Darlington FC 14/15

[Darlofan97]

Just thought I would carry on this thread from TFF to keep the minority who are interested updated on our progress.

Darlington FC P-P Prescot Cables

Meanwhile, Salford beat Farsley 3-2 and Northwich Victoria beat Padiham. We are 3 points behind Northwich and 6 points behind Salford with 5 games in hand over both clubs.

In transfer news (if you missed it), we have signed prolific Harrogate RA forward Nathan Cartman (25) for an undisclosed fee. He has already scored 29 league goals in 28 league appearances this season (36 in 35 in all competitions) for the Rail. Meanwhile, forward Liam Hatch has been transfer listed by the club.

Just a little news on our Back to Darlington campaign too, £9,140 was released from the B2D Fund to the football club in order to pay for the planning and initial professional fees incurred to date. c£12k now remains in the fund.

 

[Alty]

Good to see you over here and this thread carrying on. I like to look in every so often to see how you're doing.

As an aside, are there other ex TFF Darlo fans you know from other forums? Quakerz in particular, but I'm sure there are others. TSQuaker and QuakerSam (or names similar to that) were members too, I think.

 

[Darlofan97]

Good to see you over here and this thread carrying on. I like to look in every so often to see how you're doing.

As an aside, are there other ex TFF Darlo fans you know from other forums? Quakerz in particular, but I'm sure there are others. TSQuaker and QuakerSam (or names similar to that) were members too, I think.

I know who QuakerSam is, I'll give him a shout about this site. Quakerz will probably find this site before long given how active he was on TFF. Unsure on TSQuaker however.

 

[redblood]

Will Darlington ever move back to the Northern Echo Arena?

 

[Darlofan97]

Will Darlington ever move back to the Northern Echo Arena?

In short, no. We submitted planning permission mid-December to Darlington Borough Council in order to upgrade the infrastructure at Blackwell Meadows where Darlington Rugby Football Club are currently based. This includes incorporating the temporary stand we have at Bishop Auckland along one side of the pitch, terracing behind one goal, expansion to the clubhouse and car park plus work on the pitch.

The aim is for us to be home by the beginning of the 2015/2016 season.

 

[Railway Blue]

How high up the pyramid can you in Blackwell Meadows?
Will sharing a ground with a rugby team have any consequences/problems?

 

[Darlofan97]

Ossett Albion 0-2 Darlington FC

(Graeme Armstrong 27', Stephen Thompson 64')

Salford City lost 3-1 away at Brighouse Town, with also having 2 men sent off, however Northwich won away at Prescot Cables 3-2. This leaves us 3 points off both Salford & Northwich with 5 games in hand.

We play Salford (A) next Saturday.

 

[Darlofan97]

How high up the pyramid can you in Blackwell Meadows?
Will sharing a ground with a rugby team have any consequences/problems?

I do not know the current grading of Blackwell Meadows as a football stadium as it has not yet been used as one as far as I am aware. All I know is that the upgrades we are looking at financing and then constructing will get us up to Grade C (Step 3). After that, we will have to improve Blackwell Meadows as we move up the leagues.

As for any problems, I do not know. Darlington RFC seem very supportive of the move, and I think they need us as much as we need them. DRFC have recently announced that they are going to be operating an an amateur basis, which may give us a little more power in terms of grants etc.

Obviously the state of the pitch is a talking point

 

[WeAreDarlington]

All eyes now turn to Salford (A) on Saturday. A loss wouldn't be a disaster as we would still be in the ascendency although ideally 3 points would alleviate pressure.

For those that don't know, Salford recently sacked their manager, Phil Power, and appointed management duo Bernard Morley and Anthony Johnson from Ramsbottom. Since then the Class of 92' have let them splash the cash and they have well and truly ransacked the 'Rams by bringing in 8 of their players and 1 coach.

Sounds like we could well be taking around 600/700 fans to the North-West for what should be a good game.

 

[DarkSithLord]

All eyes now turn to Salford (A) on Saturday. A loss wouldn't be a disaster as we would still be in the ascendency although ideally 3 points would alleviate pressure.

For those that don't know, Salford recently sacked their manager, Phil Power, and appointed management duo Bernard Morley and Anthony Johnson from Ramsbottom. Since then the Class of 92' have let them splash the cash and they have well and truly ransacked the 'Rams by bringing in 8 of their players and 1 coach.

Sounds like we could well be taking around 600/700 fans to the North-West for what should be a good game.

Welcome mate

 

[WeAreDarlington]

Cheers mate, I've been meaning to join for a while so it's good to be back.

 

[rudebwoyben]

Just thought I would carry on this thread from TFF to keep the minority who are interested updated on our progress.

Darlington FC P-P Prescot Cables

Meanwhile, Salford beat Farsley 3-2 and Northwich Victoria beat Padiham. We are 3 points behind Northwich and 6 points behind Salford with 5 games in hand over both clubs.

In transfer news (if you missed it), we have signed prolific Harrogate RA forward Nathan Cartman (25) for an undisclosed fee. He has already scored 29 league goals in 28 league appearances this season (36 in 35 in all competitions) for the Rail. Meanwhile, forward Liam Hatch has been transfer listed by the club.

Just a little news on our Back to Darlington campaign too, £9,140 was released from the B2D Fund to the football club in order to pay for the planning and initial professional fees incurred to date. c£12k now remains in the fund.

Don't tell certain Barnet fans that he's available, they'll start a campaign to him to come back down south and rejoin us!

 

[Modernist]

I'm sure most football fans would love to see Darlington win the league rather than Salford.

 

[GEORGE]

I'm sure most football fans would love to see Darlington win the league rather than Salford.

I would for one anyway.

 

[DarkSithLord]

Salford had a really poor defeat at Brighouse last time out. I think Darlo will win with ease.

 

[Daveyjames]

I'd love to see Darlo climb back up the leagues. My first ever away game my Dad took me to was at Feethams back in the 70's, because my uncle lived in Middlesbrough. I'll watch your progress with interest and wish you all the best.

 

[Meadow]

I remember following what I thought was the last minute rescue a couple of seasons ago on twitter and the local radio. I think I donated a small amount to the trust to keep things going (as I did to help Chester get going again). Very disappointing to find out that the rescue wasn't enough.

 

[Darlofan97]

Salford City 2-0 Darlington FC

Shock we've been done over again. White and Mitchell sent off for dissent. Gray and Atkinson sent to the stands. Really don't know when we will learn.

6 points behind Salford with 5 games in hand and 3 behind Northwich with 4 games in hand now.

A little mention for the 800-900 Darlo fans who went down to Salford today too. Fantastic support.

 

[WeAreDarlington]

Yesterday was a carbon copy of the Ramsbottom game last year in the play-offs, the best team won 2-0, referee atrocious, poor discipline shown, and a cagey atmosphere.

Somehow we came away with 4 red-cards, firstly Alan White received another yellow-card for dissent, then shortly after Martin Gray and Brian Atkinson were sent to the stands and Adam Mitchell, on the pitch for about 20 minutes, was shown a straight red-card for dissent after their second goal.

Again we've fallen into the trap set up by Morley and Johnson as they executed for Ramsbottom last season; physical team set up to frustrate and lack any form of fair-play, I.E, constant time-wasting, players rolling around and winding up the crowd. Very clever and it's worked again for them.

Regarding the referee, no real major decisions to make, apart from one which he arguably got correct by showing Lynch a yellow card after hauling down Cartman on the edge of the box although the highlights will show more clarity. I think what genuinely made his performance a shocker was his decisions in terms of bookings, free-kicks, corners and throw-ins. It was almost like he was watching another game yesterday.

Jameson, Brown, Portas, Thompson and Hatch were all yellow carded, 3 in the first 15 minutes! I'm not suprised that White got wound up after the linesman never stopped shushing him all first-half.

I'll say this again, the better team won, but in big games like these you need strong, competent officials in charge.

 

[Darlofan97]

I remember following what I thought was the last minute rescue a couple of seasons ago on twitter and the local radio. I think I donated a small amount to the trust to keep things going (as I did to help Chester get going again). Very disappointing to find out that the rescue wasn't enough.

Well it was really.

Whilst the FA forced us to change our name, we still are Darlington Football Club. The FA has allowed us to keep our history, and if we went bust we would have had to wait a year before we could play football again. This did not happen.

The only reason for the name change was because of the failure to obtain the 'golden share', which allowed us to play football under the name 'Darlington FC', from former Chairman Raj Singh. He wouldn't sign it over unless his terms were met.

No doubt we will try and try again to revert back to Darlington FC, as we have already tried to do back in May. The request was rejected however the FA "have not closed the door on us fully" in regards to a name change in the future.

 

[Modernist]

@ChairmanSCFC: We have had a stand wrecked letters pulled off the walls toilets destroyed but guess what we got the 3 points

That's sad.

 

[Jemfy]

Well it was really.

Whilst the FA forced us to change our name, we still are Darlington Football Club. The FA has allowed us to keep our history, and if we went bust we would have had to wait a year before we could play football again. This did not happen.

The only reason for the name change was because of the failure to obtain the 'golden share', which allowed us to play football under the name 'Darlington FC', from former Chairman Raj Singh. He wouldn't sign it over unless his terms were met.

No doubt we will try and try again to revert back to Darlington FC, as we have already tried to do back in May. The request was rejected however the FA "have not closed the door on us fully" in regards to a name change in the future.

The lack of transfer of the 'golden share' is precisely what the FA believes makes you a new club, and not the same Darlington. This is completely consistent with other clubs who have gone bust. The only club I know of to have gone bust and take a season out is us, but that's because it didn't happen until so late we missed all the league application deadlines.

 

[Darlofan97]

The lack of transfer of the 'golden share' is precisely what the FA believes makes you a new club, and not the same Darlington. This is completely consistent with other clubs who have gone bust. The only club I know of to have gone bust and take a season out is us, but that's because it didn't happen until so late we missed all the league application deadlines.

Jemfy, we did not go bust.

Whilst the failure to obtain the 'Golden Share' is consistent with clubs who have gone bust there are many inconsistencies from clubs who have gone bust and our situation in the summer of 2012.

Darlington1883Ltd completed the full takeover of the club, the assets and the liabilities. We still recieve transfer clauses of former player sales, we are also still paying back debt incurred under previous management. How can this happen if we went 'bust'?

Whilst the FA have to recognise us as a 'new club', due to the enforced name change, they also allow our 130+ year history to stand (unlike clubs who have went 'bust').

We will return to our rightful playing name in a few years. When our request was rejected in May it was mentioned that we could take the FA to court and win, however we did not/currently do not, have the resources to do so.

 

[Darlofan97]

@ChairmanSCFC: We have had a stand wrecked letters pulled off the walls toilets destroyed but guess what we got the 3 points

That's sad.

Always are a few idiots in a large crowd.

The facilities were massively overwhelmed yesterday by a large crowd. They need to smarten up a bit if they have aspirations of moving up the leagues. That in no way condones the actions of a minority however.

Maybe Mrs Baird should focus on how to improve SCFC off the field, instead of gobbing off on Twitter?

 

[WeAreDarlington]

Firstly I fully condemn the actions of the small minority of fans that damaged the stand, letters and toilets.

However, in light of this, Mrs Baird has came out and stated that because of drunk and disorderly behaviour, the bar was closed from 3PM-5PM, thus restricting disabled access to spectators.

This is a statement that is strictly untrue as the bar was announced closed from at-least 1:30PM, before any altercation took place. She is cleverly trying to deflect the attention away from the lack of facilities available to mis-behaving spectators present.

Also while I'm at it, the amount of cameras at the ground yesterday was nauseating. The whole Class of 92' situation is nothing short of a publicity stunt, with all talk of player development and creating opportunities for young talent it comes as quite a shock that they have players such as Gareth Seddon and Danny Webber. It's all well and good publishing stories in the media that they've just let a young full-back leave to sign for Manchester United, despite the fact that they only had him for 3 weeks and Manchester City made him the player that he is, but the reality is that they're spending money from the pocket of (?), ran-sacking fellow non-league clubs in the North-West and signing ex-professionals.

Never mind though, have fun playing in front of 200 fans and getting changed in portakabins. Harsh reality of the project that's going on down there.

 

[Pliny Harris]

Always are a few idiots in a large crowd.

The facilities were massively overwhelmed yesterday by a large crowd. They need to smarten up a bit if they have aspirations of moving up the leagues. That in no way condones the actions of a minority however.

Maybe Mrs Baird should focus on how to improve SCFC off the field, instead of gobbing off on Twitter?

I like Darlington, but it's godawful to criticise on that basis. There's room for several hundred more at Moor Lane. They have coped in the past, have followed ground grading guidelines to the letter and actually have smarted the place up a bit on last year, and even had to build a new clubhouse after the previous one was a victim of arson five years ago. No doubt they have the money and the space to grow if they are promoted. I can imagine, and have been in, much worse crowding situations than 900 people at Moor Lane.

 

[Darlofan97]

I like Darlington, but it's godawful to criticise on that basis. There's room for several hundred more at Moor Lane. They have coped in the past, have followed ground grading guidelines to the letter and actually have smarted the place up a bit on last year, and even had to build a new clubhouse after the previous one was a victim of arson five years ago. No doubt they have the money and the space to grow if they are promoted. I can imagine, and have been in, much worse crowding situations than 900 people at Moor Lane.

No it's not, the set-up was quite poor in all honesty. Programmes were sold out by 1.30PM, the bar was closed from 3PM-5PM and even when it was open there was a 40 minute queue for pints. When the bar was shut this significantly reduced toilet facilities, and this meant there were none for the disabled (something which Ms Baird has shown regret about). They only had 1 catering kiosk on as well.

The crowd was also well over 900, a Salford official has admitted this. It was more like 1,200-1,300, which is a 30%+ increase on the figure you've mentioned.

No point in dwelling over it however. Lessons learnt I'm sure by both clubs, on and off the pitch.

 

[Pliny Harris]

Fair enough that is tinpot. Just how you wouldn't open up the facilities that should be open with a tenth of the given crowd. It reminds me of the "FCHT Mini-Store" we had a few years back between our two main stands that they refused to open at half time.

 

[Darlofan97]

Darlington FC 5-0 Ossett Town

(Terry Galbraith 08', Gary Brown 44', 87', Nathan Cartman 55', Tom Portas 65')

Attendance: 959

Good result, and much needed after a difficult past week. Northwich lost today and Salford had a game called off. This leaves us level on points with Northwich with 4 games in hand and 3 points behind Salford with also 4 games in hand.

Next up is Padiham (A) on Wednesday night. The start of 4 away games on the bounce.

 

[Darlofan97]

Padiham 1-3 Darlington FC

(Nelson Mota 45', Graeme Armstrong 82', Stephen Thompson 84')

Top of the league now on goal difference. Level with Salford and 3 points above Northwich with 3 games in hand over both. Next up is Harrogate RA (A) on Saturday.