YORK City chairman John Batchelor today used a hurriedly arranged press conference at Bootham Crescent to call on the Football League's decision makers to resign.

Batchelor also used the press gathering to repeat his denial published in today's Evening Press that the club is going into administration.

Batchelor's fresh attack on the Football League follows a rejection of a financial package he had put together that he claimed could end the game's current cash problems.

Reports at the weekend suggested the Football Association and the Premier League have devised a plan to use money earmarked for stadium improvements to help fund a £20-£30 million rescue package for poverty-stricken Football League clubs.

However, Batchelor insists such a sum would do little to ease clubs' cash problems while his idea could raise up to £500 million.

"In recent weeks I have been involved in a number of visits to the (financial) City to put in place in conjunction with a number of other chairmen a refinancing package for the Football League," said Batchelor.

"We have done this on the basis that we believe that it is possible with such a great product as league football, which has a terrific income, to generate further income for the League based on its future income.

"We took this to the Football League and in their extreme short-sightedness in our opinion they refused to take up the offer of the refinancing.

"Instead, they have chose to chase some very short-term deals which won't address the problem at all.

"We would like to call and I specifically would like to call on the officers of the League to resign because we feel quite frankly it is being run by the equivalent of the tea-boy.

"It is time football in general got its act together, sat down around the table at an emergency general meeting of the League and discuss how we move things forward."

Batchelor added: "Essentially, we have to look at the real income football clubs have got and how they can use future income to produce income now.

"We had a deal that was worth between £450 and £500 million that would have addressed everybody's problems.

"There is probably only one person with any commercial acumen involved in running the Football League and that is Barry Hearn (Leyton Orient chairman), who is a bright guy.

"The rest of them are a waste of time."

Speaking about City's current plight, Batchelor, who revealed Tranmere Rovers paid an initial sum of just £25,000 for goalkeeper Russ Howarth, said: "We have been subject recently to a lot of rumours and insinuations that the club is going into administration. It isn't.

"That is not to say we don't have some financial difficulties because we do but we are currently addressing them as we speak."

Football League spokesman John Nagle said: "John Batchelor's proposals were discussed in full at last week's meeting of The Football League board.

"After careful consideration the Board unanimously felt that the issue of borrowing money against gate revenue should remain a decision for individual clubs rather than the Football League as a whole.

"Quite simply, not all League clubs have the need to borrow money on this kind of scale or to commit themselves to the sizeable repayments they would need to make out of future gate receipts.

"This does not prohibit any League club from choosing to go down this route if they so wish and in fact several have already chosen to do so."

Updated: 17:38 Thursday, November 14, 2002