A PENSIONER says he is willing to face going to prison if City of York Council don't bring York City Knights back into community stadium talks.

Lifelong rugby league fan Jim Bone, 78, says councillors have refused to speak to him about the troubled scheme so in turn he will refuse to pay his council tax.

He says the whole stadium saga has become "pathetic", with rugby league set to be the "fall guy if it all goes wrong".

"I'll stop paying my taxes, too true. Will they send me to prison? I'm pretty determined about this," said Mr Bone, whose beloved Knights have been made homeless just weeks before their season starts.

"People who are supposed to represent you can't even talk to you. Really? If they're not talking to me, why should I deal with them?

"I wrote to the leader of the council but have not had a reply. I emailed my local councillor and, while he said he shared our concerns, he was not allowed to speak to me about it. But councillors can talk to us when they want our vote."

The plan had been for the Knights, whose lease of Huntington Stadium was ended so it could be redeveloped, to switch to York City's Bootham Crescent before both clubs moved into the new arena in 2016.

However, after terms could not be settled the council's interim director of city services Sarah Tanburn said the authority no longer had confidence in a working relationship with Knights chairman John Guildford.

Mr Guildford, the club's majority shareholder since it succeeded the defunct York Wasps in 2002, says the last deal offered was different to the one agreed and left their financial security in doubt.

Mr Bone, a former volunteer physio for the team and sponsor, believes a "simple solution" would be for the council and the club to go to mediation.

"I'm hardly John Guildford's greatest fan but we wouldn't have rugby league in York today if it wasn't for him and it seems to me he's only trying to protect it.

"For a local authority to come out and say they won't speak to him doesn't make sense. As an ordinary fan, I'm bewildered. I find it pathetic.

"I think the council are looking for a fall guy if it all goes wrong, and rugby league is the fall guy."

City of York Council did not respond when contacted by The Press.