YORK City’s Supporters Trust must bring an end to its “sleeping policeman” existence, according to the group’s new chairman John Lacy.

Having replaced Ian Hey at the Trust’s helm, former Methodist minister and psychotherapist Lacy wants the club’s 25 per cent shareholders to cooperate more with City chairman Jason McGill.

He is also hoping to reinvigorate the body’s fundraising efforts by forging closer links with the Minstermen’s vice-presidents, whilst heralding a much-needed improvement in communications, starting with the launch of a new website next month.

On his vision for the Trust under his stewardship, Lacy – a 73-year-old City supporter of seven decades – said: “I think the Trust has always had a safeguarding duty and that background role continues to be absolutely essential.

“Sometimes, people don’t appreciate the fact that, as long as we own 25 per cent of the club and the 2006 agreement is in place, that protects the club, fans and the ground so, if we do nothing other than keeping those shares, that would still be very important. But we would also not want anybody, least of all Jason McGill, to feel that is where we want the extent of our involvement to end.

“I’d like to think we can have an enabling and cooperative role too. In one of my recent discussions with Jason, he said the Trust were like a sleeping policeman who look over his shoulder, but I don’t want him to feel like that, because it’s not helpful for anybody.

“We want Jason to know we are entirely supportive of him and appreciate that, without him being around, there wouldn’t be a club anyway.”

Citing the areas that the Trust could assist the club with, Lacy added: “The key role Jason sees the Trust having is in fundraising, which we always did in the past, but have not done so much of in the last two years.

“I think the best way for the Trust to do that would be to work in conjunction with other fans groups, who already engage in fundraising ventures. With that in mind, we’d like to develop a much stronger relationship with the vice-presidents and they have expressed an interest in doing something jointly.

“People have also been quite critical of the Trust and questioned what we are doing because there has been very little contact with our members. We’ve got to take that kind of criticism very seriously and we do, but there’s a lot of repair work to be done.

“We must improve our communications all round and, at the beginning of February, we will have a brand new website up and running, which is essential, because the old one hasn’t been updated for ages. We’re also planning on putting some interesting features on there aimed at City fans.

“Our communication with the club, Jason, our members and fans outside of the membership must be better, whilst appreciating there are certain things that must remain confidential. Fans can’t always expect to know everything, but improvements can still be made, so the Trust’s members and the supporters know as much as possible about what is going on at their club.”

Horsforth-based Lacy, who grew up on Stockton Lane and went to St Peter’s School, now heads a six-strong board, including membership secretary Martyn Jones and co-opted members John Uttley, Sarah Stelling, Richard Bower and Bill Owen.

Stelling is the current minutes’ secretary, Bower is helping develop and launch the website and Owen is assisting Jones with the updating of the membership list, as efforts are being made to give all board members specific areas of responsibility.

Updating the membership list is proving a particularly onerous task and Lacy is also making an appeal for all life and annual members to send their email details to either martyn.jones5758@hotmail.com or billrolls@hotmail.co.uk, so invitations can be sent out for the next general meeting when it is hoped elections can be held to form a new board.

There are no plans, as yet, though, to hold a special meeting, which was previously discussed, to consider relinquishing some, or all, of the Trust’s shareholding to McGill’s Malton-based company JM Packaging in return for the seven-figured financial assistance the 75 per cent shareholder has provided the club, exceeding his contractual obligation and rising to a figure that will not now be fully reimbursed by the sale of Bootham Crescent.

On that matter, Lacy added: “There has been no firm proposal put forward to vote on yet. There are still discussions taking place between the Trust board and Jason and we are waiting for him to get back to us with a detailed response on what we have put to him.

“I don’t think many fans would want to give away our 25 per cent without feeling confident that we were getting something in return, so it will come down to how the Trust members feel about whatever proposal Jason makes. If it’s clearly seen by the Trust to benefit the club financially and in every other way, then we will vote on it.”

On the subject of the reinstatement of Trust representation on the club board, meanwhile, Lacy revealed: “We continue to discuss that – both as a Trust board and with Jason.”

Lacy went to his first City match in 1950 and, recalling that life-affirming occasion, he enthused: “I would have been about seven and the player that had the biggest impression on me was the number ten George Ivey.

“I also remember Alf Patrick and, believe it or not, he used to get a bit of stick from the crowd. I sat in the Main Stand that day, but have been watching from the front row of the Popular Stand ever since.”

Having felt the compulsion to help a struggling Trust board three-and-a-half years ago, Lacy is now hoping fellow City supporters might be similarly persuaded to get involved as potential candidates for the impending elections.

“I remember being notified of the annual general meeting in 2013,” he recalled. “I didn’t go and a few days later I heard that, because there were not enough people there, they didn’t have the quorum needed to hold the meeting.

“At the rearranged meeting, it was stated - and it was obvious - that the Trust board were struggling, so I put myself forward, but we still need all the help we can get.”

Elsewhere, Kyle Letheren has extended his lead at the top of The Press Player of the Year standings to eight points.

The former Blackpool keeper won our man-of-the-match award during last weekend’s 2-1 victory at Harlow, which earned him another three points towards the contest, as he pulled further away from nearest rival Alex Whittle.

Dan Parslow (two) and Sean Newton (one) also collected points as our second and third-highest performers respectively.

The two Player of the Month bonus points, available to the player who polled most man-of-the-match votes in our Twitter poll, were shared by joint-winners Parslow and Adriano Moke.

The Press Player of the Year standings: Letheren 28, Whittle 20, Connolly 16, Heslop 13, Brodie 12, Kamdjo 10, Flinders 8, Fry 8, Klukowski 8, Newton 8, Parkin 8, Higgins 7, Lappin 7, Felix 5, Galbraith 5, Rooney 5, Racine 4, Holmes 3, Murphy 3, Clappison 2, Dixon 2, Parslow 2, Wright 2, Cooper 1, Nti 1, Oyebanjo 1, Rzonca 1, Simpson 1, Walton 1.

The Press Player of the Month for January standings: Letheren 6, Parkin 4, Whittle 4, Parslow 3, Racine 2, Rooney 2, Lappin 1, Moke 1, Newton 1.

Goals: Brodie 7, Heslop 4, Connolly 3, Heslop 3, Fry 2, Klukowski 2, Own Goals 2, Parkin 2, Fenwick 1, Galbraith 1, Kamdjo 1, Morgan-Smith 1, Murphy 1, Nti 1, Racine 1, Rooney 1, Rzonca 1, Wright 1.

Assists: Connolly 6, Rooney 4, Felix 2, Galbraith 2, Klukowski 2, Newton 2, Whittle 2, Wright 2, Cooper 1, Fenwick 1, Fry 1, Heslop 1, Higgins 1, Holmes 1, Murphy 1, Parkin 1, Parslow 1, Racine 1.

Bad boys: Brodie, Rooney both nine yellow cards; Heslop one red, four yellow; Higgins five yellow; Fry four yellow; Nti one red, two yellow; Fenwick, Whittle, Wright all three yellow; Connolly, Kamdjo, Klukowski, Newton all two yellow; Moke one red; Clappison, Dixon, Galbraith, Johnson, Lappin, Letheren, McDaid, Parkin, Murphy, Racine, Thompson all one yellow.