York City fans are being urged to congregate at the gates of Bootham Crescent on Monday as part of an unofficial protest directed at the ground's owners.

The protest, organised by City fan and student Hyla Campbell, will take place as Bootham Crescent Holdings stages its annual general meeting in the Nestl Family Room at the ground.

Former owners of the football club, BCH still own Bootham Crescent and have already reached a conditional agreement to sell it to builders Persimmon Homes.

Campbell, 20, is organising the protest independently of the York City Supporters' Trust and the Friends of Bootham Crescent.

And he insists the protest must be peaceful.

"The emphasis is on peaceful demonstration to leave York City's former directors in no doubt over the fact that there is serious opposition to their desire to profit from the sale of the ground," explained Campbell

"Bootham Crescent belongs to York City FC and nobody else. The fact that York City doesn't own its ground is compounding our current financial crisis, and BCH is the root of many ills at the club."

Campbell is calling on fans to congregate at the club gates between 6pm and 6.15pm, with the AGM due to start at 7pm.

"We need as many people there as possible to show support," he said.

"We do not want any trouble that may jeopardise or prove counter-productive to the excellent effort that is being put in to save the club.

"But we do not want to stand by and let this happen. We want to enforce the fact we do not like this organisation and we do not agree with what it has done."

Campbell appealed for fans to turn up with banners and placards to show their disapproval.

"Anything that gets the message home would be great," he said.

Ian Savage, of the Friends of Bootham Crescent, the pressure group recently formed to fight Persimmon's planning application to build on the stadium site, confirmed Campbell's protest was being organised independently.

"At this stage the Friends of Bootham Crescent are not planning any protest activity on Monday," said Savage.

"However, we are aware of the annual general meeting and plan to have at least two of our members, who are BCH shareholders, in attendance at the meeting to ask some pertinent questions."

Updated: 12:17 Thursday, December 12, 2002