YORK City Knights’ opening pre-season friendly against Hull FC will now be played at Doncaster’s Keepmoat Stadium – with plans for a groundshare with York City now seemingly shelved.

The January 11 game was supposed to be played at City’s Bootham Crescent ground after the Knights’ lease of Huntington Stadium was ended as part of City of York Council’s community stadium project.

But the council recently withdrew from negotiations with the Knights, citing a legal dispute, and it has now confirmed to The Press that the agreements for the rugby club to play matches at Bootham Crescent and train at York St John University as part of the project have also been withdrawn.

It has not said if those agreements could be revisited, but confirmed its only correspondence with the club is now via legal representatives.

The Knights say this late fixture switch will cost them more than £10,000 in revenue and, while they are hopeful "current issues can be resolved" in time for their next planned friendly on February 1, their temporary move to Bootham Crescent for the coming season is in doubt.

Their season begins with a League Cup tie at London Skolars on March 1 but their first home fixture of their League One campaign - barring a home cup draw - is not until April 19, against North Wales Crusaders.

The council added it cannot prevent the Knights from seeking independent arrangements with City or St John University to use their facilities for matches or training, outside of the community stadium project.

The Knights, whose pre-season has already been disrupted after losing their St John University training base, announced late on Sunday night that they had switched the Hull friendly to Doncaster.

A club statement said: “York City Knights have been forced to take action and rearrange the friendly that was to take place against Hull at Bootham Crescent next weekend.

“The fixture will now be played at the Keepmoat Stadium, Doncaster, next Sunday, with a 4.45pm kick-off as part of a double-header, with Doncaster taking on Hull FC’s young guns at 3pm.

“The loss of the home game will be a cost of over £10,000 to the club.”

James Ford’s new-look Knights squad will face a Hull team made up predominantly of Super League first-teamers and a sizeable crowd had been expected at Bootham Crescent.

The Knights have previously been assured by the council that the community stadium project would not leave them worse off.

A Knights spokesman said: “We are disappointed that promises and assurances have not been met by City of York Council, but we will just bat on until we hear from the council on the reasons why they have not been in contact with the club since early November.

“We are optimistic that the issues can be resolved very quickly once the council confirms when we can meet.”

According to Knights chairman John Guildford, the current impasse arose when the council, having previously agreed the Knights could play at Bootham Crescent until the community stadium is built, then offered only a two-year guaranteed stay. The rugby club did not sign up to the new terms, fearing they could be made homeless if the new stadium is not ready by then.

The council withdrew from negotiations, saying it had done so due to a “legal dispute” with the Knights stemming from “litigious comments” from Guildford.

The Knights say no dispute currently exists and the council has provided no further details other than to say: "We can confirm that the council’s legal advisors have been in correspondence with Mr Guildford’s appointed legal advisor, the latest being sent by the council on December 23."

Ticket prices at the Keepmoat on Sunday are £10 for adults, £7 concessions and £3 juniors and will be valid for both of the day's matches.