YORK City Knights might not get to play at Bootham Crescent during the remainder of their League One campaign – despite their community stadium agreement with City of York Council.

It was thought signing up to the deal would open the door to York City's ground for the rest of this season and the next, until the new arena is built to house both clubs on the site of the Knights' old Huntington Stadium home.

However, issues with the ground's safety certificate allowing rugby matches to be staged there are causing a new delay, and there are fears it might not be rubber-stamped until the play-offs come September.

There are also rumours that installing sockets for rugby posts might cause another hold-up, although neither of the clubs nor the council has so far suggested this will be an issue.

Progress, however, has been made regarding the club's training venue at York St John University's state-of-the-art facility and the team will be back in there as of Tuesday, albeit 11 days after they signed the agreement.

Knights director Neil Jennings – one of the three men behind the club's successful negotiations with the council after major shareholder John Guildford was sidelined from talks – was hopeful the issues could be sorted before the end of the regular season.

He said: "We're delighted we've agreed the deal and with the prospect of playing at Bootham Crescent. However, it won't happen for our next home game due to a few minor points that need clarifying. But we're working closely with all parties to resolve everything as soon as possible."

The team's next home match is against Oxford a week on Sunday. The remaining regular-season home games are against Hemel on August 23, play-off rivals Barrow on September 13 and fellow promotion foes North Wales Crusaders on a date to be decided, probably next month.

It would seem likely that some of those fixtures will now be played at Heworth ARLC, where James Ford's men have a 100 per cent record, although the rearranged Crusaders clash could cause additional problems as that is likely to be in midweek and it is unclear if Heworth's floodlights pass Rugby Football League regulations.

Jennings said: "We signed the deal in good faith thinking we would be in Bootham Crescent imminently, though we knew it would be a tall order to be ready for the Oxford game.

"We're optimistic things will get resolved soon. We're really looking forward to getting in there and everyone at the club is buoyant things are moving forward."

Asked about the hold-ups, he added: "There are a few issues to resolve, which we're working through with the council."

Any safety certificate would need to be submitted by Bootham Crescent's safety officer, Chris Tock, for the council to approve. To fill in the forms, he would need information from the rugby club, in this case probably via the council. Once submitted, the local authority may try to fast-track it through the system.

Sophie McGill, City's communications and community director, said: "Since the positive news that the Knights have signed their agreement with the council, we have held meetings with representatives from the community stadium project team to discuss the Knights' interim move to Bootham Crescent.

"There are a number of details to finalise but things are progressing well."

A council spokesman said: "Now agreements are signed, a number of formalities need to be put in place including the submission of a safety certificate. We will be working with the football club and rugby club to progress this."

The League One play-offs see first host second in a 'promotion final' for the first of two promotion places.

The losers of that game then host the fifth-placed team in one play-off semi-final, while third are at home to fourth in the other. The play-off final is then at Widnes on October 4.

It means York will have a home fixture in the play-offs if they finish first or third, or if they come second and lose the promotion final. They currently sit third, two points behind second but only two above seventh in a tight race for the top five.