STEVE Ferres was to contact the Rugby Football League today to rubber-stamp York City Rugby League Club's application to join the league next season.

Ferres, the chief executive of the new club, was seeking talks with the RFL's financial director, Nigel Wood, to confirm that York have met the criteria to be allowed into the league.

As reported by the Evening Press, the club hit their £75,000 target - as stipulated by the RFL when initially accepting York's application just over a month ago - on Saturday, to meet the deadline imposed by the RFL with just hours to spare.

That was thanks to John Smith's Brewery, who - in a deal set up by the Evening Press, who had staunchly backed the 'Kick-Start York RL' appeal - handed over £5,000 in sponsorship to the club. That was added to the incredible £70,000 already raised by fans in just one month in their efforts to meet the RFL proviso.

Ferres said: "I'm expecting to set up a meeting with Nigel Wood with regards to showing him our bank statement and taking it forward from there.

"We need to demonstrate to the RFL that we have £75,000."

If the bid is confirmed as successful, York will enter the new-look National League in division two, which is effectively the bottom division of the three-tier professional league structure, with Super League at the top.

Ferres added: "A lot of hard work has gone in and this club can go from strength to strength now."

Ferres stressed, however, that fans must now redouble their efforts to keep the funds coming in.

He confirmed the club had already reset their financial targets to £250,000, the figure they had always said was necessary for the club to have a realistic chance of prospering.

"The next target is £250,000 before we start next season," he said.

"There are plans in place to keep membership coming in and attract corporate deals. That has already started; we are always looking at how we can achieve the next aim."

Updated: 11:58 Monday, September 02, 2002