Does anyone know of any sites that can help a new player through this game?...I,l for some reason, cannot get to grips with this game. No youtube videos please
Thanks in advance for any help

No youtube videos? Visually learning the game with the commentary of an LP'er is probably the best way... it's how I got to grips with MOO2.

Anyway here are some written guides:

http://masteroforion2.blogspot.co.uk/2005/03/master-of-orion-ii-strategy-guide.html

http://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/197873-master-of-orion-ii-battle-at-antares/faqs/14668

There's also the StrategyWiki one:

http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Master_of_Orion_II

One thing to note is that a good deal of the advice you'll find online is concerned with multi-player, where the "Repulsive" pick has fewer downsides (human players aren't going to vote for each other in Council and MP rules may disallow tech-trading). Human players are more likely to have optimized races and a focused killer instinct than the computer empires (in theory, anyway).

There are some threads here that might be of use if you haven't read them yet, like "Finding MOO2 very hard" and some of the ones on ship designs and equipment.