TRUST - say it soft, say it loud - it's a most reassuring word. And never was it more a source of solace than when York City discovered they had been given a sigh of relief reprieve.

As the club teetered on the threshold of extinction the intervention of the York City Supporters' Trust ensured an immediate stay of execution, one which could not only last a valuable four weeks, but which could develop into extending the life of the club to many more seasons.

The Trust put their money - or rather that cash amassed by the hard-pressed fans of 'Y O City, City Y O' - where their mouths were.

No dithering, no dallying, no shilly-shallying, the Trust pledged almost all of their cash resources to the running of the beleaguered club while those who either have a bid in, or are pondering the submission of a bid, get their act together with the administrators, Jacksons Jolliffe Cork.

It was an act of selflessness that drew deserved admiration from players, management and officials alike. As the wagons were corralled into an even tighter circle at the Crescent, the Trust arrived like the cavalry in the nick of time.

Almost a year to the day it was dramatically conceived, the Trust had breathed fresh life and hope into a club down on its boot-laces. And it deserves our utmost gratitude.

As Trust chairman Richard Snowball outlined to the fans during the half-time interval of last Saturday's game at home to Swansea - spared the ignominy of being the club's heart-breaking end-game - if it had not been for them 81 years of history would have perished.

And as pointed out by my colleague, chief sports writer Dave Stanford in his diary column, the Trust represent the only party in all the bewildering York-talk as not having a vested interest, other than to save the club for history, the community and the future.

They are not in it for profit. They are not in it for gain. They are in this survival fight to ensure that their club can again prosper. Survive and thrive is their watchword.

All along since their formation in the wake of the club being unexpectedly put up for sale the aim of the Trust has been to reinforce the conviction that York City was still a going concern; to underscore the belief that it could continue and at its Bootham Crescent home at that.

Few people gave the idea of a Supporters' Trust much credence as City fans initially reeled from the bombshell announcement of December 2001. "They've only got a hard-core fan-base of around 3,000 fans, so what can they do?" ran the argument.

But the crisis galvanised not just a few good men and women, but dozens, scores, hundreds. Within weeks the Trust was up and running, resolved to make sure that City remained alive and kicking. The gathering at York's Barbican Centre at which it was formally christened was brimming with evangelical zeal.

Since that unforgettable night membership has topped 1,500 and the Trust - aided by its later even more high-profile offshoot, the Friends of Bootham Crescent, have raised close on £130,000, the bulk of which has now been designated to bale out the club over these next critical four weeks.

The past year for the Trust has been akin to a fairground roller-coaster, typified by the association with John Batchelor - soaring ups but when the crunch came, deadening, jarring downs. The readiness to first link up with Batchelor was perhaps born of naivet, but the Trust were not alone in being hijacked by the Batchelor bandwagon.

Yet when the promise of the JB era evaporated quicker than froth on a cappuccino the Trust grew a more hard-headed, practical shell while still remaining steadfast to its principles of keeping the faith, keeping the dream alive.

When a short-term saviour was needed it arrived. Now the Trust is preparing its own long-term bid for the survival of its beloved club, a plan which drew considerable acclamation when it was made public during the interval of the Swansea game.

It is to be hoped that such laudable ambition is to succeed, though the Trust faces its biggest challenge.

However, through all this past year the Trust has embodied the four qualities embraced in one dictonary definition of trust - fairness, truth, honour and ability.

Updated: 12:06 Tuesday, January 21, 2003