WHO could have envisaged back in February that we would be at the top of the League, with the Third Division's top goalscorer and the reserves top of their League too?

We also have some wonderful players, have enjoyed a massively successful open day - we sold out of replica shirts again - and the icing on the cake came with Terry Dolan being named manager of the month.

When I was told Terry had got the award I felt it could not go to a nicer guy.

He has had to work with a squad when he joined that was not of his choosing.

What he is putting out there now is the team that he has built and it is reward for a couple of years of hard work.

Terry and everyone else on the playing side and the coaching staff should feel very pleased about the award.

They have all worked very hard and it is great when that work is being recognised.

I appreciate this opportunity to also say a big thank-you to all the fans for getting behind the club - but we do need everyone's continued support.

They are all big games now, but we have two really big home games coming up against Rushden and Diamonds and Darlington.

I am sure they will be very busy but I would like to be at the stage where we are filling the home end of the ground completely.

We need to be getting behind the team because I am sure we can shout them out of this division.

It would be nice to have 6,000 home supporters at both of those games and we are reaching the point where only half the people who came last time have to bring a friend now.

If we are successful in filling the home end we will close off half the away end and start admitting home supporters into the Grovesnor Road end.

It is great everything so far is going as we had hoped it would.

What we would like to do now is bring the same atmosphere, same enthusiasm and same levels of hard work to, as reported in the Evening Press this week, a revised version of the Football League.

That really is our next big project and I am very serious about it.

We have achieved sponsorship for it already in Rayovac, who are a billion dollar organisation and are extremely keen for it to work.

We are currently putting together an information pack about the plan which we will send out to all the other League chairman.

We will then have a meeting, probably in Birmingham, where we will explain it a little more fully.

My hope would be we would then get an en-masse resignation of all the clubs, plus the concession of the two Scottish clubs (Rangers and Celtic).

I do not see why we cannot start next season as the Rayovac Pro-League.

Because football is so badly run, everyone wants immediate short-term gain without looking at the much wider picture and the longer-term.

We need to draw a line under the Football League, start with a clean-sheet of paper and just do it.

It means clubs can restructure their salary scales based on gate receipts.

If clubs haven't sorted something out by the end of this season many of them will be broke and out of business.

If we put this in place we at least give something they can take to the bank which will let them get back into profit and the bank may cut them some slack.

It is a way out but the hard work it will involve does not mean I will take my eye of the ball here, and if it is good for the League then it will also be good for York City.

Updated: 12:58 Thursday, September 05, 2002