Fenham Mag Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/2630/490515482.jpg Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 That MKDarlo post has gone viral. Loads of media outlets, local and national, have picked up on it. Just hope tomorrow isn't the end. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizza Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 Can't see how it's not going to be the end, it'll take a miracle to save the club now. Gutted Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 Hopefully come back revitalised as Chester have. Never nice to see a club go under. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bowlingcrofty Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 From a Darlo fan: So that looks like that. The bell is tolling for Darlington Football Club and it appears as though the final whistle on Saturday called time not only on a highly-emotional afternoon, but on our very existence. As the whistle blew there was a moment of sudden reality, a realisation that the club we all hold so close to our hearts was more than likely no more, resigned to be a statistic, to be another ex-football club, to simply be history. But for Darlington fans, if Saturday proved one thing, it's that this doesn't have to be the case. As I looked around I saw what supporting a football club should mean. There I saw the usual faces, pale, dejected and teary-eyed. However, if there was a risk of tears from myself it was soon allayed, for when you looked beyond this desperation, you saw what it meant to support our club. There were arms round shoulders, reassuring words and a sense of togetherness that has been absent for too long. We had found our identity again. The weight had been lifted, we were no longer a safe cracker's ego trip or a cowboy's plaything. For one last time we were simply Darlington Football Club, standing amongst friends and watching the team do us proud. That is what football should be about for every fan of every club. It was then that it became clear that the club can't die because Darlington FC is more than just a name, it's a community. Even if starting all over again remains the only way to maintain this, maintain it we must. And, if we can draw upon a level of togetherness similar to that we all showed as the lady was whistling, we can only succeed. The unity at Barrow showed that if the club ceases to be, then 128 years of history will not be lost. It will be carried forward in the hearts and minds of the people that make the club what it is. The biggest myth surrounding our club at present is that it's dying because of finances, stadiums and other factors too numerous to mention. On a literal level this may be the case, but in terms of what Darlington FC represents, the truth is the club died a good while ago. In recent years this club has treated good people badly. From David Hodgson to Steve Foster, to countless other players and people behind the scenes that have worked so hard drive the club forward, too many have been mistreated by this club and its owners in the past decade. What they all failed to realise is they might have owned the club, but the club will never be theirs. It's ours. What we now is an opportunity to rebuild our club, as a phoenix from the ashes baptised by the tears of real football fans. So if Saturday was to be our last call, our heads should not be hung in sorrow, but held high, for it is fans of clubs like Darlington that make football what it is. We will be back some day, and this time we will no longer be a rich man's plaything. The fans might not be millionaires but it is us that are all the richer for belonging to something very special for the past 128 years. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Geordie Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Sad news if they do indeed go to the wall. I hope the club is 'reborn'. Definitely an opportunity there if the fans back it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wyn davies Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 suprised we ain't used them as a nursery club somehow ensuring we don't break the rules about owning other clubs. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ikri Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 It's never been the players, or lack of players, that's screwed them over. They've got players comfortably capable of playing in League One/Two. That massive, useless, pointless stadium is what has screwed them. It's miles away from the town centre with crap parking and it's stupidly expensive for the level they're at. If you're a casual football fan, you're not likely to go there too often. The last 2 or 3 owners have all said the same thing, if the council would lift the covenants on the land that the ground is on so developers could build shops, a cinema, etc. then they could probably make it a success. But they knew that wasn't going to be allowed when it was being built but it seems they built it anyway with the expectation that once the stadium was there the council would recant and allow the rest of the development - like building an extension to a house without planning permission and hoping that once it was done they'd be allowed retroactive planning permission, sometimes it works, sometimes the council turn up to demolish it. Move the club back into the town centre (Feethams is still there, lying derelict), drop the ticket price and get fans back in the ground. If they do that they'll stand a chance of survival. Even if they find investment to see out this season they'll be back in the same position inside a couple of years, without investment they'll be starting next season as a new club right at the lowest tier of English football (and they'll probably be better of for it). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Geordie Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 I'd imagine Feethams would need massive work to get it up to standard - Darlington aren't exactly flush at the moment! Perhaps it might be an opportunity for a new club, but they will need the council on board for that too. Just seen a recent picture of Feethams and it's not even derelict now. Part of one stand remains, but the rest has been raized to the ground. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ponsaelius Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Feethams would cost thousands to renovate. Could possibly be tidied up to Northern League level with a lot of volunteers, mind. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Geordie Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 I'd imagine a ground share would be more likely if a new club started up. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bowlingcrofty Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Rumours of a late deal to save the club. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Feethams would cost thousands to renovate. Could possibly be tidied up to Northern League level with a lot of volunteers, mind. I think it would take a bit more than that. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bowlingcrofty Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 Middlesbrough doing a bucket collection outside the ground tomorrow. Would be nice if we did the same on Sunday. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 The writing was on the wall for that club when that ignorant tool Reynolds built an 'arena' 10 times too big. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ponsaelius Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 The writing was on the wall for that club when that ignorant tool Reynolds built an 'arena' 10 times too big. Not just a tool, a fully blown criminal. Then he waltzed off into the sunset. Wanker. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
maybe_next_year Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 Middlesbrough doing a bucket collection outside the ground tomorrow. Would be nice if we did the same on Sunday. too little too late surely, even if we did join in it's not going to keep a club in that mess going for much longer. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
WarrenBartonCentrePartin Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 went into that stadium for a Darlo presser about 2 1/2 years ago now as part of a placement. Its utterly insane. Everything in the main reception is plated in imitation gold and the floor is marble. Theres also a lift in there, going up one floor, directly to an apartment with a pitch view which Reynolds built for himself to live in. Its totally over the top and like some sort of charva palace. So tacky. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ishmael Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 The writing was on the wall for that club when that ignorant tool Reynolds built an 'arena' 10 times too big. The stadium payments are actually reasonable for a club in their position. Other clubs in their league are paying double. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 What payments? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 What payments? They rent the stadium. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 Clearly. It was their inability to cope with the initial finance to develop the shitehole that caused the downfall. I think Reynolds was still owner when they first went into administration. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
madras Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 The writing was on the wall for that club when that ignorant tool Reynolds built an 'arena' 10 times too big. had the 'pleasure' of sitting next to him and his cronies a year or so back in the simla, he was OK but his hangers on are pathetic scum (especially the horrid little tart). can only think he surrounds himself with those that wont say 'no' so no-one had the bottle to say the ground was not really going to work. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LFEE Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 Iirc didn't it all begin to unravel because the local council refuse to let the stadium be used for concerts and other sporting events etc? ... Due to a safety certificate issue perhaps and also a personal/political grudge against G?... So the extra income the club had budgeted on was blocked... And the free fall began... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 The writing was on the wall for that club when that ignorant tool Reynolds built an 'arena' 10 times too big. had the 'pleasure' of sitting next to him and his cronies a year or so back in the simla, he was OK but his hangers on are pathetic scum (especially the horrid little tart). can only think he surrounds himself with those that wont say 'no' so no-one had the bottle to say the ground was not really going to work. What's the Simla? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now