YORK City Knights have travelled to France for their Kingstone Press League One play-off semi-final against Toulouse Olympique with the bare minimum of 13 players.

There have even been suggestions, on social media, that only 12 players have travelled but, as yet, this has not been confirmed.

Head coach James Ford, assistants Chris Spurr and Will Leatt, and conditioning coach Mark Helme were all unavailable for comment.

The Knights would have submitted their team to the Rugby Football League on Thursday night after training, as per league rules, and there were only 13 names on the official list announced by the RFL today.

The team set off from York this morning to catch a 4.30pm flight from Manchester to Toulouse.

The table-topping home side, already massive odds-on favourites, were virtually at full strength.

The future of the Knights, who are up for sale, is shrouded in uncertainty.

The latest blow to the team came on Wednesday when the RFL announced that, as things stood, they would be ineligible for promotion even if they won the play-offs, having not provided the necessary security of tenure at a ground for 2017.

Chairman John Guildford has said he might appeal that decision next week, arguing they can now play at Featherstone Rovers if not Bootham Crescent.

The recent off-the-field strife began when Guildford and the board said, just before the Super 8s section of the season, that they were to fold the club, arguing that City of York Council’s community stadium project and issues with the groundshare with York City made it unsustainable.

The players were told they were free agents. Directors Dave Baldwin and Neil Jennings quit the board after this announcement.

Guildford then said he would see the season out, although not before the Super 8s match against Doncaster was called off – and later re-arranged – while the team’s trip to Toulouse for their next game only went ahead at the last minute.

Only 15 players made that journey, with others injured or unable to get the necessary time off work at short notice.

The Knights, who finished fifth in the table despite the off-the-field strife to qualify for the play-offs, had expected to be going to Rochdale this weekend for the semi-final but the Hornets shocked Toulouse in last week’s promotion final between the top two, meaning the Lancashire side went up and the French outfit dropped into the play-offs for the second promotion slot. Toulouse, having topped the table, get home advantage in the play-offs.

It is currently unclear how many York players have been rendered unavailable this time due to work or injury.