FORMER York City chairman Douglas Craig has revealed that a deal that would keep the club playing at Bootham Crescent for the foreseeable future has already been agreed in principle.

Mr Craig, chairman of Bootham Crescent Holdings, which owns the football ground, confirmed Evening Press reports that BCH has held talks with the two parties currently interested in taking over cash-strapped City.

Only one party has submitted its takeover bid to the club's administrators while the second has an offer pending.

The Evening Press has also revealed both bidders are wanting to purchase Bootham Crescent from BCH, and keep City at their home of the last 70 years until a new stadium is built. Confirming talks had taken place with both parties, Mr Craig said during a radio phone-in that a price for buying shares in BCH had been agreed with the party which had submitted a bid to the administrators.

He refused to be drawn on the exact details of any agreement, but said the price BCH were asking for was "realistic", emphasised by the fact one party had already agreed to it.

Mr Craig said the prospective purchaser had also accepted conditions imposed by developers Persimmon.

Persimmon is involved in the negotiations for Bootham Crescent because it has already signed a conditional agreement to buy the ground from BCH, subject to planning permission being granted.

"What we have said is 'these are the conditions, it isn't a Dutch auction'. Both parties who are interested have been given exactly the same position which one of them has accepted, the other one has still to come back," said Mr Craig.

Mr Craig said no deal for shares in BCH would take place until the administrators accepted the prospective purchaser's offer to take over the football club.

"But if the interest and the offer which is on the table with the administrators is carried out, the whole matter can be done and dusted within a month," he maintained.

Mr Craig said he believed City's future at the ground was "short-term as far as the party taking control of it are concerned".

"If it takes them ten years to get another stadium it will take them ten years," he added.

Updated: 11:03 Saturday, January 18, 2003