"ENOUGH is enough - the fans deserve better treatment than this".

So declared former York Rugby League Club chairman John Stabler on the ongoing community stadium saga, which has left York City Knights homeless following a major fall-out with City of York Council.

Stabler has called for them to be brought back into the project "without delay", saying the money his club originally put into the soon-to-be-redeveloped Huntington Stadium - which was then under Ryedale Council auspices and only went into City of York Council hands after boundaries changed - gives them a moral right to be involved.

He also believes there is still great rugby league potential in York, especially with the league restructure bringing back promotion and dreams of Super League.

"Enough is enough," said Stabler. "The ongoing saga involving York City Knights has to be resolved, and with the new season about to start, it has to be sorted without delay.

"Let's not forget that York RLFC contributed £479,000 - £1 million at today's value - into the building of the then Ryedale Stadium in 1989.

"The new community stadium is to be built on the same site, so the rugby league club have earned a right to be part of it.

"The opening fixture at the Ryedale Stadium (in 1989) attracted a crowd of 4,500 fans.

"Six months earlier a Challenge Cup tie played at Bootham Crescent was watched by a crowd in excess of 10,000 people.

"There is a huge potential for a professional rugby league club in York. There is a pathway now for clubs to aspire to Super League, however remote a possibility that may seem currently."

Life-long fan Stabler was a director of the old York club from 1986 to 1997, during which time the club first moved out to the Monks Cross site after being forced to sell their old Clarence Street ground.

He returned to the board in 2001 after they faced a winding-up order, but a last-ditch attempt to save them by acquiring the then financially stricken York City, selling their Bootham Crescent ground and having both clubs at Huntington Stadium fell through.

The Wasps - as they were then known - were duly wound up in March 2002. The debts were only £30,000 but a further £70,000 was needed to be found to complete the season.

Instead, fans got together and helped to relaunch them as the Knights, with John Guildford backing the new club as majority shareholder and chairman.

Ironically echoing aspects of Stabler's idea, the current community stadium plan was for both clubs to move into a rebuilt Huntington Stadium, but the Knights, having moved out to make way for building work, have since been ejected from the scheme altogether, with the council blaming Guildford for the breakdown in talks.

Stabler added: "Forget the personalities involved, professional rugby league in the city of York is once more at crisis point.

"A move into a new stadium, and Bootham Crescent in the interim, could and should lead to better gates and renewed hope for those fans who met in the spring of 2002 to plan the new club following the demise of the Wasps.

"They deserve better treatment than this.

"John Guildford, like me in my time, is only a custodian of professional rugby league in York. Custodianship will pass onto others in time but only if the club survives.

"During my time at the helm we had many disagreements with Ryedale District Council but we found a way to resolve them.

"It's time to move on."