YORK City footballers might not be too happy when the hot water in the showers runs out after five minutes. Given the Yorkshire climate, that can almost be guaranteed.

But in every other respect, making York’s new community stadium solar-powered sounds like a great idea.

Solar panels could generate enough electricity to run the stadium itself – and there might even, hopefully, be a bit left over that could be fed into the National Grid.

That could be a nice little money-spinner for York City and the Knights, as well as helping York’s carbon footprint.

It is only a proposal at this stage, and there is a very long way to go yet. But it is not as far-fetched as it sounds – Freiburg in Germany already has a solar-powered stadium. This is certainly an idea worth investigating further.