ROCK singer Rick Witter has said he would love to buy York City out of their current plight - if only he had the money.

The lead singer of York-based chart heroes Shed Seven, and lifelong Minstermen fan, was among the 3,445 supporters at Bootham Crescent on Saturday for City's 1-1 draw with Torquay United.

The crowd vented their anger towards Douglas Craig during the match and Witter - whose hits include 'Going For Gold', 'Disco Down' and 'Chasing Rainbows' - has added to the criticism labelled at the City chairman, who is set to sell the ground and close the club if a buyer is not found soon.

"It's the bad way he's gone about it," Witter told the Evening Press.

"From what I'm led to believe it's all been done in a bit of a cack-handed way and in essence it seems he does not care.

"You don't want houses on Bootham Crescent, you want football to be played there for years to come."

He added: "If I had enough money I would buy it myself, but I haven't."

Witter took his three-year-old son to Saturday's match and applauded the thousand-plus fans who took to the streets of York on a pre-match protest march.

"I don't get to Bootham Crescent as much as I'd like to but I tried my hardest to get there on Saturday," he said.

"I did not go on the march but we stood outside the ground from about two o'clock onwards and saw it come down the street. That was pretty good to see - but my son might now expect to see a big protest before every game!"

Updated: 13:10 Wednesday, January 16, 2002