York City Knights have formally announced they will cease of existence, with all players and staff set to become free agents.
The club had been embroiled in a ground dispute with the City of York Council regarding their tenancy of Bootham Crescent, home to York City FC.
Such issues spanned for the entirety of their stay at the venue, since leaving Huntington Stadium in 2014.
The announcement comes after a promising campaign for James Ford’s side, seeing them sit 3rd in the Kingstone Press League 1 with just one defeat all season.
Sunday’s clash with Doncaster had been called off amidst talks over their use of the stadium, while the board chose to disband the club in the wake of that decision.
The board justified their decision, as a club statement on their behalf read:
“It is the belief of the club that the training and playing venue contracts which are in place with City of York Council have neither been adhered to by third parties or enforced by CYC which has made even the simplest of tasks an arduous process.
“This has left the club in a worse position in terms of the training and playing facilities available to them than either what had been agreed in the interim period or when at Huntington Stadium.
“The contracts which were signed last year by the Clubs Directors were done so as a matter of necessity to save the club.
“At this time CYC were made aware of the Boards opinion that the scheme wasn’t sustainable at the new stadium for York City Knights but they were signed on the basis they would be revisited and reviewed to which CYC has shown no desire to fulfil.
“Although there is a verbal agreement with CYC for a playing venue for next year, there is no signed contract for the 2017 season and due to the lack of consistency in adhering to current contracts we have a lack of trust that this will be forthcoming.
“Despite assurances from CYC regarding the operating expenditures of playing at Bootham Crescent, the loss of other revenue streams and the compensation related to this the club has found the costs of playing at Bootham Crescent to be substantially more expensive than had been indicated and the revenues have fallen well below anticipated targets.
The Financial situation within the club shows no promise of improving with a move to the new stadium as the club faced additional overheads and a very limited scope for generating meaningful new income streams.”
