YORK City Supporters’ Trust “would not recognise” the football club’s proposed Supporters’ Advisory Group, chairman Mike Brown has said.

Mooted in response to last September’s widely supported motion of no confidence in the club’s board, the Supporters’ Advisory Group (SAG) is meant to address fans’ concerns about the club’s communication.

The SAG would “initiate and continue direct, open and two-way communication between the club and supporters” a statement on City’s website said at the time, though there have been no updates released since the idea was put forward in early October.

Brown is sceptical about the SAG and believes its stated purpose can already be fulfilled by another body - the Supporters’ Trust.

“As far as we’re concerned, we wouldn’t recognise the group at all,” he said.

“It’s quite clear they are paying lip service to the fans who voted overwhelmingly in favour of the motion of no confidence.

“This idea that they’re going to recruit an independent chair - what makes them independent?

“They have already got an allocated body in the Supporters’ Trust.”

Trust life member Ian Savage - who gathered names from other Trust members to set the vote of no confidence in motion - takes a similar, if more pragmatic, stance.

“I’m supportive of Mike’s position,” he said.

“What the club should be doing is engaging with the Supporters’ Trust, who have bent over backwards to support the club and the club won’t speak to them half the time.

“The correct way forward in an ideal world would be through the Trust.

“However, if the club refuses to do that, it’s important that we have an alternative.”

The Press has contacted York City for comment.

City’s managing director Steven Kilmartin, who proposed the SAG, has been absent from club duties in recent weeks for personal reasons.