PROFOUND thanks from all those concerned about the future of York City are due to John Batchelor, Sophie McGill and the Supporters' Trust.

Their hard work, commitment to the cause and unbounded enthusiasm appear to have secured the club's future, not only keeping alive this vital part of the city's sporting history, but also ensuring that the name of York gets regular exposure in the media for something other than fine buildings and floods of biblical proportions.

A word of caution. John Batchelor's apparent belief that City can attract regular gates of 15,000 is disconcertingly unrealistic. If Plymouth Argyle, who have a much bigger catchment area than York and no Premiership clubs within a hundred miles cannot attract average attendances of that size when they are storming to the Third Division championship, what chance City?

Even in the heady days of two seasons in the old Second Division in the mid-1970s, City couldn't average gates of 10,000, a figure Bootham Crescent could comfortably accommodate at that time.

I hope Mr Batchelor's other projections aren't equally over-optimistic.

Stephen Dalby,

Irwin Avenue,

York.

Updated: 11:25 Thursday, March 14, 2002