Trouble At Mills

York's crisis deepens by the day with the long standing stadium project suffering another setback.

With a judicial review still to take place in the New Year contractor ISG have pulled out of the project, telling the local press: “Our commitment to the stadium has never been in question and we have worked diligently to explore every opportunity to bring the scheme to site.

“However, with further delays caused by the Judicial Review and increasing cost pressures, we’ve been unable to reach a consensus for the next phase of the project. We will continue to support our partners as they seek an alternative contractor.”

Projected costs for the stadium have risen from £37million to a £44million estimate in March, and are understood to have increased further since the slump in the pound following the Brexit vote.

On the pitch, the club are now bottom of the National League, four points short of safety having played more games than some of their rivals, midway through their first season back at the level following relegation from the Football League in the summer.

The return of Gary Mills as manager, who brought the club both the FA Trophy and promotion from the then Conference in 2012, has not seen a return to form so far with the club now 18 games without a win spanning a full three months. Since Mills' return, the day before an embarrassing FA Cup loss to lower graded Curzon Ashton, they have drawn three of their home matches but accumulated just one point from 12 on the road.

Mills has made wholesale changes to the squad, bringing in six players in the last three weeks alone, and supports and the local media agree performances are getting better. However the general tone amongst supporters is one of despondency with little money to bring in new players to replace those already under contract.

Meanwhile, perennial HMRC botherers Southend United have picked up another winding up petition from the taxman. They are due back in court in January, their sixth appearance in six seasons, just a day after signing former Premier League striker Nile Ranger to a new three year contract.