We are not where we wanted to be but we are still breathing, todays is the dawn of a new era,

http://www.darlofc.co.uk/news.php?NewsID=961

ahem, a slight technical issue with the new design, anyway here is the text of the story.

n January of this year our football world was once again turned upside down as yet another owner chucks the towel in after being unable to make the club work financially. As fans I think we all knew that this could be the end, we could not keep on going into administration every other year and in the current economic climate there are not that many people willing to gamble with their cash.

I sit here thinking of what to write and am starting to feel sorry for myself, but self pity will not get us anywhere. We have been smashed in the face by so many over the last decade or so, and in typical darlo fashion, just when something comes along and lifts you up off the ropes and gives you an energy drink (wembley) bang, Darlington FC are given the knockout blow.


Darlington fans and football fans around the country have been fantastic. I will always remember one saturday morning heading to the bank on High Row to pick up the first £8000 that fans had donated for the players who had not been paid by the club. Due to paypal issues I could not get the money to my account fast enough so "borrowed" the £8k from my mortgage. So the situation was normal fans had donated thousands of pounds, I had borrowed money on my house, all to donate money to football players who were not being paid. So guess what landed at my door that morning? Yet another solicitors letter threatening all sorts of action. It really shows the difference in humanity between people. I know I can sleep at night happy in the knowledge that I have not upset anybody, not tried to inflict worry on others and tried to make a positive impact on the world we live in.

But for all of our fight I do feel that we have gained very little, infact in some ways I feel we have lost as I really don't see what we have gained apart from a club crest and the players debt. But hindsight is a wonderful thing and at the time we would not really have believed that the FA would have treat us so disgracefully.

So much time and money was poured into those dark days of January, so many meetings, so many fund raising hours put in. I will be honest, it drained me, the whole DUFF administration, the picking up of thousands of pounds in brown envelopes, the mortgage money, the solicitors letters from various owners over the years (what is it with legal letters to Uncovered eh?).

I remember having a conversation with Craig McKenna about he DUFF investment. The whole Darlo Uncovered Fighting Fund raised over £22k in the end, and on this particular occasion I was being asked whether I would be willing to transfer the DUFF fund into CIC. I couldn't really understand what it was all about, I was actually in the back of a hire car in Essex somewhere and the signal kept going. But I agreed to invest, the reason? Because the whole purpose of DUFF was to save Darlington Football Club, nothing else. It was not go towards creating a phoenix club or any other project. It was solely for DFC. The 1883 option was our only path and for that reason we had to follow that route. But we did not find a rainbow at the end of the path and we now find ourselves in the position of Northern League and homeless and some outlets calling us Darlington 1883.

But we now own our club, we now run our club and we can now rebuild our club for future generations. We don't want to be a massive club, premiership in five years crap. We want to be a small town club with a nice neat and tidy ground which could take us back to lower league football. We can do this but it is going to take time so lets hope we are all patient.

I am slightly nervous of this afternoons game but at least I have a game to go and watch. I hope you all enjoy the match and thanks to all who have helped out financially over the last 8 months and all who have donated their time to keep the Darlo project rolling on.

Great write up, I think some fans forget how much effort we put in during those early days, shows true commitment to keep going hope things move along smothly and any new owners show a bit more respect rather than contempt and solicitors letters.

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Ding,ding home time...somehow DFC have to get back to Darlo.

Story also working on new site now. Have to copy things from one db to another until I get the admin working

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Mikky - http://twitter.com/mikkyx
Next Darlo Quiz - 30th May, Dolphin Centre, 8pm
Jackpot Question: £175

You think we have gained very little, which in material terms is correct. But what about gaining dignity.? The way the people running our club are honest and open.
What about respect ? No longer are we the butt of cruel jokes, the wider football
community realise what we have been through, the injustice served upon us. Starting with the supporters of Barrow we have many new friends in the football world and much
respect for what has been created these last six difficult months.
And what about Pride, who today will honestly say they won't have a tear in their eye as
Darlo take the field.
Dignity, Respect and Pride a small compensation, but they will stand us well in the coming
months and years.

I think the point of gaining little was more we would have gained all the things you pointed out without the need for 200k, but highinsight is a wonderful thing

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Ding,ding home time...somehow DFC have to get back to Darlo.

that is exactly what I meant. basically we would have ended up in exactly the same position as we are in now without all of the hassle of battling our way through to the end of the season which was very costly and also put in all of the effort to save the club.

we would have had the same feeling of pride and diginity that we will have today without the hassle. But as I mentioned in the main story, hindsight is a wonderful thing and I really did not expect the FA to be so harsh.

I daren't even ask who the heck is writing you solicitors letters Scott, just emphasises that there's some disgraceful, bitter, horrible individuals who have been involved with our football club over the years.

Karma.