I just want to say a big thank you to all concerned with the York City Knights for giving me a great excuse to leave the missus running the pub on a Sunday!

Like so many people who follow the club, I've enjoyed the ups and downs of the last few seasons - mainly ups, culminating in our fantastic championship-winning season last term.

Anybody who has watched the growth of the club cannot deny we have something to be very proud of in the Knights and what we have all achieved in its formative years.

The club is well respected in the rugby world, we have stability and a great squad, and the work undertaken in the community and the local rugby scene is to be admired and will hopefully unearth a few stars of the future.

The club have been afforded fantastic support (to the envy of many other clubs) over the last few seasons but as the club climbs the ladder we will obviously find ourselves playing better teams than us. We must remember that anybody can support a winning team - the real fans are there week in, week out, rain or shine, win, lose or draw.

I hope this season people will realise the club have taken a great step forward and we aren't going to win every week. We must aim for a season of consolidation with the aim of becoming an established NL1 outfit over the next couple of years and, dare I say it, one day challenging for a Super League place.

That at the moment is just another dream but not too many years ago playing in NL1 was our dream. To achieve it we need to build on the hard work and foundations laid by so many people.

Knights fans, we are going into the next phase of the club's development and it isn't going to be easy so be patient. But most of all be vocal, very vocal.

Shaun Collinge,

The Maltings,

Tanners Moat,

York

Updated: 09:58 Saturday, February 11, 2006