IT is not just the onset of winter that is presently forcing shudders among York City supporters.

The uncertainty surrounding the future of Bootham Crescent has raised genuine grounds for concern.

The so-called 'confidentiality clause' that has prevented the main protagonists from speaking with any clarity on the issue has served also to breed suspicion, speculation and fear.

This week, the Supporters Trust lodged their objection to Persimmon Homes' plan to build on Bootham Crescent.

Planning rules which are supposed to protect community and leisure facilities suggest the Trust have a case, which should provide worried fans with some protection.

Furthermore, even if planning permission was granted, it is highly unlikely Persimmon would press ahead with building on Bootham Crescent when the club has no new home to go to.

No York company would ever want to be remembered as the one that made the city's football club homeless, surely?

But then again one York company, Bootham Crescent Holdings, threatened to do just that earlier this year.

Darkening the murky waters even more is the fact Persimmon's planning application refers to the 'vacation of the ground at the end of the 2002/03 season'.

The conditional contract Persimmon has with BCH to buy Bootham Crescent is reportedly subject to planning permission being granted and also 'vacant possession'.

In such circumstances, it is easy to see why some fans are putting two and two together and coming up with five.

Given the fact City are currently residing at Bootham Crescent rent free, is there anything to stop the landlords evicting their tenants at the drop of a hat or at the end of the season?

John Batchelor, tied by the confidentiality clause, has done his best to reassure supporters the Minstermen will not be kicked out of their home at the end of the season.

He also maintains he still wants to buy BCH and so make the whole process more transparent.

But it is Bootham Crescent Holdings and Persimmon who are the ones who can end all the suspicion, uncertainty and anxiety, and they can do it swiftly.

It would only take a few words from them to support Batchelor's claim that City are going nowhere until a new ground is built.

If there is nothing to hide why the need for secrecy?

It cannot be that some people are revelling in the discomfort of the fans, but the lack of clarity is a dismissive slap across the faces of all supporters who have surely endured more than enough in recent times and deserve better.

Silence is supposedly golden, but on this issue it is anything but.

BARRINGTON Belgrave's late, late winner for Southend last Saturday was a sickening blow.

But his last-gasp strike was nowhere near as last-ditch as Peter Duffield's late leveller at Macclesfield on the opening day.

Belgrave's was timed at 92minutes 48seconds, while Duffield struck at 94-58. According to official statistics, that is the latest goal scored in Division Three this season.

THE York City gospel continues to spread across the globe.

The latest edition of Norway's top football newspaper - Fotball Spilleavisen Tips Weekend - dedicates a whole back page to City and City chairman John Batchelor.

THE charity game involving chairman Batchelor last week ended in a 3-2 victory for the Alice Hawthorne Inn, Nun Monkton, over Green Hammerton's Bay Horse.

As reported in this column, the match marked the first football game to be staged at the new recreational facilities at Green Hammerton.

Ian Hayden bagged a brace for the winners with Glen Brown also on the scoresheet. Richard Dwight scored both Bay Horse goals.

YORK City Ladies suffered a disappointing 4-2 defeat when they entertained Thorpe United at Bootham Crescent.

Jenny Garnett opened the scoring for City from the penalty spot after Sara Renfrew was brought down.

But Thorpe upped the tempo after the break with two goals. Tracey Watson reduced the deficit before Thorpe got a fourth to seal victory.

York Ladies will be hoping for a return to winning ways tomorrow when they travel to Silsden.

FOLLOWING on from this column's report that attendances at City have shown a healthy rise, Football League attendances are also up country-wide.

By the end of September more than 2.8million fans had poured through the turnstiles for League games, an average attendance increase of three per cent on the same time last year.

As reported in the Evening Press, last season proved a record breaking year with the highest average crowds in more than 30 years.

CONGRATULATIONS to City's communications manager James Richardson, who completed the Great North Run in a time of 1 hour and 57 minutes.

He hopes to have raised around £250, to be split between the City Youth Development Fund and St Leonard's Hospice.

THE Yorkie Bars, the team made up of City fans brought together by the Internet, notched up their second win of the season with victory over their Oxford counterparts.

After a goalless first-half, Michael Stockdale opened the scoring for the Bars before Chris Sutherland added a second.

Oxford managed to pull a goal back but a last-minute strike from Dave Ward confirmed a 3-1 win for the York team.

HERE'S a quick teaser for you. Name the six players to have represented England since the 1980s whose names ended in 'tt'.

And here's big clue as to one of the players - he is a coach at York City.

Answers to follow next week.

Double top for Minstermen

DEFENSIVE sentinels ruled the Roots to leave Chris Brass and Chris Smith neck and neck in the race for the Evening Press player of the year award.

Skipper Brass was man of the match at Southend's Roots Hall and took the three-point top prize.

But Smith was not far behind and picked up two points to leave both players tied on 17.

Fellow defender Gary Hobson maintained his improved form by being awarded the one remaining point.

Current points placings: Brass 17 points, Smith 17, Cowan 8, Duffield 8, Parkin 7, Beresford 5, Brackstone 5, Fettis 5, Cook 3, Nogan 3, Edmondson 3, Hobson 2, Jones 1.

Rory motion over City days

NEWS has broken of an ex-Minsterman who is making good at Terry Dolan's first club, Bradford Park Avenue.

The former Football League outfit who now ply their trade in the UniBond Premier have just named one-time City winger Rory Prendergast (pictured right) as their player of the month.

Prendergast, who now works as a postman, has grabbed six goals in seven games for Avenue and reckons, according to sources in West Yorkshire, he is now 'playing his best football since he was at York'.

A strange thing to say from Prendergast, who actually only made one senior start for the Minstermen in 1998 and that in a 5-0 hammering by Wigan.

Morris chance fades away

HOPES that some extra cash may be coming City's way should the long-running transfer saga involving Lee Morris, Sheffield United and Derby County finally be resolved can be squashed.

Morris, son of former Scarborough boss Colin, once attended City's centre of excellence programme as a junior, playing alongside Curtis Woodhouse.

City bagged a tidy little sum when Woodhouse moved to Sheffield United and then Birmingham as compensation for playing a part in his development.

Morris cost Derby £2.5million when he moved from Bramall Lane to Pride Park in 1999 but with the Rams currently struggling to pay a £500,000 instalment, the highly-rated youngster could yet be heading back to Sheffield.

But whatever the outcome City will not net any cash - Morris was never officially registered with the Minstermen.

Updated: 10:24 Saturday, October 19, 2002