FORMER York City Supporters' Trust board member Mike Grant is disappointed that two different offers to loan money to the football club were not considered together, writes Dave Flett.

Trust members will decide on Tuesday night at the Barbican whether to pass a motion to make Malton-based JM Packaging 75 per cent plus one share majority shareholders of the football club in return for a total investment of £1million.

Grant, along with fellow directors of the Hurst Group construction company, offered another proposal last month which would loan the club £200,000 at an interest rate of 12 per cent, but it was turned down by the Trust Board as "unworkable".

Grant thought that the two proposals could have been considered in conjunction with each other.

He said: "Our only stipulation was that the Trust held a majority shareholding to facilitate some form of JMP investment in tandem while not losing the principle of a supporter-owned club. We have never said either JMP or us.

"In response to the uncertainty about management of the club, I was asked what would happen if Jason McGill (JMP's major shareholder and York City's managing director) and Ian McAndrew (stadium development manager) decided to resign if my proposal was accepted and my response was that we would put in a full-time professional commercial/administrative manager to run that side of the business.

"The £200,000 was also a minimum amount of funding. There was every likelihood of additional investment as I had been contacted by other interested parties. I suggested to the Trust board that they run a similar scheme in tandem for all York City supporters and am convinced that up to £500,000 could have been realised by doing this."

In response to Grant's comments, a Trust board spokesman said: "We were never aware of any joint proposal relating to the Hurst Group and JMP and wouldn't a time to mention this possibility have been during discussions with JMP and the Trust business group of which Mike Grant was a member?

"The cost of replacing Jason and Ian would probably equate to between £50,000 and £80,000 and there was never any evidence on how the Hurst Group's £200,000 would have become £500,000 only that other people had expressed an interest in the scheme."