YORK City chairman John Batchelor is selling his Cheshire home, the Evening Press can reveal.

Mr Batchelor has put his house, in Wilmslow, on the market and is looking for offers in the region of £310,000.

He said the five-bedroom property, in which he had lived for six months, no longer suited his needs.

The house is also being advertised on a property website.

Mr Batchelor today blasted one fan who, he said, had contacted estate agents Jordan Fishwick asking for details about his house. He told the Evening Press that the action had put him "close to the edge".

He said the continued intrusions into his private life could see him give up attempts to save the club.

Mr Batchelor denied that threats made to him and his family in the wake of revelations over City's financial crisis had prompted him to move.

He said he had no plans to move to North Yorkshire. Mr Batchelor said he would be contacting the fan concerned in an effort to find out what he wanted with his house details.

"I bought the house six months ago," Mr Batchelor said. "My wife has got a job in Wilmslow. We rented a house directly opposite this one.

"The house is not really what we want and we have decided to put it on the market as house prices have rocketed.

"The house was on the market before the threats were made and it is my opinion that this is no one's business. I alerted my estate agent to the situation and they told me they have received a telephone call from a fan asking for the details. I am near the edge and I can do without all this crap. I said that any more of it and there would be no further attempt by me to save the club. I haven't spoken to the fan yet, but if it is all nonsense that I am dealing with then that's what's going to happen."

Mr Batchelor said it was not inevitable that he would put the club into liquidation, but said: "I am not going to put up with this. It is beyond the pale that someone should ask for these details to be sent. Is he going to buy the house?"

Updated: 12:04 Thursday, December 12, 2002