THE boss of York's football club has said they will be playing in a new stadium in the 2019/20 season.

Jason McGill, chairman of York City FC, has welcomed the latest update on the Community Stadium project, which says work will start this October and the pitch will be ready for matches in spring 2019.

He said: "If things go according to plan, York City supporters will be watching their team at a new 8,000 capacity stadium by the start of the 2019/2020 season.”

He added: “This whole saga first started in 2003 when the ground was sold by the former chairman and the club was potentially homeless.

“With the help of the Supporters Trust, we secured a loan from the Football Stadium Improvement Fund (FSIF) that secured our short-term future.

“As chairman and majority shareholder, I made a personal commitment in 2006 to keep the football club financially stable until 2011 when the new stadium was originally scheduled for completion. For various reasons, that did not happen.

“The next date set out for completion was 2016 which led me to extend my financial support for another five years. However, that deadline also came and went!

“At that stage, I made a commitment to the club’s supporters that I would keep their club going until the new stadium was delivered. Today’s announcement is, hopefully, a significant milestone - because there have been far too many false dawns."

Moving to the new 8,000 capacity all-seater stadium at Monks Cross will safeguard the club’s future, he said, putting it back in a break-even position financially.

“Admittedly, a move to a new stadium will be greeted with a tinge of sadness by some supporters. Our ground holds a lot of special memories for a lot of people but any modern day football club needs a sustainable stadium that generates vital ‘non-matchday’ income.

“The Monks Cross community stadium will provide income streams that we simply don’t have at Bootham Crescent - which has been our home since 1932 - and make a massive difference to the financial well-being of our football club.”