David Conn: Batchelor fails to halt York's slide into chaos

Outraged supporters face fight to save Third Division club from extinction after motor sport impresario's grand plans fall flat

Several accusations have been levelled at John Batchelor during his brief, ultimately bitter, stint as the chairman of York City, but shyness has not been one of them.

Before taking over in April, Batchelor promised an era of glasnost with the fans, who were still emotionally poleaxed by the actions of the former chairman, Douglas Craig. He had transferred the club's Bootham Crescent ground, for around £166,000, to a holding company 94 per cent owned by Craig himself and three other directors, then last January announced he was to sell the ground and the club for £4.5m. Batchelor, a former toilet paper salesman turned motor sport impresario, told the then fledgling Supporters' Trust that he would buy the ground as well as the club and offered them 25 per cent of the club's shares and two seats on the board if they backed his bid.

They did, but, as it turned out, Batchelor bought only the club from Craig, for £1. The shares and directorships for the Supporters' Trust never materialised. Only three weeks ago, Batchelor went on to the pitch at half-time during the home match against Swansea City and promised to give 100 per cent of the club to the trust, but subsequently said he had been advised against it.

Batchelor's plan was to combine the club's fortunes with his British Touring Car Championship motor racing team, which he said could generate media exposure and sponsorship. He soon made the curiosity columns by changing the club's name to York City Soccer Club and redesigning the kit and signs round the ground to incorporate a black and white chequered flag. He made national headlines by claiming he was considering suing the Football League over the collapse of ITV Digital, and more recently presented a plan for a new league, sponsored by an American battery company, which he said could be financed by all clubs mortgaging future gate receipts. He also signed an Argentinian and a Brazilian, Rogerio – no, really – in an attempt to generate excitement.

This week Batchelor's eight months in charge ended as the club crashed into administration with debts of around £500,000. The fans are now bitter in turn about him.

Craig provoked further outrage two months ago when it emerged that a housebuilder, Persimmon Homes, had applied for planning permission to demolish Bootham Crescent and build 93 homes on the site, and had paid an estimated £350,000 to Craig and his three fellow directors for shares in the holding company, Bootham Crescent Holdings. It has now been revealed that as part of the deal Persimmon paid £400,000 in sponsorship to Batchelor. Both said the deal was for the "York Sporting Club", which included the football club and Batchelor's racing team, but the contract was with Batchelor personally to sponsor the racing team, and the bulk of the money, £300,000, has gone to the cars. Batchelor did put £100,000 into York as a loan, but has subsequently withdrawn up to £70,000 of it for expenses and to pay for hospitality at Brands Hatch, tickets for Silverstone and other motor racing activities. Batchelor said this week that was perfectly legitimate because the money was his, and he was trying to associate York with motor racing to generate interest and more sponsorship.

Batchelor said he had worked full-time without a salary to make the football club a success but said it was impossible after ITV Digital was pulled by Carlton and Granada, just 17 days after Batchelor did his deals with Craig and Persimmon. He said this week that he had "known better days", adding that he would now lose between £30,000 and £40,000 of his loan that he had left in the club.

"We lost only £100,000 directly in lost TV income," Batchelor said. "But the major impact was that the transfer market collapsed." York have traditionally survived by selling youngsters such as Jonathan Greening and Richard Cresswell, but were forced to off-load an England Under-21 goalkeeper, Russell Howarth, to Tranmere Rovers for only £25,000. "The League's internet deal also collapsed – overall we have lost perhaps £500,000."

But Steve Beck, a director of the Supporters' Trust, said: "The fans feel very let down. John promised many things, but all he has delivered is a quarter of the Persimmon sponsorship, which went in as his loan and has been steadily withdrawn."

The administrator, David Willis of Jacksons Joliffe Cork, startled nobody with his prognosis for the 12th Football League club to be in administration this year. "The amounts being paid in wages, mostly to players, are simply too high, 120 per cent of the club's total income." The current wage bill is £70,000 a month and while the contracts of 14 of the 23 professional players end this summer, total wage commitments to the end of next season are £800,000. The League warned in the summer that clubs could last for a few months on season ticket sales and other commercial income paid up front, but would feel the chill in winter. This week Willis advised that York had become insolvent and could not pay the Inland Revenue PAYE or outstanding VAT, a total of £150,000.

The Professional Footballers' Association has paid the players for November and December, a gift which will be repayable if the club is saved. Other debts, Willis said, were £200,000, the usual gloomy round of suppliers and trade creditors, although he thought that, uniquely for clubs in administration so far, York were up to date with their payments to St John Ambulance.

Willis has allowed until 18 January for a solution to be found, because enough cash should come in from forthcoming home matches against Lincoln City, Hull City and Scunthorpe United. After that, the club will be broke and will go into liquidation without a rescue package.

There is some optimism, however, because building the club a stadium on the edge of town does represent an opportunity for a developer and some local businessmen have expressed an interest in helping. The local council wants the club to survive, and the Supporters' Trust, which has shown remarkable commitment, hopes and believes it ought to be part of any solution.

Fans were not slow to discover that in June Batchelor bought a house for £250,000 which is now on the market for substantially more. "I was renting at the time," he said. "This house came up at a good price and has appreciated considerably and now I am selling it to find something more suitable." He said that after his address and phone number were briefly posted on a York fans' website, his 10-year-old daughter had answered the phone to a voice which said: "I'm going to kill your daddy."

"That's when I lost a bit of interest in the club," he said.

Batchelor fiercely denied that he had profited unduly from his time at York but said: "Look, I'm a businessman. That means I have to make a profit from what I do. And that includes football. I know people find that hard to take because they think football is a community asset. It is, but it doesn't stand a chance if it can't make a profit." The club are losing an estimated £20,000 per week. "Even if I had put another £200,000 in, that would have been lost."

On Thursday Craig announced that York can stay at Bootham Crescent beyond next June, the limit agreed with Batchelor, on the condition they set a strict timetable to upgrade and then move to York's Huntington Stadium. That has not exactly been embraced as an act of generosity by supporters still outraged at the transfer of the ground to BCH by Craig and three other directors, Colin Webb, John Quickfall and the former 1970s playing hero, Barry Swallow. It was done in 1999 specifically to bypass a longstanding Football Association rule designed to prevent shareholders profiting from the sale of a ground when a club goes bust. Land Registry records show that BCH paid only £165,890 to the club for the ground, and were then given a 25 year lease. Earlier this year that lease was cancelled and replaced by a tenancy to the end of this season.

One small BCH shareholder, David Rusholme, has called for others to join together in a campaign against the transfer. This will join the Supporters' Trust and a Friends of Bootham Crescent campaigning group, all embodying a depth of support and strength of feeling which shows that the fans will not allow this beleaguered football club to die without a fight.

davidconn@independent.co.uk