YORK City director Terry Doyle would appear to have accepted our fate already judging by his comments in the Evening Press (April 6).

I can understand why contingency plans are needed should the unthinkable happen and our football club loses its Football League status, but the implications of this from a financial point of view would be far worse than the picture Mr Doyle has painted.

We would only have two derbies next season (Halifax and Scarborough) and only a further two matches against opposition from the other side of the Pennines (Accrington Stanley and Morecambe). Most of the games would be against teams from the south and Midlands, i.e. Gravesend, Margate, Forest Green, Tamworth, Canvey Island, Hucknall and Crawley (the latter three clubs all look as though they will be promoted from their respective feeder divisions). A number of these clubs attract gates of only around 300 to 400.

Terry Doyle says that the FA Trophy is an 'attractive' competition. For small outfits like Hednesford Town maybe, but I would rather have my team compete in the League Cup against sides like Sheffield United. Having to qualify for the first round proper of the FA Cup highlights the ignominy that a drop into the Nationwide Conference would be rather than the potential money-spinner of an extra game.

How can we hope to attract more fans through the turnstiles if we are to become a non-league club? There will be no weekly goal round-ups on television, very little mention in the media and therefore it will be even harder to promote the club.

Many people have fought very hard and put in a lot of money to save this football club from extinction. The £60,000 raised over one weekend last season to ensure our survival was incredible and the Supporters' Trust is one of the best supported in the entire Football League.

Retaining our home at Bootham Crescent was fantastic news. To lose our place in the Football League after everything that has been achieved would be a disaster. Surely the emphasis should be on beating the drop, not surviving it.

Mick Parker,

Baker Street,

York.

Updated: 10:32 Saturday, April 10, 2004