Has everyone gone insane?

[Unstuck]

Raj fucking Singh?????

The man who had the choice of life or death for our club and chose death?

He should not be let within touching distance of OUR club that WE rebuilt from the ashes of HIS bonfire.

Even having his name mentioned in connection with our club is a stain on everything we have achieved.

How can anyone forget? The lies, the straight out fucking lies that come out of his mouth. He is a fucking liar. How can anyone forget the damage he did to this club? He cannot be trusted. This is empirical fact. We know from experience.

Letting him take any stake in the club is an insult to every single one of us who have helped to rebuild this club after he destroyed it. Any money he attempts to put into the club should be laminated and stuck into the urinals at Blackwell Meadows.

We should stick with the project we have begun. We should live within our means. We shouldn't invite in the same, the exact fucking actual same vultures that destroyed our club the first time round. We should live within our means. And if that means our manager's ambitions outgrow ours and he leaves, then so be it. A fan owned club shouldn't be in thrall to one big personality.

ANY money that goes into the club above what the fans can generate is unsustainable. It might be great in the short term, but long term it will come back to bite us on the arse. It inflates a bubble which will eventually burst. There is no reason why we can't build on what we've achieved so far and reach our natural level in the conference, maybe even get back into the football league one day. But what is the point if all we have to look forward to is some sugardaddy pulling the rug from under our feet? It has happened before and it WILL happen again.

Let's not re-open the revolving door of shady owners. Let's stick with this project.

[Darlo_H]

I'm open to outside investment provided it's transparent and from a reputable source.

This is neither as far as I'm concerned. Wouldn't trust Singh as far as I could throw him, he's almost overseen the death of this club once before so what exactly is his end game here?

Too much risk attached and too slimy a character. He can do one.

[Mr_Tibbs]

Well said both of you. We're under attack from vultures who are colluding to try and use our name and relative success to make money from themselves somehow.

They are targeting our main vulnerabilities which are our desire for even greater success and our over-reliance on MG and his team.

Their weapons are a wad of notes waved before our very eyes and waves of propaganda from MG, Raj himself, and now Hodgy.

Our own fundraising campaign was doing well but has now, quite naturally, stalled while all this is in the air. This is all planned - a well timed and coordinated attempt to lure us in so they can snatch the club from our hands and try to convince us that our money is much safer in their pockets because that is the only way, that with them in control we'll be in the Premiership in 5 years... or some far flung idea like that.

What are they going to do - promising more and more success so they can make millions developing and flogging on players to higher clubs or something? If we believe everything they say then it wouldn't take very long for us to become one of those bigger clubs ourselves and so that little gravy train would soon run out of track.

They can all do one for me.

We'll come out of this much wiser and much stronger.

[Quakerz]

After initially saying "let's have the 40k as it's risk free" I'm agreed.

Our own manager called us a laughing stock and then engineers this. To be honest we kind of overlooked the comment but it was totally unacceptable.

[tezza]

After initially saying "let's have the 40k as it's risk free" I'm agreed.

Our own manager called us a laughing stock and then engineers this. To be honest we kind of overlooked the comment but it was totally unacceptable.

I still think that the £40k is relatively risk free.

RS has almost no support amongst the fans, the final proposal will inevitably be "dressed up" but will be unable to mask his intent to gain ultimate control of the club. Surely then that proposal will fail. The fans/club will by that time have had some of the 30 pieces back. When that is closed of and hopefully the pledges back on track.

Then we can deal with the treachery

[Geordie Quaker]

Yup, MG knew that he had sufficient respect / hero worship within the fan base (and power within the club) to get away with what was quite extraordinarily unprofessional conduct at the forum. It was only the gravitas of the bigger picture that meant we didn't focus on it. I imagine his relationship with the current board is in tatters.

And Hodgson getting involved? Ill-informed, emotive, cliche-ridden nonsense. I expected better from him. I'll take the views of ex-players like Kris Taylor (who actually experienced how Raj dealt with the club) over someone with nothing other than a agenda to support a friend.

I can understand (just about) why people want to hear what Raj has to say, but I cannot fathom for a second why people may actually trust what he says.

What frustrates me the most is the rationale (some of) the pro-Singh investors have. "We will fall to Northern League"; "We are going bust"; "Our players will leave and pigeons will s*** on our new pitch".

I agree that external investment may be necessary, but MG has seemingly created a sense of panic / fear over our current predicament that is not supported by any evidence. In some ways it is a bit like hearing the arguments of those who voted Brexit because Farage told them it would get rid of all immigrants.

If we believe that private investment is necessary, how about we say no to a proven liar, put together a clear proposition and actually make it public / approach potential investors? People seem to forget that Raj is our "only hope" purely because we have not actually sought investment apart form MGs 'approach'.

[al_quaker]

Our own manager called us a laughing stock and then engineers this. To be honest we kind of overlooked the comment but it was totally unacceptable.

I am coming around to this viewpoint on Gray to be honest. Yes he's clearly a good manager, but his comments at the forum about his employers were out of order. His actions, which go beyond his role as first team manager, have divided the fanbase - unless it's an overwhelming majority one way or the other, a significant minority of the fans will think it's the wrong course of action (our very own Brexit). Let's not hope it's a terminal division. Then there's the relationship between his academy and the football club - I don't fully understand what it's all about but it is unconventional, and this relationship has kind of been brushed under the carpet because of the success we've had over the last few years.

As I've seen mentioned on twitter it's Darlington Football Club, not Martin Gray Football Club. I still want him to stay as manager - after the success we've had of course I want him to stay. But not in a role where he is dictating the direction of the football club.

If we do end up with a pumped up budget, he better win promotion next season.

[leedscol]

Everything seemed to be progressing reasonably well,or so we were led to believe,until this bombshell from the blue.Now sudden panic and doom unless we sell our souls
to the devil for a relatively paltry £40k.
Why has he come along and wants to be involved?
Why are Gray and Hodgson supporting him?
Just doesn't add up.Lots of questions to be answered.

[Spyman]

Our own manager called us a laughing stock and then engineers this. To be honest we kind of overlooked the comment but it was totally unacceptable.

I am coming around to this viewpoint on Gray to be honest. Yes he's clearly a good manager, but his comments at the forum about his employers were out of order. His actions, which go beyond his role as first team manager, have divided the fanbase - unless it's an overwhelming majority one way or the other, a significant minority of the fans will think it's the wrong course of action (our very own Brexit). Let's not hope it's a terminal division. Then there's the relationship between his academy and the football club - I don't fully understand what it's all about but it is unconventional, and this relationship has kind of been brushed under the carpet because of the success we've had over the last few years.

As I've seen mentioned on twitter it's Darlington Football Club, not Martin Gray Football Club. I still want him to stay as manager - after the success we've had of course I want him to stay. But not in a role where he is dictating the direction of the football club.

If we do end up with a pumped up budget, he better win promotion next season.

He'd have some serious egg on his face if he gets his budget and we're not in the top 5.

[TDS]

Our own manager called us a laughing stock and then engineers this. To be honest we kind of overlooked the comment but it was totally unacceptable.

I am coming around to this viewpoint on Gray to be honest. Yes he's clearly a good manager, but his comments at the forum about his employers were out of order. His actions, which go beyond his role as first team manager, have divided the fanbase - unless it's an overwhelming majority one way or the other, a significant minority of the fans will think it's the wrong course of action (our very own Brexit). Let's not hope it's a terminal division. Then there's the relationship between his academy and the football club - I don't fully understand what it's all about but it is unconventional, and this relationship has kind of been brushed under the carpet because of the success we've had over the last few years.

As I've seen mentioned on twitter it's Darlington Football Club, not Martin Gray Football Club. I still want him to stay as manager - after the success we've had of course I want him to stay. But not in a role where he is dictating the direction of the football club.

If we do end up with a pumped up budget, he better win promotion next season.

He'd have some serious egg on his face if he gets his budget and we're not in the top 5.

Which is totally possible by the way. We could throw money at it this season and quite reasonably finish 8th.

People laude Gray as a great manager etc, but he's been riding on the biggest fish in a small pond for a while. His Academy is heavily linked in with Darlo, he benefits as much as anybody and his ultimatum is massively risky. He cannot guarantee the Club's safety, and he cannot guarantee one promotion, let alone 2.

[Undercovered]

Martin stated at the FF that he needed a budget of £400K this season because of extra competition which would have been an increase on last season, nevermind just staying the same.

[jjljks]

Everything seemed to be progressing reasonably well,or so we were led to believe,until this bombshell from the blue.Now sudden panic and doom unless we sell our souls
to the devil for a relatively paltry £40k.
Why has he come along and wants to be involved?
Why are Gray and Hodgson supporting him?
Just doesn't add up.Lots of questions to be answered.

Totally agree, this paltry £40k could be frittered away on some poor signings despite MG's undoubted talents, just think about the likes of Hardy, Fisher etc etc all half decent lads but couldn't fit into MG's framework and hence never gave us the return on our money.

Raj Singh owes us more than £4m in damages for the pain he has put us through and until he makes some restoration without strings, we should not even listen to any of this 'investment'.

If he is so keen on putting money into the club then let him buy £40k's worth of lottery or 50/50 tickets, sponsor some advertising, sponsor some kit for the first team or buy us a minibus, anything but NOT a share in our football club. He kept the football share so let him sit and stare at that, until he crumbles into dust.

[Lincolnshire_Quaker]

Well said both of you. We're under attack from vultures who are colluding to try and use our name and relative success to make money from themselves somehow.

They are targeting our main vulnerabilities which are our desire for even greater success and our over-reliance on MG and his team.

Their weapons are a wad of notes waved before our very eyes and waves of propaganda from MG, Raj himself, and now Hodgy.

Our own fundraising campaign was doing well but has now, quite naturally, stalled while all this is in the air. This is all planned - a well timed and coordinated attempt to lure us in so they can snatch the club from our hands and try to convince us that our money is much safer in their pockets because that is the only way, that with them in control we'll be in the Premiership in 5 years... or some far flung idea like that.

What are they going to do - promising more and more success so they can make millions developing and flogging on players to higher clubs or something? If we believe everything they say then it wouldn't take very long for us to become one of those bigger clubs ourselves and so that little gravy train would soon run out of track.

They can all do one for me.

We'll come out of this much wiser and much stronger.

Mr Tibbs and the posts he quotes are spot on. This all takes me back to 2012 when we were all running around like headless chickens when Raj did the dirty on us and Harvey was called in. We eventually got ourselves organised and fans have taken the club to where it is today as part of a whole team, which includes MG, DFCSG, elected directors, sponsors, etc etc.

The move by Raj, MG & others unknown intentionally introduces a huge amount of FUD - much like the PM in her election campaign. "Investors will give strong stable leadership" as opposed to a fan's "Coalition of Chaos". It's "Project Fear".

I'm not at all happy about this NetCafe lark. As far as I can see, looking at previous ones, it's just a set of pre-prepared replies pasted into a page on the club site at a pre-arranged time. Might be useful for an interview with a player but hardly good enough for something like this. Hopefully someone can put me right on this and tell me that we will be able to interact with Raj in real time and see the whites of his eyes and hear the tone of his voice as he replies. Anything less is a whitewash.

[QuakerPete]

Well said both of you. We're under attack from vultures who are colluding to try and use our name and relative success to make money from themselves somehow.

They are targeting our main vulnerabilities which are our desire for even greater success and our over-reliance on MG and his team.

Their weapons are a wad of notes waved before our very eyes and waves of propaganda from MG, Raj himself, and now Hodgy.

Our own fundraising campaign was doing well but has now, quite naturally, stalled while all this is in the air. This is all planned - a well timed and coordinated attempt to lure us in so they can snatch the club from our hands and try to convince us that our money is much safer in their pockets because that is the only way, that with them in control we'll be in the Premiership in 5 years... or some far flung idea like that.

What are they going to do - promising more and more success so they can make millions developing and flogging on players to higher clubs or something? If we believe everything they say then it wouldn't take very long for us to become one of those bigger clubs ourselves and so that little gravy train would soon run out of track.

They can all do one for me.

We'll come out of this much wiser and much stronger.

Mr Tibbs and the posts he quotes are spot on. This all takes me back to 2012 when we were all running around like headless chickens when Raj did the dirty on us and Harvey was called in. We eventually got ourselves organised and fans have taken the club to where it is today as part of a whole team, which includes MG, DFCSG, elected directors, sponsors, etc etc.

The move by Raj, MG & others unknown intentionally introduces a huge amount of FUD - much like the PM in her election campaign. "Investors will give strong stable leadership" as opposed to a fan's "Coalition of Chaos". It's "Project Fear".

I'm not at all happy about this NetCafe lark. As far as I can see, looking at previous ones, it's just a set of pre-prepared replies pasted into a page on the club site at a pre-arranged time. Might be useful for an interview with a player but hardly good enough for something like this. Hopefully someone can put me right on this and tell me that we will be able to interact with Raj in real time and see the whites of his eyes and hear the tone of his voice as he replies. Anything less is a whitewash.

This Net Café is an absolute insult to the intelligence, it's akin to the home programme notes Q&A where Singh confirmed all the monies had been gifted, not loaned. It doesn't give any scrutiny by the fans or anyone else. Can't understand why club and supporters group officials agreed to it.

[boorman]

Yup, MG knew that he had sufficient respect / hero worship within the fan base (and power within the club) to get away with what was quite extraordinarily unprofessional conduct at the forum. It was only the gravitas of the bigger picture that meant we didn't focus on it. I imagine his relationship with the current board is in tatters.

And Hodgson getting involved? Ill-informed, emotive, cliche-ridden nonsense. I expected better from him. I'll take the views of ex-players like Kris Taylor (who actually experienced how Raj dealt with the club) over someone with nothing other than a agenda to support a friend.

I can understand (just about) why people want to hear what Raj has to say, but I cannot fathom for a second why people may actually trust what he says.

What frustrates me the most is the rationale (some of) the pro-Singh investors have. "We will fall to Northern League"; "We are going bust"; "Our players will leave and pigeons will s*** on our new pitch".

I agree that external investment may be necessary, but MG has seemingly created a sense of panic / fear over our current predicament that is not supported by any evidence. In some ways it is a bit like hearing the arguments of those who voted Brexit because Farage told them it would get rid of all immigrants.

If we believe that private investment is necessary, how about we say no to a proven liar, put together a clear proposition and actually make it public / approach potential investors? People seem to forget that Raj is our "only hope" purely because we have not actually sought investment apart form MGs 'approach'.

You've absolutely nailed it with all of this - couldn't agree more.

But sadly our fanbase has fallen for Hodgson's "cliche-ridden nonsense" time and again in the past and I wouldn't put it past them this time to be honest.

Just imagine how much of a "laughing stock" we would be if our fans are stupid enough to vote to go cap in hand back to Raj Singh????? I can just picture the conversations I might have with fans of other clubs who'd say "so hang on a minute, for the sake of £40,000 you've decided to go back to the chairman who took you out of existence?"

Yes, I know - it isn't as black and white as that. I do think Singh's intent was reasonable at first and George Houghton absolutely stiffed him, but anyone with a memory better than a goldfish ought to remember just how worthless some of Singh's words were when it came to it. For starters, coming out in public with a great fanfare saying the club didn't owe him anything but then completely going back on it...... is this really someone who we can trust with our club?

[LoidLucan]

Re the NetCafe, no-one yet knows what he is going to say, what the proposal will involve and what his motivation is. It may be the most incredible plan, full of promise and full of assurances, guarantees and safeguards for the fans or it may have more holes than a Swiss cheese and suggest 'Don't touch it with a bargepole.' This platform for Raj may not be ideal but it's what we've got and we need to hear what he says and then decide. I'm keeping an open mind until I've got all the information from this, from other people's views and from the Supporters Group meeting.

[QuakerPete]

Re the NetCafe, no-one yet knows what he is going to say, what the proposal will involve and what his motivation is. It may be the most incredible plan, full of promise and full of assurances, guarantees and safeguards for the fans or it may have more holes than a Swiss cheese and suggest 'Don't touch it with a bargepole.' This platform for Raj may not be ideal but it's what we've got and we need to hear what he says and then decide. I'm keeping an open mind until I've got all the information from this, from other people's views and from the Supporters Group meeting.

"This platform for Raj may not be ideal . . ." - understatement of the year. This method is no way to judge a person's intentions

[spen666]

Re the NetCafe, no-one yet knows what he is going to say, what the proposal will involve and what his motivation is. It may be the most incredible plan, full of promise and full of assurances, guarantees and safeguards for the fans or it may have more holes than a Swiss cheese and suggest 'Don't touch it with a bargepole.' This platform for Raj may not be ideal but it's what we've got and we need to hear what he says and then decide. I'm keeping an open mind until I've got all the information from this, from other people's views and from the Supporters Group meeting.

"This platform for Raj may not be ideal . . ." - understatement of the year. This method is no way to judge a person's intentions

I think quite a few people probably think the platform should have a trap door and a gallows

[BaronsCourtQuaker]

Re the NetCafe..... This platform for Raj may not be ideal but it's what we've got ...

Granted a little araphrasing from myself but lines like you wrote above really put me off. Why is this man, with this history dictating how and when we can communicate with?

£40k is far far to cheap. It may not be long term stable but we raised that amount in a week.

[Darlo_Manc]

Yup, MG knew that he had sufficient respect / hero worship within the fan base (and power within the club) to get away with what was quite extraordinarily unprofessional conduct at the forum. It was only the gravitas of the bigger picture that meant we didn't focus on it. I imagine his relationship with the current board is in tatters.

And Hodgson getting involved? Ill-informed, emotive, cliche-ridden nonsense. I expected better from him. I'll take the views of ex-players like Kris Taylor (who actually experienced how Raj dealt with the club) over someone with nothing other than a agenda to support a friend.

I can understand (just about) why people want to hear what Raj has to say, but I cannot fathom for a second why people may actually trust what he says.

What frustrates me the most is the rationale (some of) the pro-Singh investors have. "We will fall to Northern League"; "We are going bust"; "Our players will leave and pigeons will s*** on our new pitch".

I agree that external investment may be necessary, but MG has seemingly created a sense of panic / fear over our current predicament that is not supported by any evidence. In some ways it is a bit like hearing the arguments of those who voted Brexit because Farage told them it would get rid of all immigrants.

If we believe that private investment is necessary, how about we say no to a proven liar, put together a clear proposition and actually make it public / approach potential investors? People seem to forget that Raj is our "only hope" purely because we have not actually sought investment apart form MGs 'approach'.

Totally spot on. If Raj was so interested in the club he wouldn't have killed it in the first place and he would have come forward much earlier whilst we were trying to move the club back into the town. Suddenly he pipes up a few years down the line with the club having managed multiple promotions and is back in the town in a decent position.

Outside investment would be great but not at the expense of the supporter owned model we have and certainly not with someone proven to not have the clubs interests at heart. No way will we fall back to the NL based on the playing budget we could muster even with a reduction etc, I'm confident we wouldn't even be relegated unless we stuff it up on the pitch.

[Vodka_Vic]

Just wonder if the players will have any thoughts on their manager allegedly promoting someone to be in charge who was responsible for the club all but going bust before and not caring about fellow players. Will it have any effect on them/their relationship with MG.

[theoriginalfatcat]

Just wonder if the players will have any thoughts on their manager allegedly promoting someone to be in charge who was responsible for the club all but going bust before and not caring about fellow players. Will it have any effect on them/their relationship with MG.

"allegedly" ?? Is there some doubt over this situation ?

[loobyloo]

January 18th 2012.A reminder to everyone.That is all.

[banktopp]

Re the NetCafe..... This platform for Raj may not be ideal but it's what we've got ...

Hang on a minute, it is not all we have got.
We are the owners of DFC and if this character wants to invest with the intention of acquiring a 51% stake then he needs the guts to come and meet us face to face.
What we have got is DFC which will continue to survive without his £40000 towards Gray's budget. Why is this money not going towards the more important ground development. We should be setting the agenda not Singh.

[Vodka_Vic]

Just wonder if the players will have any thoughts on their manager allegedly promoting someone to be in charge who was responsible for the club all but going bust before and not caring about fellow players. Will it have any effect on them/their relationship with MG.

"allegedly" ?? Is there some doubt over this situation ?

Do we know 100% yet if it was Raj Singh that MG was talking about at the Fan's Forum when there were other investors in the pipeline? That's all I'm saying. We'll know tomorrow. I'd be astounded actually if it was the case, as MG at the Forum said 'You've trusted me for 5 years, now trust me for another 5". Trust us to back Raj Singh? One thing MG isn't is stupid. Has he massively misjudged this one?

[QUAKERMAN2]

Totally agree 100% with LL, let's give Raj a chance to air his views for gods sake and then judge him after that.

Sent from my XT1032 using Tapatalk

[Spyman]

Just wonder if the players will have any thoughts on their manager allegedly promoting someone to be in charge who was responsible for the club all but going bust before and not caring about fellow players. Will it have any effect on them/their relationship with MG.

"allegedly" ?? Is there some doubt over this situation ?

Do we know 100% yet if it was Raj Singh that MG was talking about at the Fan's Forum when there were other investors in the pipeline? That's all I'm saying. We'll know tomorrow. I'd be astounded actually if it was the case, as MG at the Forum said 'You've trusted me for 5 years, now trust me for another 5". Trust us to back Raj Singh? One thing MG isn't is stupid. Has he massively misjudged this one?

I think you're giving Gray too much credit.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[LoidLucan]

Dunno about a face to face mind.... it's sometimes dangerous enough for our own board to venture into that territory!

[Mr_Tibbs]

Just wonder if the players will have any thoughts on their manager allegedly promoting someone to be in charge who was responsible for the club all but going bust before and not caring about fellow players. Will it have any effect on them/their relationship with MG.

"allegedly" ?? Is there some doubt over this situation ?

Do we know 100% yet if it was Raj Singh that MG was talking about at the Fan's Forum when there were other investors in the pipeline? That's all I'm saying. We'll know tomorrow. I'd be astounded actually if it was the case, as MG at the Forum said 'You've trusted me for 5 years, now trust me for another 5". Trust us to back Raj Singh? One thing MG isn't is stupid. Has he massively misjudged this one?

Yes, we do. If you read Hodgy's piece again it says:

Hodgson is regarded as one of Darlington’s most popular figureheads, and while he understands the reservations about Singh’s sudden re-emergence, he feels the former chairman should be given a clean slate.

“I’ve known about this for a while now, because Martin (Gray) came to see me before the fans’ forum when it was first being mentioned as a possibility,” said Hodgson. “He explained to me what was on the table, and I said, ‘Martin – you have to go along with this’.

"You have to go along with this"

[Neil Johnson]

I'm open to outside investment provided it's transparent and from a reputable source.

This is neither as far as I'm concerned. Wouldn't trust Singh as far as I could throw him, he's almost overseen the death of this club once before so what exactly is his end game here?

Too much risk attached and too slimy a character. He can do one.

How many "reputable" outside owners did we have in the 70's, 80's 90's, 00's, 10's. Not many.

3 administrations. small businesses robbed, 2 grounds lost, dissolved club and lots of appeals for public's donations.

If Raj wants to say sorry and donate some money and make a small investment OK, but neither he or any other outsiders should have a majority shareholding again.