YORK City director Terry Doyle reckons that relegation to the Nationwide Conference need not be a financial disaster for the cash-strapped club.

The Minstermen dropped into the bottom two of the Third Division table after Sunday's 2-0 home defeat against fellow strugglers Macclesfield but finance director Doyle has revealed that there are contingency plans to safeguard City's future if they drop out of the Football League, however unwanted that prospect remains.

Doyle, who was named City's deputy managing director in last week's boardroom reshuffle, added that it would be the board's intention to make the Minstermen "the Arsenal of non-League football" should the worst happen at the end of this season.

Doyle said: "At the beginning of the season, it probably would not have surprised anybody if we had been in a relegation position for most of the season. The fact that we made such a good start perhaps raised expectations but did not move people at the football club's focus away from the fact that this season was always going to be a struggle.

"Financially the season has been particularly tough but the fact that we have had good home gates against the top three teams - Doncaster, Hull and Huddersfield - has been helpful. It would have been remiss of us though not to have contingency plans if something went wrong and I have had that at the back of my mind all season.

"Personally, I think at this stage it's too early to press the panic button. Six points would still take us up to mid-table.

"It's very tight and it could be very interesting, for the wrong reasons, until the end of the season."

If relegation does become reality, Doyle's comparison with Arsene Wenger's Gunners team relates to a quest for success in every competition that the Minstermen would enter during the 2004/2005 season.

He said: "Going down into the Conference is not the doom and gloom it used to be. It's a very professional league.

"It's well structured and it does give you the opportunity, with two promotion places at stake, of having a season at the top of the table. Other clubs have gone down and come back stronger from having had that opportunity.

"I have got an idea of what our income would be in the Conference and I'm sure people would be surprised if I didn't. I would like to think if we went down for the season we would become the Arsenal of non-League football.

"One would anticipate we could be a force to be reckoned with after some good work in the close season and, if you have a good season, from a financial perspective you can perversely be better off. You can see that by the impact on gates that success has had at clubs like Shrewsbury, Hereford and Exeter this season.

"It's not the end of the world in that respect. We would also remain in the FA Cup and entering in the fourth qualifying round could gain much more money because of the extra game.

"We would still be in the LDV Vans Trophy and the FA Trophy is also an attractive competition to do well in from a non-league perspective. Having said that, I would hate for people to think I am complacent about coming back up.

"I watch a lot of non-League football and I know that there are some very good teams in there. It's a tough league and I don't think there's a great deal of difference between the top half of the Conference and the bottom half of the Third Division."

Updated: 10:59 Tuesday, April 06, 2004