Would you rather....

[wellingaway]

Option 1

A 10 year steady rise through the divisions under the current ownership model, culminating in consolidation in League 2. The club remaining financially viable with the odd player going on to bigger and better things and the club playing in front of 3000-5000 people in the town.

Or

Option 2

A takeover and huge financial investment by a morally questionable Kuwaiti businessman, culminating in a meteoric rise through the divisions and into the Premiership, playing in front of capacity crowds of 20000 in an out of town stadium. Home wins against Spurs and Man Utd, a League Cup victory against Newcastle and a subsequent tilt at the Europa League where we beat Fiorentina in the group stage before going out to Valencia in the last 8 after which Mr Kuwaiti pulls the plug and leaves us in an unholy mess.

[Spyman]

Option 1 please.

[dickdarlington]

Stupid question WD. Option A every time. You've spelt out in your question why Option B is flawed. And the satisfaction of rebuilding and returning to a natural place in the pecking order will be enough to satisfy me as a true supporter of the club.

Option B will end up in the pain of 2012 all over again, and I don't want to see this club (or any club) in that turmoil ever again.

[Alfie]

Option 1 every time - and that would still be the case if our 'natural level' turns out to be lower than div 2 playing in front of 1500.

We have been down a version of optin 2 at least 3 times plus other dodgy but less fatal regimes before - surely even the thickest football fan should notice a pattern emerging here?

[divas]

Can I choose option A for the next 30 years, then option B, purely from a selfish point of view.

[Twintowers]

And the pointless thread of the week goes to--------------------.

[al_quaker]

Option 1. I think getting in L2 will be tricky with the current ownership model anyway, so that would be superb, especially inside a decade!

[Quakerz]

Getting back to the conference is achievable in 2-5 years, along with crowds of 2,000+

However to get back to league 2 ever will take a miracle.

To be honest, once we're in the conference national, that will become our level, and we will fair like we mostly did in league 2, namely a majority of mid table and bottom half finishes, with the odd flirt with relegation, and crowds ultimately dropping back to 1,200-1,500 because of the lack of success. Then there will be the occasional season where we fair better than expected and finish top 8, and it's that hope that keeps us regulars going.

There are many reasons why I think this will be the case but I won't bore everyone with the reasoning behind it all, though a couple of quickies for you - I doubt we'll be able to afford a full time squad, because I can't see how it's possible to do that and break even on gates of even 2,000. This will put us at a disadvantage compared to the full time clubs and even part time clubs down south who have a much greater pool of players. Then you always have a couple of "project" clubs tearing the division up or trying to...there's a never ending supply. Crawlry, Fleetwood, Forest Green, soon Barrow, soon Salford, soon Fylde.

The reality is we will be massively up against it once we're at that level.

The only shot of getting back into league 2 is to have a flukily good season (probably out of the blue or straight after a conference north promotion when the players are fired up and playing above their level) and sneak 5th, and somehow win the 1 in 4 play off lottery. But that's not an expectation, it's a faint hope.

The way I see it is that we've got to enjoy Evo Prem and Conf North football as much as possible - one of the reasons why I said I would not mind if we took 5 years to get through those two leagues, as well as the ground building factor - is because I want a few more seasons of my club playing winning football, being a big fish, and being near the top of the league - before we hit the wall.

There's no rush!

[ArmchairDiehard]

Option one for me too. No doubt about it.

[al_quaker]

The reality is we will be massively up against it once we're at that level.

The only shot of getting back into league 2 is to have a flukily good season (probably out of the blue or straight after a conference north promotion when the players are fired up and playing above their level) and sneak 5th, and somehow win the 1 in 4 play off lottery. But that's not an expectation, it's a faint hope.

Or an FA cup run of course...

Hopefully it will be 3 up from the conference at some point, which would help a bit

[shawry]

Option 2 just to be different

On a more serious note, I hope that in time more clubs will become self-sustaining, this will make progress much more realistic.

I heard Alan Shearer today saying how sad it is that a club wont be able to do what Blackburn did 20 years ago, and how sad it was that Financial Fair Play means that a fan cant get his club to win the league anymore.

I noticed the lack of people telling him that for every Blackburn there has been a Leeds, a Portsmouth, a Darlington, etc etc

[JE93]

Getting back to the conference is achievable in 2-5 years, along with crowds of 2,000+

However to get back to league 2 ever will take a miracle.

To be honest, once we're in the conference national, that will become our level, and we will fair like we mostly did in league 2, namely a majority of mid table and bottom half finishes, with the odd flirt with relegation, and crowds ultimately dropping back to 1,200-1,500 because of the lack of success. Then there will be the occasional season where we fair better than expected and finish top 8, and it's that hope that keeps us regulars going.

There are many reasons why I think this will be the case but I won't bore everyone with the reasoning behind it all, though a couple of quickies for you - I doubt we'll be able to afford a full time squad, because I can't see how it's possible to do that and break even on gates of even 2,000. This will put us at a disadvantage compared to the full time clubs and even part time clubs down south who have a much greater pool of players. Then you always have a couple of "project" clubs tearing the division up or trying to...there's a never ending supply. Crawlry, Fleetwood, Forest Green, soon Barrow, soon Salford, soon Fylde.

The reality is we will be massively up against it once we're at that level.

The only shot of getting back into league 2 is to have a flukily good season (probably out of the blue or straight after a conference north promotion when the players are fired up and playing above their level) and sneak 5th, and somehow win the 1 in 4 play off lottery. But that's not an expectation, it's a faint hope.

The way I see it is that we've got to enjoy Evo Prem and Conf North football as much as possible - one of the reasons why I said I would not mind if we took 5 years to get through those two leagues, as well as the ground building factor - is because I want a few more seasons of my club playing winning football, being a big fish, and being near the top of the league - before we hit the wall.

There's no rush!

Interesting read Quakerz and I agree with much of what you say, i think if we get back to the Conf with half decent seasons we'll average around 2,200 and that would be a fantastic achievement. Higher levels i think we would struggle to be sustainable as others say there seem to be more and more of these 'project' clubs around.

But just a thought on the full time stance i have often wondered if we would ever be able to get back to this status. I wondered if it had ever been done before where the club has made say 10-12 of its first team FT pro's, supplimenting this with FT loan players from big clubs (so you dont have to pay wages) and some part time fringe players.

If this was possible we may have a chance. we are surrounded by plenty of good academies (sunderland, Newcastle, Boro). The PT players could be those pro's who are in the final years of their career looking to retrain into other jobs (darlo college) or maybe get their coaching badged, which could be assisted through MG's Academy. I know it maybe a while away from now but just interested to know whether another club has used that kind of model in the past.

I think realistically we could be back in the conf in 5-6 years. From there who knows.... But no shady Bahrainy business please.

[Spyman]

Option 2 just to be different

On a more serious note, I hope that in time more clubs will become self-sustaining, this will make progress much more realistic.

I heard Alan Shearer today saying how sad it is that a club wont be able to do what Blackburn did 20 years ago, and how sad it was that Financial Fair Play means that a fan cant get his club to win the league anymore.

I noticed the lack of people telling him that for every Blackburn there has been a Leeds, a Portsmouth, a Darlington, etc etc

I don't see FFP being to blame for that - it is more to do with the global nature of the Premiership, Sky's marketing machine attracting billionaires etc.

While Walker undoubtedly bought the league, the figures required to do it 20 years ago were not astronomical like they are now. Someone of Walker's wealth could probably bankroll a club as far as the Premiership but you just have to look at the number of established Premiership clubs who can't compete financially with those owned by Sheikhs and Oligarchs to see that FFP is not the issue.

If you took Chelsea and Man City out of it, and Man Utd because their commercial revenue puts them above the rest, you'd probably have quite a level playing field financially.

[spen666]

.... supplimenting this with FT loan players from big clubs (so you dont have to pay wages) .....

When you get players in on loan, at full time professional level at least, the club to whom the player goes pays at least a % of their wages so its not getting players for nothing

[JE93]

Im pretty sure that lots of clubs have parent club agreements where they need pay no % of wages and the parent benefits from a competitive decent standard league to develop players at senior level.

Plus even if you had to pay a % the kid on boro, sunderland and newcastles books will be on hundreds a week so a % would still be a cheap alternative.

[darlo_baron]

.... supplimenting this with FT loan players from big clubs (so you dont have to pay wages) .....

When you get players in on loan, at full time professional level at least, the club to whom the player goes pays at least a % of their wages so its not getting players for nothing

Not necessarily. Agreements can be reached with the club loaning the player in regards to his wages. I'd suggest the larger clubs in the region would not be adverse to paying their player while he gains experience at Darlo. We also got players on loan in our 3rd administration, with no wage implication. I believe Paul Johnson from Pools was one such example.

[lo36789]

.... supplimenting this with FT loan players from big clubs (so you dont have to pay wages) .....

When you get players in on loan, at full time professional level at least, the club to whom the player goes pays at least a % of their wages so its not getting players for nothing

I don't believe for a second we paid the likes of Jordan Pickford, David Wheater, Kasper Schmeichel, Kyle Lafferty a penny from our pockets.

Ruben Loftus-Cheek got a 1.7million per annum contract at Chelsea when he was 17. Do you think he is on that (£30k+ per week) and the rest of the reserves are on league one/league two wages?

I reckon that minutes on pitch clauses will be in more loan deals than % of salary - I am pretty sure David Preece wrote something about 'must play' clauses being pretty common place not so long ago.

If it was a senior player from a club one division above then it is a different matter I am pretty sure JE93 is referring to unproven youngsters - lower league clubs would be daft to sign up to paying a salary as a result.

I agree that Conference National will be our natural level as a fan owned club until we get a good cup run then it is pretty much game on to get promoted in that next season.

[Sidarlo]

I don't no the ins and outs of them, but is AFC Wimbledon 100% owned by fans. Seemed to have managed ok in league 2 since getting out of the conference

[theoriginalfatcat]

Option 1

A night out with Darlo-Pete.

Option 2

Three rounds of bare knuckle fighting V Alan White

[Maurice_Peddelty]

I don't no the ins and outs of them, but is AFC Wimbledon 100% owned by fans. Seemed to have managed ok in league 2 since getting out of the conference

AFC Wimbledon, Exeter City, Portsmouth, Wycombe Wanderers, Chester and Wrexham are all fan-owned.

[onewayup]

All hypothetical,lets see how we do and where we are in a couple of years time,everyone connected to the club wants us to go as far as is reasonably possible
With the financial awareness an astute measures held in place by M.J.and D.M who are doing a fantastic job along with M.G and his academy.

[spen666]

One big future decision that Darlington will have to consider in the future is whether to turn full time professional as they climb back up the league.

The extra costs of that would be huge (even without ground improvements to pay for).

It is a big decision that will have be me made at some time after they have reached the Conference National division.

Wimbledon are one of few fan owned clubs that have gone from part time to full time

[dfc85]

Option 2 every single time because it means we have won 6 promotions and probably a cup to qualify for Europe. Who cares what happens when the bloke pulls out. We have survived worse

[lo36789]

spen what colour is grass?

[Darlogramps]

One big future decision that Darlington will have to consider in the future is whether to turn full time professional as they climb back up the league.

The extra costs of that would be huge (even without ground improvements to pay for).

It is a big decision that will have be me made at some time after they have reached the Conference National division.

Wimbledon are one of few fan owned clubs that have gone from part time to full time

Piss off you two-faced creepy weirdo.

[Darlo_Pete]

Option 1 for me as well. There are a good few teams in the Conference who are playing with a semi-pro side. Woking are one such club and just missed out on the Conference.

[Neil Johnson]

I don't think Whitey can last that long!

With the present model DFC will need big crowds and also high price tickets to overcome any "Sugar Daddy" clubs in the Conference. Its more likely that we stay patient, build the club and wait for the dodgy investors to depart the scene.

Far better if income came from TV deal compensation and cup runs, rather than tax write offs, with their associated risk of asset stripping, administration and liquidation.

[princes town]

The reality is we will be massively up against it once we're at that level.

The only shot of getting back into league 2 is to have a flukily good season (probably out of the blue or straight after a conference north promotion when the players are fired up and playing above their level) and sneak 5th, and somehow win the 1 in 4 play off lottery. But that's not an expectation, it's a faint hope.

Or an FA cup run of course...

Hopefully it will be 3 up from the conference at some point, which would help a bit

An FA cup run is the random factor and can knock previous expectations out of the window.. The money that can be made out of this is enormous.

[fozzovmurton]

Option 2 all the time

I could do with the holiday in Florence and Valencia then deal with the Arab Prince pulling out later...

Nah seriously, option 1 for me, I would rather a middle of the road Conference team that was self-sustainable in a little ground averaging 2k-2.5k

[Will Smith]

Option 2

Once you've established yourself in the Premiership and europe with crowds of 20000 then I dont think Mr Kuwaiti pulling out would cause the spiral you suggest it would, theres so much money at that level that Mr Abu Dhabi will be along soon enough to pick up the pieces, either that or Mike Ashley.... then it would be time to panic