POSTPONEMENT of tomorrow's Division Three clash against Scunthorpe would leave York City in a 'serious position' according to the club's administrators.

With torrential rain over the past few days, and more forecast for today and tomorrow, the Bootham Crescent pitch could possibly be left unplayable.

And with City needing every penny from the gate receipts to see them up to their January 18 survival deadline, the club's fortunes could be plunged further into doubt, especially as they would incur certain costs for the game.

The Minstermen have already seen the FA Cup first round clash against Swansea fall by the wayside on November 16 after a heavy downpour on the day of the match, but everyone is hoping this match will go ahead.

"We are hoping for between 4,000 and 5,000 for the Scunthorpe game," said David Willis, who is in charge of the day-to-day running of the club while it is in administration.

"The weather is a concern for us though. The pitch is okay at the moment, but if the bad weather continues then it will start to get a bit heavy.

"Hopefully the groundsman will be able to get the pitch fit. If the pitch is not fit then the game will not go ahead.

"Unfortunately we are committed to certain expenses - we have to police the game and give them eight days' notice if it is not going ahead, which it would be impossible to do, so we incur those costs.

"Then there is the stewarding and a lot of other costs that would be unavoidable. If you don't pay, you don't get any gate receipts and still have to pay money out.

"This would leave us in quite a serious position. If the deadline is brought forward I couldn't say. We would have to sit down and look through all the finances.

"However, if one of the parties has a bid on the table and it is accepted barring a few of the minor details the deadline could be extended. We want the club to survive.

"We are not going to extend the deadline though, if a party or parties are just talking about getting a potential bid in."

Tomorrow's squads:

York City

Probable: Fettis, Edmondson, Smith Hobson, Cowan, Potter, Fox, Bullock, Nogan, Duffield, Reddy, Nogan. Subs, from: Collinson, Cooper, Jones, Wood, Wilding, Parkin.

Scunthorpe Utd

Probable: Evans, Stanton, Dawson, Jackson, Byrne, Sparrow, Feather-stone, Graves, Kilford, Torpey, Carruthers. Subs: Brough, Collins, Calvo-Garcia, Parton, McCombe.

Referee: David Laws (Whitley Bay)

Kick off: 3pm

Updated: 11:28 Tuesday, December 31, 2002