Darlo - so desperately sad

[turienzo's lovechild]

Could they not doa deal withem so that Newcastle Falcons become the owners an d Darlington FC rent the ground from them, would this not preserve the football club and benefit the rugby club.

sorry just read the post above and it appears that they dont own the ground.

i don't know a massive amount about the financial state of newcastle falcons but i do know that their current ground is owned by northumbria uni and i'd be suprised if they could buy a 25,000 seat stadium

kingston park holds just over 10,000 and is close to their core support, and they don't fill it that often

can't see how a move to a stadium holding over double that, miles away from their core support would be that attractive

 

[Smith DID score]

The Reynolds Arena or whatever it is called, really is going to be a white elephant. They need someone rich to redevelop into something more fitting.

Don't they need another Wilkinson's around there?

 

[Uwinsc]

Really horrible to read

 

[Ninja Elephant]

I went to see a Darlington match with a mate of mine a couple of years ago, when they were in the process of being relegated. He lives in a little village just outside of Darlington, and that was the first time he'd ever been. And after talking to the residents of the local drinking establishment that night, none of them in there had ever been to see Darlington play, but were keen football fanatics. If that's the right word. They were all devout Newcastle fans, despite Darlington being a 20 minute drive as opposed to however far away Newcastle is. I think it quite sad, but the truth of the situation is that the support just isn't there. I've been talking about it with him recently and the apathy to the whole situation is just chronic. No passion, no desire, no fight.

No more Darlington FC.

 

[turienzo's lovechild]

I went to see a Darlington match with a mate of mine a couple of years ago, when they were in the process of being relegated. He lives in a little village just outside of Darlington, and that was the first time he'd ever been. And after talking to the residents of the local drinking establishment that night, none of them in there had ever been to see Darlington play, but were keen football fanatics. If that's the right word. They were all devout Newcastle fans, despite Darlington being a 20 minute drive as opposed to however far away Newcastle is. I think it quite sad, but the truth of the situation is that the support just isn't there. I've been talking about it with him recently and the apathy to the whole situation is just chronic. No passion, no desire, no fight.

No more Darlington FC.

yep, pretty similar experience here. My uncle lives in darlington and he and all his mates are all newcastle fans (my uncle is actually from northumberland so fair enough), and have probably been to about 6 darlington games between them. There just isn't the fan base there.......it's not a massive place and has newcastle, sunderland and middlesbrough all very close. You don't see any kids in darlington shirts there, they all support "the big 3" or other premiership clubs. You hardly see any mention of darlington fc in the pubs, and yet one of the main pubs in the town centre is decked out in sunderland memorabilia, with another down the road in newcastle stuff. Darlington as a town has really good transport links for such a small place so it doesn't take very long to travel to see one of the big 3, where you can watch a far better standard of football than at darlington, who in my living memory have never been above league 2

This is why moving to the arena was absolute madness

 

[Ninja Elephant]

On the drive to the Darlo Arena, we went past the Bishop Auckland ground, which was redeveloped a few years ago. My presumption is that they will do quite nicely out of this, if anyone is to gain. It looked quite nice from the outside. It's a very sad story, but the locals don't really seem that bothered. There are the core of supporters, of course, and it's very sad for them. Their support at Barrow on saturday looks like it was very good but there wasn't enough spirit. Very sad story all the same.

 

[Gwylan]

darlington is a fairly small place .... and the arena doesn't have particularly good transport links

Darlington as a town has really good transport links for such a small place

That town's developed a fantastic transport infrastructure within the last hour

 

[deletebeepbeepbeep]

Sad seeing them relive memories of old matches.

 

[cdargonne]

Very sad reading...they are calling for people to sing "come on darlo" at the games at the weekend... maybe we could get something going here like we did for Plymouth and others... Its so sad, so many clubs like this now.. £8000 was a bloody good effort!

Makes you really appreciate where we are now!!

 

[Monkey Man]

Darlington is a great town and was perfectly capable of sustaining a lower tier club within a modest but loveable little ground. I watched them at Feethams during their first non-league spell - crowds were respectable enough and the supporters were friendly, knowledgeable and prepared to applaud opponents on occasion.

It's great to have ambitions but the move to a much bigger ground never made any sense, any more than it would for, say, Bury or Mansfield Town.

I don't think Darlo fans ever really seriously aspired to the big time. They just liked supporting an honest local club, that was what it was. Tragic that they've been robbed of that small pleasure.

 

[Ninja Elephant]

That town's developed a fantastic transport infrastructure within the last hour

No, it's difficult to get to the Darlington Arena, but it's not difficult to get around Darlington and to places like Newcastle, Middlesbrough and Sunderland.

 

[turienzo's lovechild]

That town's developed a fantastic transport infrastructure within the last hour

it has excellent links for getting out of it, with a train station that serves quite a wide network

within the town it isn't great, and not great to the arena

that's what i meant

 

[blue'n'white]

My sister in law is a Darlo season ticket holder and she's been going through hell over the past few weeks
They even had a whip round last week to feed the players before or after last week's match !
Trouble is - I know we did all we could for our club and you may expect other fans to do the same for theirs but that was in slightly less straitened times and this area is or was a bit "richer" than the North East.
The sad thing is that they "only" need I think £400K to fulfil the rest of their fixtures this season. You'd think the likes of Newcastle or Sunderland as well as former players like Stockdale now at Fulham would give them a few quid to help keep them afloat. I mean that's about a week and a half's wages for someone like Rooney (not that he's got any connection to the NE or to Darlo but I am sure that the Newcastle United players could have a whip round)

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

I believe the administrators were trying to renegotiate the "add-on" deals on 3 former Darlo players now at bigger clubs. Lump sums as a final settlement on these "add-on" deals is the only prospect of the club not being liquidated before the weekend. The problem is that the clubs will say no knowing that they can end up paying nothing for the extras.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

Darlington dont own the stadium, and there is a covenent on it stating the land can only be used for sporting purposes

That is why the former Chairman walked away , he ploughed in £3M and the only way to get it back or make a profit was to get the council to lift the covenant so the land could be developed.

 

[Ninja Elephant]

I believe the administrators were trying to renegotiate the "add-on" deals on 3 former Darlo players now at bigger clubs. Lump sums as a final settlement on these "add-on" deals is the only prospect of the club not being liquidated before the weekend. The problem is that the clubs will say no knowing that they can end up paying nothing for the extras.

David Stockdale being the main one, but who are the others?

 

[Durlston]

Very sad to read that. Darlington is a lovely town in the north-east and thought they would be going places when they got their beautiful stadium. I know Liam Hatch who's there as he was at Barnet but I think he's moving to their rivals Gateshead.

When you compare it to the Barnet situation where they can't get a ground because of the council and green-belt land, it really is a shame as so many lower-league clubs have problems and Premier League teams just don't seem to give a toss about their neighbours.

I just hope Darlo can be saved and they can rebuild.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

David Stockdale being the main one, but who are the others?

Dan Burn to Fulham and Michael Smith to Charlton

 

[Ninja Elephant]

Dan Burn to Fulham and Michael Smith to Charlton

Well played. I've heard of neither, but I hope they suck Fulham dry.

 

[turienzo's lovechild]

so basically if darlo go bust then fulham and charlton won't have to pay them a penny when they sell those players?

ouch "hey, do you want to settle now and pay darlington this money, or pay them nothing in the future because they won't exist?"