Stay-away York City fans have left manager Billy McEwan questioning his future at the club.

McEwan says he is disillusioned by the poor crowd against Stevenage and is asking supporters to speak up as to why they stayed at home.

The 2,325 gate for the top-eight clash - the third lowest all season - was several hundred down on the average and almost 2,000 down on those that turned out for the North Yorkshire derby.

And, speaking ahead of two home matches in four days against Grays and Southport, McEwan believes that difference is simply too great

He said: "The crowd against Stevenage was a major disappointment.

"I don't know where the missing fans have gone - there were 4,200 against Scarborough.

"We had a chance to go fifth in the league if we had beaten Stevenage. When I took over we were sixth bottom and got 2,100 fans. We only got 200 more for the Stevenage game and we were top eight."

He continued: "Where's the missing thousands with the money that we need to help us improve the team and improve the club?

"If they are not going to turn up when we are top eight, when are they going to turn up?"

McEwan has always prided himself on nurturing crowd-pleasing football with attendances rising everywhere he has been.

Shortly after taking over at the helm in April 2005, he vowed to consistently add 4,000 on to the gate.

He said at the time: "I know we have 2,000 loyal fans but I want to get 6,000 and I will do, don't worry about that. That's one of my goals - to fill this ground.

"I did it at Rotherham and I will do it here."

The average league crowd prior to the Stevenage game was 2,942. But that figure has now slipped to 2,886 and looks set to keep dropping.

McEwan said: "I'm astounded. I just don't know what the reason is. Is it because the gate money's too expensive or what is it? We need to know - we have got to find out.

"We need the fans to tell us please why.

"The team's never been out of the top ten all season. Last year we were getting gates of 2,000, 1,900, 2,100 and we were down the bottom. This season my team's done ever so well.

"I'm getting disillusioned. It makes me wonder if it is worthwhile all the effort."

Gate prices were frozen this year at £16 in the Main Stand, £14 in the Popular Stand and £13 in the David Longhurst but are still above the Conference average and a glut of games around Christmas may be one explanation for the low turn-out.

He added: "It's very frustrating and to be honest I'm getting totally disillusioned with the York public.

"The 2,300 loyal fans were fantastic and I have to thank them for coming and cheering us on."

City's North Riding Senior Cup semi-final against Scarborough will be at KitKat Crescent on Tuesday, February 28, kick-off 7.45pm. Admission is likely to be £5 for adults and £2 concessions.

Updated: 10:14 Tuesday, January 17, 2006