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Darlington FC RIP
- Thread starter Turkey
- Start date
Steve Foster
Well-known member
Darlington's populaion is 97,000 about the size of Crawley, Eastbourne or Worthing.
Can you imagine these towns with a 25,000 stadium?
I hope Darlo can rebuild & play in a stadium more appropriate for their needs.
Can you imagine these towns with a 25,000 stadium?
I hope Darlo can rebuild & play in a stadium more appropriate for their needs.
Barrel of Fun
Abort, retry, fail
Darlington is an odd one. Population sizes, there are some big towns without a football league side. I'm thinking Maidstone, Basingstoke and er... Whereas Burnley has a population dwarfed by those two mentioned. The North-East is a big footballing area. It is strange that it never caught on with Darlington, unless most workers made a short trip to one of the big teams nearby. I think their record attendance is less than th capacity of their current ground.
Does anyone have a link to that website that gives average attendances to all clubs over the last 50 years?
Mr Burns
New member
Err, no. Please point out where.
I said I think it's about time Darlington went out of business. 3 times in 8 years is a bit much IMO.
But I also said I hope fans set up a new club and come back strong and have happy times again.
So todays Darlington will be gone, and a new club without the burdens of todays club is born.
I fail to see a cotradiction.
And for what its worth, I heard their "greatest ever player" as voted by the fans, Marco Gabbindinni (spellcheck??) say practiclly the same thing on talk sport earlier this evening.
Nottseagull
Well-known member
Is everybody else just pretending they know what this means?
Nottseagull
Well-known member
turienzo's lovechild
New member
- Oct 25, 2003
- 23,964
basically everyone in darlo supports one of the 'big 3'......you hardly see anyone wearing darlington shirts up there, it's all newcastle/sunderland/boro (and then premiership clubs and leeds)........no pubs are decked out in darlington stuff, it's all the 'big 3' in fact there's hardly any mention of them in the town at all, yet the town in general is well into its football, just not when it comes to their local club it seems (you should see darlington station on a saturday when newcastle are at home)
the thing is i think their fans were happy with what they had at feethams.......it wasn't amazing but it was in the town centre and was big enough for their needs.......moving to the arena was just madness, they would never have had the pulling power to EVER fill it even if they were in the prem
i think they were hoping to have loads of concerts there but the council was never that fussed (i think partially due to their hatred for reynolds, since he left i think they've had the odd one, but at the end of the day darlington as a town is never going to draw in the big names)
Tummy Burger
New member
I understand where you are coming from, and in some cases certain clubs would not agree to it. But in the case of say Liverpool. They only really hate Man Utd these days. You even see the Everton / Liverpool fans mixing at either ground without any trouble. Most of them are all related anyway, family's split with Everton / Liverpool fans. For these guys I don't see why it can't happen. Same for Nott Forest. They really do not like Derby, but Notts County next door. . . I may be wrong but I get the impression they just humour them as a poor relation. Again, I cannot see any reason why they couldn't share.
As I mentioned before, we are different. Miles from anyone . . . and for that reason far too far from palace to ever consider sharing. Although secretly I bet a lot em would love a piece of the Amex now.
Nottseagull
Well-known member
Regarding my earlier question, only just spotted this
Darlington is a proper club with a history. I captured this from Wicki (before it went down!)
History
[edit]Founding and pre-war
In July 1883, a meeting was called in Darlington Grammar School to address concerns that so few Darlington-based football clubs were entering the major competition in the region, the Durham Challenge Cup. The meeting agreed with the view expressed by the Darlington & Stockton Times newspaper, that there was "no club, urban or rural, sufficiently powerful to worthily represent Darlington", decided to form a new club, and elected one Charles Samuel Craven, a local engineer, as secretary. Darlington Football Club duly entered the Durham Challenge Cup, reached the final in their first season, and won the trophy in 1885.[1][2] The following season Darlington entered the FA Cup for the first time, only to lose 8–0 to Grimsby Town.[3] Craven was instrumental in the formation of the Northern League in 1889.[1] Darlington were one of the founder members, and went on to win the league title in 1896 and 1900; they reached the semi-final of the FA Amateur Cup in the same two seasons.[4]
The Darlington team of the 1910–11 season, who reached the last 16 of the FA Cup
The club turned professional in 1908 and joined the North Eastern League. The 1910–11 season saw Darlington reach the last 16 of the FA Cup, progressing through five qualifying rounds to lose to Swindon Town in the Third Round Proper, and two years later they won the North Eastern League.[3] Ground improvements begun before the First World War left the club in financial difficulty during it; the chairman of Darlington Forge Albion financed the completion of the East Stand and cleared the debts, allowing them to continue to compete.[5] When competitive football resumed after the war, Darlington finished second in the North Eastern League, and were champions for a second time the following year. This victory was well timed, as it coincided with the formation of the Northern Section of the Football League's Third Division, which Darlington were invited to join.[6]
Their first season in the Third Division was a successful one and they ended up in second place. Three years later, in 1924–25, they were champions and won promotion to the Football League Second Division. Their 15th-place finish in 1926 remains, as of 2010, Darlington's best League performance,[7] but they were relegated back to the Third Division in 1927, where they remained until the Second World War put an end to competitive football. They came as high as third in 1929–30, but twice had to apply for re-election to the League, in 1932–33 and 1936–37, after finishing in last place in the section.[4] In 1934, they enjoyed their first success in a nationally-organised cup competition, defeating Stockport County 4–3 at Old Trafford to win the Football League Third Division North Cup,[3] and reached the final again two years later, this time losing 2–1 at home to Chester.[8]
[edit]Post-war
Soon after the Football Association gave permission for competitive matches to be played under floodlights, Darlington beat Carlisle United 3–1 in the first floodlit FA Cup match between Football League clubs, a replay held at St James' Park, Newcastle United's ground, in November 1955.[9] The 1957–58 season saw the club equal their previous best FA Cup run, reaching the last 16 by defeating Chelsea, Football League champions only three years earlier, in the Fourth Round. After letting slip a three-goal lead at Stamford Bridge, Darlington won the replay 4–1 after extra time, described as "a most meritorious win, earned by a combination of sound tactics and an enthusiasm that Chelsea never equalled" by The Times' correspondent, who felt it "surprising that extra time was necessary, for Darlington always seemed to have the match well in hand".[10] In the League, Darlington's fourth place in 1948–49 was their only top-half finish in the first twelve seasons after the war, and when the regional sections of the Third Division were merged, they were allocated to the new Fourth Division.[4]
The Supporters' Club raised £20,000 to pay for a roof at one end of the Feethams ground and for floodlights, which were first used on 19 September 1960. Later that night, the West Stand burned down.[5] Darlington's attendance record, of 21,023 against Bolton Wanderers in the League Cup fourth round, was set two months later.[11] Under the management of Lol Morgan, they won promotion to the Third Division in 1966. A crowd of 16,000 watched the draw against Torquay United on the last day of the season which ensured they finished as runners-up, but they were relegated the following year.[11]
Darlington reached the quarter-finals of the 1968 League Cup; drawn away to Brian Clough's Derby County, they took the lead, only to lose 5–4. During the 1970s the club had to apply for re-election to the League five times, and by 1982 they were facing a financial crisis which they survived thanks to fundraising efforts in the town.[11] Three years later they won promotion by finishing third in the league under manager Cyril Knowles. Darlington spent two seasons in the Third Division; the 13th-place finish in 1986 was the highest position they achieved in the Football League since the introduction of the four-division structure in 1958, but they were relegated the following season.[4]
Though Brian Little's appointment as manager in February 1989[12] failed to stave off relegation to the Conference, he went on to lead them to successive promotions. An immediate return to the Football League as Conference champions preceded the Fourth Division title in 1990–91, but Little's departure for Leicester City was followed by relegation and a succession of short-term managers.[4][13][14] They came close to a return to the Third Division via the play-offs in 1996; on their first visit to Wembley, against Plymouth Argyle, they were beaten by a Ronnie Mauge goal.[15]
[edit]Reynolds and after
The 1999–2000 season, the first under new chairman George Reynolds, was marked by Darlington becoming the first team to lose an FA Cup-tie and still qualify for the next round. Manchester United's involvement in the FIFA Club World Championship meant they did not enter the FA Cup. To decide who took their place, a "lucky losers" draw was held from the 20 teams knocked out in the second round; Darlington were selected, and lost their third-round tie 2–1 to Aston Villa at Villa Park.[16][17] Their second Wembley appearance came later that season, facing Peterborough United in the play-off final after automatic promotion had seemed certain earlier in the season. After a 3–0 aggregate semi-final win over Hartlepool United, Quakers missed numerous chances and were again undone by a single goal, this time from Andy Clarke.[18][19]
In 2002, Darlington made unsuccessful approaches to sign Paul Gascoigne and Faustino Asprilla,[20] and moved into their new stadium, named the Reynolds Arena, in summer 2003. Reynolds had paid the club's debts when he took over, but the cost of the stadium, partly financed with high-interest loans and built without realistic expectation of filling it, drove the club into administration six months later.[21][22][23] Reynolds resigned as a director in January 2004 with the club under threat of imminent closure. A benefit match, featuring footballers such as Gascoigne, Bryan Robson and Kenny Dalglish, played in front of a crowd of over 14,000, raised £100,000 to help ensure survival in the short term.[24][25] Despite the off-field problems, David Hodgson, in his third spell as manager, and his players produced some fine performances as the team avoided relegation.[26]
Darlington playing Bury at the Darlington Arena in 2008
At the end of the season, Reynolds was obliged to hand over control to the Sterling Consortium to bring the club out of administration,[27] Stewart Davies taking over as chairman. He and his staff adopted a fan-friendly approach, in contrast to the abrasive Reynolds, before in 2006, the club was sold to property developer George Houghton.[22][28][29] For four consecutive seasons, under Hodgson, sacked in 2006, and then under successor Dave Penney, the Quakers finished in the top half of the table, reaching the play-off semi-final in 2008 only to lose to Rochdale on penalties.[30][31]In February 2009, Darlington again went into administration, triggering an automatic 10-point deduction, without which they would have again reached the play-offs.[32][33] Fundraising efforts kept the club going,[34][35] but when no buyer was found for the club by a May deadline, the administrators made the majority of the first-team squad available for transfer and cut staff numbers to a minimum.[36][37] On 20 May, Houghton returned to the club as chairman, appointed former Middlesbrough boss Colin Todd as manager,[38] and brokered an agreement which led to the club coming out of administration and ownership passing to local businessman Raj Singh, enabling the club to compete in the 2009–10 season without any points deduction.[39][40] Todd left the club after losing seven of his first nine games[41] and was replaced by former Republic of Ireland manager Steve Staunton, who only won four of 23 league games.[42][43] The club were eventually relegated to the Conference,[44] and suffered more managerial turmoil during the summer when Simon Davey and successor Ryan Kidd both left within 11 days, to leave Mark Cooper in charge.[43] He led the club to victory in the 2011 FA Trophy Final at Wembley Stadium, defeating Mansfield Town 1–0 with a goal from Chris Senior in the last minute of extra time.[45] Following a succession of poor performances at the start of the 2011–12 season, Cooper and his assistant Richard Dryden were sacked by the club on 24 October 2011.[46] A little more than two months later, Singh placed the club into administration for a third time in less than a decade.[47] A number of players were released and allowed to join other clubs for nominal fees in January before interim manager Craig Liddle and the remaining playing staff had their contracts terminated by Darlington's administrator.[48]
[edit]Colours and crest
[show]Kit suppliers and sponsors
In 1888, Darlington's kit consisted of a shirt with black and white vertical stripes, black shorts and black socks. Apart from a period between the 1910s and 1936, when blue shorts were worn, the basic colours of the home kit have remained black and white. The shirt design has varied, from the 1888 vertical stripes, through hoops, plain white, and back to hoops again in the 1990s.[49] Sponsors' names have appeared on Darlington's shirts since the 1980s. A table of kit manufacturers (since the 1970s) and shirt sponsors appears on the right.[49]
Supporters were invited to vote for the design of the 2010–11 kit, to be manufactured by Erreà; options for the home shirt each had black-and-white hoops, while the proposed away colours were either the traditional red or sky-blue and white.[50] The front of the home shirt has black-and-white hoops with a curved white panel, the back is largely white, and it has black sleeves with white trim and a black collar; shorts are white and socks have black-and-white hoops. The design originally chosen had to be changed to comply with Conference rules prohibiting predominantly black kit (to avoid a clash with match officials' colours). The away kit is all red with black trim on the shirt.[51][52] The shirts bear the name of hotel The Morritt, winners of the right to sponsor the shirt in a draw from among seven local businesses, each of which had purchased a hospitality package.[53]
The club crest is in the form of a shield, divided diagonally into two parts; the smaller section, to the upper right, is in the club's home colour of white, the larger is red, their traditional away colour. In the white section is a stylised Quaker hat, emblematic of the major role played by the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in the history of the town. The larger section depicts George Stephenson's Locomotion No 1, the steam locomotive that hauled the first train on the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1825, representing the importance of the railway industry to the area. Across the bottom of the shield is a ribbon bearing the club's nickname, The Quakers, and the whole rests on a bed of oak leaves, symbolic of strength and endurance.[54]
[edit]Stadia
Main articles: Feethams and The Darlington Arena
Feethams, derelict in 2005
The Darlington Arena in April 2009
Feethams was originally used by Darlington Cricket Club, but began to be used for football in the 1860s. Darlington F.C. began playing there when they formed in 1883. With growing crowd figures, the ground was expanded with the construction of the West stand at the turn of the twentieth century, and the construction of the Polam Lane end in 1905. In 1913, a pair of towers were built at the entrance to the ground, and in 1920, offices and changing rooms were built underneath the East stand. Floodlights were installed in September 1960, but after their first use an electrical fault gutted the West stand in a fire, prompting its rebuilding. In 1997, the East stand was demolished and rebuilt as an all seater stand.[55] The new stand brought the capacity of the stadium up to 8,000.[56] However, the £3 million cost of the stand had a major negative effect on the club, and George Reynolds came in to stabilise the club. He initiated the construction of the 25,000 seat Darlington Arena.[55] The last match played at Feethams was a 2-2 draw with Leyton Orient on 3 May 2003.[56] Following the closure of the ground, the floodlights were sold to Workington A.F.C. and the stadium demolished.[57] A 160-house housing estate was planned for the cleared site.[58]
The all-seater Darlington Arena was opened in 2003, at a cost of £18 million. The first game at the new stadium was a 2-0 loss to Kidderminster Harriers on 16 August 2003. The attendance of 11,600 still stands as a record for the ground.[59] Though the stadium can seat up to 25,000 people, the club is restricted to just 10,000 because of county and local planning regulations.[A] The club struggled to fill the new stadium and entered administration in February 2009.[32]
Although generally known as the Darlington Arena, the ground has had a number of official names due to sponsorship reasons; between 2003 and 2004 it was known as the Reynolds Arena, the Williamson Motors Stadium from 2004 to 2005, the 96.6 TFM Darlington Arena from 2005 to 2007, the Balfour Webnet Darlington Arena between 2007 and 2009, and since then it has been known as the Northern Echo Darlington Arena.[60]
Darlington is a proper club with a history. I captured this from Wicki (before it went down!)
History
[edit]Founding and pre-war
In July 1883, a meeting was called in Darlington Grammar School to address concerns that so few Darlington-based football clubs were entering the major competition in the region, the Durham Challenge Cup. The meeting agreed with the view expressed by the Darlington & Stockton Times newspaper, that there was "no club, urban or rural, sufficiently powerful to worthily represent Darlington", decided to form a new club, and elected one Charles Samuel Craven, a local engineer, as secretary. Darlington Football Club duly entered the Durham Challenge Cup, reached the final in their first season, and won the trophy in 1885.[1][2] The following season Darlington entered the FA Cup for the first time, only to lose 8–0 to Grimsby Town.[3] Craven was instrumental in the formation of the Northern League in 1889.[1] Darlington were one of the founder members, and went on to win the league title in 1896 and 1900; they reached the semi-final of the FA Amateur Cup in the same two seasons.[4]
The Darlington team of the 1910–11 season, who reached the last 16 of the FA Cup
The club turned professional in 1908 and joined the North Eastern League. The 1910–11 season saw Darlington reach the last 16 of the FA Cup, progressing through five qualifying rounds to lose to Swindon Town in the Third Round Proper, and two years later they won the North Eastern League.[3] Ground improvements begun before the First World War left the club in financial difficulty during it; the chairman of Darlington Forge Albion financed the completion of the East Stand and cleared the debts, allowing them to continue to compete.[5] When competitive football resumed after the war, Darlington finished second in the North Eastern League, and were champions for a second time the following year. This victory was well timed, as it coincided with the formation of the Northern Section of the Football League's Third Division, which Darlington were invited to join.[6]
Their first season in the Third Division was a successful one and they ended up in second place. Three years later, in 1924–25, they were champions and won promotion to the Football League Second Division. Their 15th-place finish in 1926 remains, as of 2010, Darlington's best League performance,[7] but they were relegated back to the Third Division in 1927, where they remained until the Second World War put an end to competitive football. They came as high as third in 1929–30, but twice had to apply for re-election to the League, in 1932–33 and 1936–37, after finishing in last place in the section.[4] In 1934, they enjoyed their first success in a nationally-organised cup competition, defeating Stockport County 4–3 at Old Trafford to win the Football League Third Division North Cup,[3] and reached the final again two years later, this time losing 2–1 at home to Chester.[8]
[edit]Post-war
Soon after the Football Association gave permission for competitive matches to be played under floodlights, Darlington beat Carlisle United 3–1 in the first floodlit FA Cup match between Football League clubs, a replay held at St James' Park, Newcastle United's ground, in November 1955.[9] The 1957–58 season saw the club equal their previous best FA Cup run, reaching the last 16 by defeating Chelsea, Football League champions only three years earlier, in the Fourth Round. After letting slip a three-goal lead at Stamford Bridge, Darlington won the replay 4–1 after extra time, described as "a most meritorious win, earned by a combination of sound tactics and an enthusiasm that Chelsea never equalled" by The Times' correspondent, who felt it "surprising that extra time was necessary, for Darlington always seemed to have the match well in hand".[10] In the League, Darlington's fourth place in 1948–49 was their only top-half finish in the first twelve seasons after the war, and when the regional sections of the Third Division were merged, they were allocated to the new Fourth Division.[4]
The Supporters' Club raised £20,000 to pay for a roof at one end of the Feethams ground and for floodlights, which were first used on 19 September 1960. Later that night, the West Stand burned down.[5] Darlington's attendance record, of 21,023 against Bolton Wanderers in the League Cup fourth round, was set two months later.[11] Under the management of Lol Morgan, they won promotion to the Third Division in 1966. A crowd of 16,000 watched the draw against Torquay United on the last day of the season which ensured they finished as runners-up, but they were relegated the following year.[11]
Darlington reached the quarter-finals of the 1968 League Cup; drawn away to Brian Clough's Derby County, they took the lead, only to lose 5–4. During the 1970s the club had to apply for re-election to the League five times, and by 1982 they were facing a financial crisis which they survived thanks to fundraising efforts in the town.[11] Three years later they won promotion by finishing third in the league under manager Cyril Knowles. Darlington spent two seasons in the Third Division; the 13th-place finish in 1986 was the highest position they achieved in the Football League since the introduction of the four-division structure in 1958, but they were relegated the following season.[4]
Though Brian Little's appointment as manager in February 1989[12] failed to stave off relegation to the Conference, he went on to lead them to successive promotions. An immediate return to the Football League as Conference champions preceded the Fourth Division title in 1990–91, but Little's departure for Leicester City was followed by relegation and a succession of short-term managers.[4][13][14] They came close to a return to the Third Division via the play-offs in 1996; on their first visit to Wembley, against Plymouth Argyle, they were beaten by a Ronnie Mauge goal.[15]
[edit]Reynolds and after
The 1999–2000 season, the first under new chairman George Reynolds, was marked by Darlington becoming the first team to lose an FA Cup-tie and still qualify for the next round. Manchester United's involvement in the FIFA Club World Championship meant they did not enter the FA Cup. To decide who took their place, a "lucky losers" draw was held from the 20 teams knocked out in the second round; Darlington were selected, and lost their third-round tie 2–1 to Aston Villa at Villa Park.[16][17] Their second Wembley appearance came later that season, facing Peterborough United in the play-off final after automatic promotion had seemed certain earlier in the season. After a 3–0 aggregate semi-final win over Hartlepool United, Quakers missed numerous chances and were again undone by a single goal, this time from Andy Clarke.[18][19]
In 2002, Darlington made unsuccessful approaches to sign Paul Gascoigne and Faustino Asprilla,[20] and moved into their new stadium, named the Reynolds Arena, in summer 2003. Reynolds had paid the club's debts when he took over, but the cost of the stadium, partly financed with high-interest loans and built without realistic expectation of filling it, drove the club into administration six months later.[21][22][23] Reynolds resigned as a director in January 2004 with the club under threat of imminent closure. A benefit match, featuring footballers such as Gascoigne, Bryan Robson and Kenny Dalglish, played in front of a crowd of over 14,000, raised £100,000 to help ensure survival in the short term.[24][25] Despite the off-field problems, David Hodgson, in his third spell as manager, and his players produced some fine performances as the team avoided relegation.[26]
Darlington playing Bury at the Darlington Arena in 2008
At the end of the season, Reynolds was obliged to hand over control to the Sterling Consortium to bring the club out of administration,[27] Stewart Davies taking over as chairman. He and his staff adopted a fan-friendly approach, in contrast to the abrasive Reynolds, before in 2006, the club was sold to property developer George Houghton.[22][28][29] For four consecutive seasons, under Hodgson, sacked in 2006, and then under successor Dave Penney, the Quakers finished in the top half of the table, reaching the play-off semi-final in 2008 only to lose to Rochdale on penalties.[30][31]In February 2009, Darlington again went into administration, triggering an automatic 10-point deduction, without which they would have again reached the play-offs.[32][33] Fundraising efforts kept the club going,[34][35] but when no buyer was found for the club by a May deadline, the administrators made the majority of the first-team squad available for transfer and cut staff numbers to a minimum.[36][37] On 20 May, Houghton returned to the club as chairman, appointed former Middlesbrough boss Colin Todd as manager,[38] and brokered an agreement which led to the club coming out of administration and ownership passing to local businessman Raj Singh, enabling the club to compete in the 2009–10 season without any points deduction.[39][40] Todd left the club after losing seven of his first nine games[41] and was replaced by former Republic of Ireland manager Steve Staunton, who only won four of 23 league games.[42][43] The club were eventually relegated to the Conference,[44] and suffered more managerial turmoil during the summer when Simon Davey and successor Ryan Kidd both left within 11 days, to leave Mark Cooper in charge.[43] He led the club to victory in the 2011 FA Trophy Final at Wembley Stadium, defeating Mansfield Town 1–0 with a goal from Chris Senior in the last minute of extra time.[45] Following a succession of poor performances at the start of the 2011–12 season, Cooper and his assistant Richard Dryden were sacked by the club on 24 October 2011.[46] A little more than two months later, Singh placed the club into administration for a third time in less than a decade.[47] A number of players were released and allowed to join other clubs for nominal fees in January before interim manager Craig Liddle and the remaining playing staff had their contracts terminated by Darlington's administrator.[48]
[edit]Colours and crest
[show]Kit suppliers and sponsors
In 1888, Darlington's kit consisted of a shirt with black and white vertical stripes, black shorts and black socks. Apart from a period between the 1910s and 1936, when blue shorts were worn, the basic colours of the home kit have remained black and white. The shirt design has varied, from the 1888 vertical stripes, through hoops, plain white, and back to hoops again in the 1990s.[49] Sponsors' names have appeared on Darlington's shirts since the 1980s. A table of kit manufacturers (since the 1970s) and shirt sponsors appears on the right.[49]
Supporters were invited to vote for the design of the 2010–11 kit, to be manufactured by Erreà; options for the home shirt each had black-and-white hoops, while the proposed away colours were either the traditional red or sky-blue and white.[50] The front of the home shirt has black-and-white hoops with a curved white panel, the back is largely white, and it has black sleeves with white trim and a black collar; shorts are white and socks have black-and-white hoops. The design originally chosen had to be changed to comply with Conference rules prohibiting predominantly black kit (to avoid a clash with match officials' colours). The away kit is all red with black trim on the shirt.[51][52] The shirts bear the name of hotel The Morritt, winners of the right to sponsor the shirt in a draw from among seven local businesses, each of which had purchased a hospitality package.[53]
The club crest is in the form of a shield, divided diagonally into two parts; the smaller section, to the upper right, is in the club's home colour of white, the larger is red, their traditional away colour. In the white section is a stylised Quaker hat, emblematic of the major role played by the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in the history of the town. The larger section depicts George Stephenson's Locomotion No 1, the steam locomotive that hauled the first train on the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1825, representing the importance of the railway industry to the area. Across the bottom of the shield is a ribbon bearing the club's nickname, The Quakers, and the whole rests on a bed of oak leaves, symbolic of strength and endurance.[54]
[edit]Stadia
Main articles: Feethams and The Darlington Arena
Feethams, derelict in 2005
The Darlington Arena in April 2009
Feethams was originally used by Darlington Cricket Club, but began to be used for football in the 1860s. Darlington F.C. began playing there when they formed in 1883. With growing crowd figures, the ground was expanded with the construction of the West stand at the turn of the twentieth century, and the construction of the Polam Lane end in 1905. In 1913, a pair of towers were built at the entrance to the ground, and in 1920, offices and changing rooms were built underneath the East stand. Floodlights were installed in September 1960, but after their first use an electrical fault gutted the West stand in a fire, prompting its rebuilding. In 1997, the East stand was demolished and rebuilt as an all seater stand.[55] The new stand brought the capacity of the stadium up to 8,000.[56] However, the £3 million cost of the stand had a major negative effect on the club, and George Reynolds came in to stabilise the club. He initiated the construction of the 25,000 seat Darlington Arena.[55] The last match played at Feethams was a 2-2 draw with Leyton Orient on 3 May 2003.[56] Following the closure of the ground, the floodlights were sold to Workington A.F.C. and the stadium demolished.[57] A 160-house housing estate was planned for the cleared site.[58]
The all-seater Darlington Arena was opened in 2003, at a cost of £18 million. The first game at the new stadium was a 2-0 loss to Kidderminster Harriers on 16 August 2003. The attendance of 11,600 still stands as a record for the ground.[59] Though the stadium can seat up to 25,000 people, the club is restricted to just 10,000 because of county and local planning regulations.[A] The club struggled to fill the new stadium and entered administration in February 2009.[32]
Although generally known as the Darlington Arena, the ground has had a number of official names due to sponsorship reasons; between 2003 and 2004 it was known as the Reynolds Arena, the Williamson Motors Stadium from 2004 to 2005, the 96.6 TFM Darlington Arena from 2005 to 2007, the Balfour Webnet Darlington Arena between 2007 and 2009, and since then it has been known as the Northern Echo Darlington Arena.[60]
Last edited:
Barrel of Fun
Abort, retry, fail
The Darlington players emerging from meeting with administrator are saying the club has gone. Sad news.
Fur Cough
New member
Just heard this also.
The Club is dead.
The_Viper
Well-known member
When will people realise clubs are not toys?
Thousands of remaining fans left with nothing.
It's at times like these when I thank Dick Knight and co. more and more.
Thousands of remaining fans left with nothing.
It's at times like these when I thank Dick Knight and co. more and more.
Barrel of Fun
Abort, retry, fail
"Administrator has agreed to meet members of #darlo FC Rescue Group in half-an-hour at a secret location"
fataddick
Well-known member
It's a shame football fans just see Darlo as a town to travel through rather than watch a game in. Go into Hogans, the big cheap pub round the side of Darlo train station on an average football Saturday and you'll find shirt-wearing fans of five or six clubs in there drinking for a couple of hours before getting on a train to or from whatever match they were going to. Sadly there are probably more people in that pub (it's huge) than in Darlo's ground.
Gritt23
New member
It does now appear that Darlo fans have come up with £50k for a stay of execution, but .... that would make the last couple of days (at least) as just one big publicity stunt, because, I'm sorry, but they haven't raised £50k in the last hour. Surely, even if they were aiming for £50k, but were struggling to get there, they would have approached the administrators BEFORE the deadline with whatever they had. Would £42k at 12 noon not have got them any stay of execution? Really?
Trouble is, what happens the next time an administrators tells us a club will go completely if no investment is made before #insert time and date#"? We don't believe them, because that is clearly just a trick played to the 11th hour (and in this case, possibly beyond) to glean maximum publicity.
I hope they are saved, I truly do, but I can't quite believe the events have played out as they are being reported.
- Thread starter
- #98
As I don't know any of the facts I don't feel comfortable speculating about it tbh.
I guess its possible that they were simply witholding the offer of their cash until the VERY last moment, in the hope that a buyer would be found? If I were them, I would have had to think long and hard about producing that money at this point, given the possibility that it might do nothing beyond sustain the existing black hole for a couple of weeks.
IF a buyer is found in that period, their money will have saved the club (in its current guise).
IF on the other hand at the end of those two weeks the club goes under anyway, they'll be starting up a pheonix club, without £50,000 which would have gone a long way to getting them up and running.
Big call.
Gritt23
New member
Agreed, but why make the decision at the 13th hour rather than the 11th, unless you are doing it for an even more dramatic story than the old 11th hour rescue that we've heard so many times before. How can we maximise the publicity with an even more dramatic last gasp rescue .......
There have just been so many last gasp survivals, and clubs playing "possibly their last home game EVER ..." that the next one up has to do something more dramatic. Unfortunately it does mean that people like me are more sceptical next time I hear this old story being trotted out, and the surprise is when a Chester actually GOES rather than a club being saved at the very last minute .... or 90 mins after the last minute, as it was in this case.