Darlington

[LoyalRoyalFan]

http://www.darlofc.co.uk/forum/viewtopi ... =2&t=15733

Fantastic post.

[Jerry St Clair]

Sad, but inevitable.

It must be gut-wrenching to go to a game knowing it will probably be the last one your club will ever play.

[TBM]

Why did they think it was a good idea to build a 25,000 all seater stadium?

I take it they are going out of business then?

[Deadlock]

They didn't. Their then chairman thought it was a good idea, and everybody else thought he was mental.

[1871 Royal]

Sad, but inevitable.

It must be gut-wrenching to go to a game knowing it will probably be the last one your club will ever play.

Until they come back as AFC Darlington, or something similar.

[Focher]

They need to find a buyer for the club before 17th Jan otherwise the club folds.

Great post

[TBM]

Cant they sell the stadium and just ground share with Hartlepool or someone!?

[YateleyRoyal]

Cant they sell the stadium and just ground share with Hartlepool or someone!?

Sell it to who exactly?

[6ft Kerplunk]

Slight problem with selling the ground. Its a bit of a niche market flogging a 25k capacity football ground on the outskirts of Darlington when the only potential client is the seller.

[Focher]

The Darlington Dynamos American football team hasn't quite taken off enough yet to justify buying a 25,000 all seater

[TBM]

Who now plays at Elm Park.....

[FiNeRaIn]

They need to find a buyer for the club before 17th Jan otherwise the club folds.

Heard this a million times. They'll be fine...just like the other 20 clubs who claimed this would happen in the last few years.

Football...the biggest melodramatic soap opera on the planet.

[Deadlock]

Who now plays at Elm Park.....

Darlo already sold their town centre ground for housing. Can't see many people wanting to move to an out-of-town site with no local amenities or transport links.

[TBM]

ok ok i dont actually know where the ground is or what is around........

offices then

[Focher]

They need to find a buyer for the club before 17th Jan otherwise the club folds.

Heard this a million times. They'll be fine...just like the other 20 clubs who claimed this would happen in the last few years.

Football...the biggest melodramatic soap opera on the planet.

i think you'll find that many of the smaller less attractive clubs in this situation have actually folded.

[Barry the bird boggler]

I expect Darlington will reform at some point so long as they can find a ground somewhere. When they reform and at what level they start will depend on the resources available.

So sad to see them put into this position by a chairman who just didn't listen to those around him.

Any Reading fans contributed to the above thread?

[FiNeRaIn]

i think you'll find that many of the smaller less attractive clubs in this situation have actually folded.

Which have disappeared then? Never to have returned.

[roadrunner]

i think you'll find that many of the smaller less attractive clubs in this situation have actually folded.

Which have disappeared then? Never to have returned.

Folded is Darlington going bust. Not AFC Darlington being born, or any other club for that matter. They still folded.

[Terminal Boardom]

THE administrators placed in control of Darlington fear the club may fold in a “very short time”.

Raj Singh washed his hands of the Quakers on Tuesday, having claimed to have plunged £3 million into the venture since taking the helm in August 2009.

He did not pay the players’ wages in December, and called in administrators Harvey Madden and Peter Gray, of Yarm-based accountancy firm Rowlands, two days ago.

They are “exploring all options” in an attempt to salvage the situation, and have appealed for any interested parties – who, The Journal understands, would need between £300,000 and £500,000 to keep the club afloat – to contact them urgently. Without that support, Madden explained, Darlington’s days are numbered.

“I am currently exploring all options to try and find a way to enable the football club to remain in existence,” Madden said.

“But the position of the club is such that without any financial support from outside the club or anyone willing to acquire the club I will, unfortunately, have little alternative but to cease to trade in a very short time.

“Anyone interested in assisting the club or acquiring the club out of administration should contact my office as a matter of urgency. Every day is critical if the club is to survive.”

Should a new owner be found, businessmen Philip Scott and Graham Sizer, who own the Northern Echo Arena and surrounding land, are amenable to the agreement of a new lease.

And Darlington Borough Council insists that it remains in support of a “successful, thriving football club”.

However, Darlington Football Club Rescue Group (DFCRG), which met with Singh last week with a view to running the club as a community concern, are unable presently to provide the requisite funds for a takeover.

And with a ten-point deduction and a transfer embargo still in place, caretaker manager Craig Liddle admits Darlington’s Blue Square Bet Premier fixture at Barrow on Saturday – which, he has been assured, will go ahead – could be the club’s last.

“I would like to think we can keep the club going,” he said, adding that he has not intention of deserting the club himself.

“It has been a big part of my life and I would like to think we can continue that, but it is out of my hands. Saturday could be the last game.

But faced with a monthly players’ wage budget thought to be in the region of £80,000

That is crowds in excess of 2,500 assuming 2 games per month just to cover that

ADMINISTRATORS at Darlington Football Club have dismissed all but five members of non-playing staff.

The Quakers’ financial position is so severe that the move means there are not enough employees left to host the next home game – against Fleetwood Town on Saturday, January 21.

Doesn't look good especially as the club no longer own the ground.

[manny96]

Football...the biggest melodramatic soap opera on the planet.

Isn't that part of the magic though?

Superb post.