HOPES of a successful takeover of crisis club York City Knights have risen sharply after head coach James Ford confirmed he had held "exciting" talks with potential new owners.

The future of the Kingstone Press League One outfit has been uncertain for the last few months, with chairman and owner John Guildford putting the club up for sale amid arguments over City of York Council's community stadium plan and a troubled groundshare at York City.

There is even strong speculation that the club have not been included in the provisional League One fixture list for 2017, which is due to be finalised over the weekend.

However, the Rugby Football League are likely to hold open the possibility of immediately bringing North Yorkshire's only pro team back into the schedule should a suitable ownership structure and home ground be confirmed.

Ford, for his part, appears optimistic a resolution is imminent. He would not say with whom he had met but declared he was impressed by their plans for the club, which even included bringing back a scholarship or reserves pathway to the first team.

The Press, meanwhile, understands that the prospective new board have already begun negotiations with a number of players - suggesting confidence is high among the camp of a successful resolution.

These players are thought to include those from the 2016 squad plus potential recruits from elsewhere.

Ford, laid low for much of last week with a flu bug, told The Press: "I had a meeting with the potential new owners over the weekend.

"I'm under the impression discussions (regarding a takeover) are going on between the relevant parties and are progressing at a promising rate.

"The finer details are nothing to do with me and I don't want to get involved in them. But what I can say is I've been impressed by what they have had to say.

"We share the same ambitions for the club and same beliefs in terms of culture and the type of player we should look for.

"It excites me to have a team I can build and grow.

"What's just as exciting, if not more so, is the plans to bring back a pathway to the first team, be it a scholarship, an 'unders' team or reserves."

A takeover by York businessman Gary Dickenson collapsed in August when he pulled out of talks saying there were too many hurdles to overcome, including those related to Guildford’s previous fall-outs with the council over stadium deals.

The Press believes three other parties have expressed interest in running the rugby league club, including York City owner JM Packaging, which is owned by the football club's chairman Jason McGill - the only party so far to have publicly made its interest known.

JM Packaging has met with the RFL but is not currently thought to be in detailed negotiations with Guildford.

Ford, meanwhile, refused to confirm talks with potential signings had already taken place.

However, he said of future plans: "We'd be looking to retain the best of the squad we have available and we have earmarked a number of exciting young players who have played first team and have aspirations of playing Super League.

"We want to grow the club around players like that.

"We also know we'd need a few seasoned professionals to be around who will not only bolster the team but also facilitate the young players' development."

Half a dozen of this year's team came through the club's old youth system - with one of them, scholarship graduate Kriss Brining, this week following fellow homegrown talent Greg Minikin up into the Super League ranks after signing for Salford.

However, the youth-orientated reserves side had to be scrapped last year primarily due to funding issues blamed on homelessness amid the community stadium saga. The scholarship had been closed down a few years earlier.

Added Ford: "The potential new owners are planning to set aside some funds to enable us to bring through our own players again.

"We had a good record of doing that, and that's a really important part of the jigsaw for me.

"That reassures me that my commitment to the club and the city is reciprocated by the potential new owners.

"Hopefully things will progress over the next week or two and we can start building a squad and a club everyone can be proud of."

* SUPER League's Magic Weekend will stay in Newcastle next year, penned in for May 20 and 21 at St James' Park, while the Championship's Summer Bash will again be in Blackpool, on May 27 and 28, the highlight being a clash between Bradford and relegated Hull KR.