. People have come and gone. Jobs have come and gone. But however bad life has been, there has always been that chance of three points on a Saturday.

The demise of York City cannot be allowed to happen.

The thought of York without its football team is inconceivable.

The club has proved itself to be bigger than so many obstacles in the past and must do so again.

If anyone knows of anything useful I can do - let me know. I would have great interest in a supporter-led trust or any other measure we could come up with to save our club.

Annie Smith,

Edgemere Green,

West Roxbury,

Boston, USA.

...AS a life long City fan and former season ticket holder, now residing in Australia due to business commitments, I am devastated to hear the news of my beloved York City.

As with many fans, they have provided immense enjoyment and frustration to me since my first game in 1984 against Doncaster Rovers. The memories of trips to Anfield, Old Trafford, Everton, Wembley and all the cold days in Small Northern towns such as Bury, Rochdale and Blackpool.

Whenever I talk to people all over the world most remember something of York City, even on a small island in Thailand, the bar man remembered the famous day at Old Trafford in 1995.

It would be unbearable to think of York not having professional football, it is time for the fans, and the area to get behind the club.

The 12,000 who went to Wembley, the 7,000 at Old Trafford need to show support when it is really needed and get down to the ground.

I will be home for a visit in March and will definitely be watching City home or away.

I also have no blame for Douglas Craig. He has managed some difficult times and has been honest in a tough commercial world of lower leagues football, through his tight financial management we have merely delayed the obvious that we need greater attendances.

It is a Catch 22, if the football is great, then the fans will show up, but even when it was good in the mid 1990s the crowds were only 4,500.

It is not going to be a sustainable profit making organisation, we will never be Leeds or Blackburn, but we can model ourselves on Crewe and Rotherham reaching and surviving in Division One.

It is time for the fans to turn out and support the club, not to be retrospective and look at what could have been, but realise the crisis of today.

It would be tragic if the next generation of York can not get the enjoyment this club has provided to me and so many others.

Andrew Wildblood,

Francis Street,

Bondi,

Sydney,

Australia.

...I AM saddened to hear about York City's current difficulties.

I think that the best thing that can happen is if it is sold to a new owner willing to inject more money into it for new players, and also have a Supporters Trust set up as soon as possible so that it is owned by a company and a trust.

York City is a nice family club and it would be a shame if the people of York lost their football club.

I'm sure that if it was owned by a wealthy company or a Supporters Trust or both, York City's fortunes would improve.

Nick Fletcher,

Langton Road,

Norton,

Malton.

...I AM a City fan living in Swindon and the news has come as a complete shock.

I couldn't claim to be familiar with football club finances but are there any other Division Three clubs who have been so successful recently in producing literally Premiership class players and, one would have hoped, reaped the financial benefits from them? Dean Kiely, Darren Williams, Jonathan Greening and Richard Cresswell all come to mind.

I try to get to the south and west country games so I'm not as ardent as some, but even if I am not at the match, anticipating the games, getting the City scores and following them "over the ether" is a big part of my life that I would sadly miss.

Memories of Wembley and the joy of vital wins at places like Oxford, Reading and Bristol must surely be built on with great results of the future.

Football still needs the smaller clubs like York where people like me can turn up on the day with my eight-year-old son knowing that we didn't have to book a ticket weeks in advance and where we can anticipate a reasonably relaxed and friendly atmosphere.

So, to the good people of York I say, forget Leeds United and Manchester United (who couldn't beat us anyway!) and please get behind this great club and bring it through this crisis.

Richard B Williams,

Yarmouth Close,

Toothill,

Swindon.

...WE are going to pull through this together.

Come on, everyone who cares for City, everyone who has been in the past, everyone who has a piece of their heart for the club needs to get behind them.

This could turn into a very positive thing and a turning point for the club.

I am hoping and praying that someone will come along to take over the club.

Gordon Gibb (Flamingo Land's owner, who has expressed an interest in the club), you are more than welcome.

I am sure you will put more of your heart and soul into the club more than Douglas Craig ever has done.

You will have all our support. The supporters will come back, a large proportion of the crowd has stayed away for a while now due to Craig. Crowds of 5,000 will be a regular thing again.

I am confident that whoever takes over York City FC is taking over a potentially great future, up the Minstermen again.

Greg Dimond,

Farndale Road,

Knaresborough,

Harrogate,

...NOW is the time for all City fans to show their true colours.

Everybody MUST support the club.

Why not send the admission price of one match to a central fund, as many exiled City fans can not attend matches regularly?

Malcolm Saul,

Bloomhill Court,

Moorends,

Doncaster.