You are my Darlo!

Video Highlights: Hebburn Town 1-7 Darlington - Sky Tyne and Wear

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Darlington romped to one of their biggest wins of the season as they beat nine-man Hebburn Town 7-1.

http://tyneandwear.sky.com/football/video/56130

• Posted by admin at 18:42 on 10 Feb 2013 in Media reports, Sky Sports News, Video & pictures

Welcome to our nightmare…

Please note that You Are My Darlo! has moved to a new home. Please click the link below to visit this page on the new site and update your bookmarks:

Darlington Football Club (nickname “The Quakers” but also widely known simply as “Darlo”) is an English professional association football club based in Darlington, County Durham (U.K.). The club was founded in 1883, and originally played its games at Feethams, before moving to the Darlington Arena in 2003. The arena is an all-seater stadium with a capacity of approximately 27,000, although this is currently restricted to 10,000 for regular games.

The cost of the stadium was a major factor in driving the club into administration.

The club originally played in regionally-organised leagues, and were one of the founding members of the Northern League in 1889. They were first admitted to The Football League when the Third Division North was formed in 1921.

They won the Third Division North title in 1925, and their 15th place in the Second Division in 1926 remains their highest ever league finish. Since their admission to the League, they have spent most of their history in the bottom tier. They won the Third Division North Cup in 1934; their first victory in nationally-organised cup competition. They have reached the last 16 of the FA Cup twice, and the quarter-final of the Football League Cup once in 1968. In the early 1990s they won successive titles, with the Conference National in 1990 and the Fourth Division in 1991. In 2011 they won the FA Trophy, defeating Mansfield Town 1–0 at Wembley Stadium.

The club’s traditional colours are a black and white shirts, black shorts and black and white socks. The club’s crest depicts Locomotion No. 1, referencing the town’s railway history, as well as a stylised Quaker hat and the club’s nickname, The Quakers, referencing the religious movement that had a historic influence on the town.

The Fall

The 1999–2000 season, the first under new chairman George Reynolds, was marked by Darlington becoming the first team to lose an FA Cup-tie and still qualify for the next round. Manchester United’s involvement in the FIFA Club World Championship meant they did not enter the FA Cup. To decide who took their place, a “lucky losers” draw was held from the 20 teams knocked out in the second round; Darlington were selected, and lost their third-round tie 2–1 to Aston Villa at Villa Park. Their second Wembley appearance came later that season, facing Peterborough United in the play-off final after automatic promotion had seemed certain earlier in the season. After a 3–0 aggregate semi-final win over Hartlepool United, Quakers missed numerous chances and were again undone by a single goal, this time from Andy Clarke.

In 2002, Darlington made unsuccessful approaches to sign Paul Gascoigne and Faustino Asprilla, and moved into their new stadium, named the Reynolds Arena, in summer 2003. Reynolds had paid the club’s debts when he took over, but the cost of the stadium, partly financed with high-interest loans and built without realistic expectation of filling it, drove the club into administration six months later. Reynolds resigned as a director in January 2004 with the club under threat of imminent closure. A benefit match, featuring footballers such as Gascoigne, Bryan Robson and Kenny Dalglish, played in front of a crowd of over 14,000, raised £100,000 to help ensure survival in the short term. Despite the off-field problems, David Hodgson, in his third spell as manager, and his players produced some fine performances as the team avoided relegation.

Darlington playing Bury at the Darlington Arena in 2008

At the end of the season, Reynolds was obliged to hand over control to the Sterling Consortium to bring the club out of administration, with Sterling’s Stewart Davies taking over as chairman. He and his staff adopted a fan-friendly approach, in contrast to the abrasive Reynolds, before in 2006, the club was sold to property developer George Houghton. For four consecutive seasons, under Hodgson, sacked in 2006, and then under successor Dave Penney, the Quakers finished in the top half of the table, reaching the play-off semi-final in 2008 only to lose to Rochdale on penalties. In February 2009, Darlington again went into administration, triggering an automatic 10-point deduction, without which they would have again reached the play-offs. Fundraising efforts kept the club going, but when no buyer was found for the club by a May deadline, the administrators made the majority of the first-team squad available for transfer and cut staff numbers to a minimum. On 20 May, Houghton returned to the club as chairman, appointed former Middlesbrough boss Colin Todd as manager, and brokered an agreement which led to the club coming out of administration and ownership passing to local businessman Raj Singh, enabling the club to compete in the 2009–10 season without any points deduction. Todd left the club after losing seven of his first nine games and was replaced by former Republic of Ireland manager Steve Staunton, who only won four of 23 league games. The club were eventually relegated to the Conference, and suffered more managerial turmoil during the summer when Simon Davey and successor Ryan Kidd both left within 11 days, to leave Mark Cooper in charge. He led the club to victory in the 2011 FA Trophy Final at Wembley Stadium, defeating Mansfield Town 1–0 with a goal from Chris Senior in the last minute of extra time. Following a succession of poor performances at the start of the 2011–12 season, Cooper and his assistant Richard Dryden were sacked by the club on 24 October 2011. A little more than two months later, Singh placed the club into administration for a third time in less than a decade.

The Rise

Begins right here, right now.

• Posted by admin at 06:04 on 05 Jan 2012 in Club, Fans, Media reports, Evening Gazette, Northern Echo, BBC Sport, Sky Sports News