Remember the date: Tuesday 13th April 2010.

It could be a day that goes down in history.

A win for Rochdale or some other results going their way will promote them to League One for the first time in 41 years.

Nothing but a loss for our nearest neighbours and rivals Darlington Football Club will relegate them out of the Football League for the first time since 1989, a time when Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister, George HW Bush was US President and Communism ended in Eastern Europe.

We know that there have been examples of League Clubs that have sprung back at the first attempt out of the Conference level.

But we know also that there have been examples of clubs where relegation out of the League has been the first step on the road to ruin.

Could this also be the day that a new chapter in history is written as the last time that we ever see Darlington FC?

I think fate will decide that for us.

I think that you'll find that darlow have to win every remaining game by about four and hope that at least one other team doesn't pick up a single further point for them to survive.

Hope that helps.

Yes, I remember darlow themselves doing it a few years ago, albeit at a time when practically every other club in the Conference was part-time and the stayed full-time.

sorry but i'am more concerned with our own plight.

If they lose tonight, does that mean they won't be playing at Bournemouth saturday

Well I meant speaking in terms of after this season.

exactly lets see us win before we go looking at how darlo get on.

'Pools are my priority first and foremost tonight, but I think that it's important that we acknowledge what could happen tonight.

Order of priority for tonight

1) Pools 3 points
2) I get a bit
3) Rochdale get promoted so we have a good away day next season
4) The Loids are put out of their misery

You seem to be talking more like a politician every f day now pok..

I only talk like a politician when I think I need to say something, Sussex.

And make no mistake about it: it could be historic if the Loids, a Club with higher ambitions and a brand new 25,000 seater arena, were to go down tonight.

All I'm saying is that we shouldn't let our somewhat unfortunate problems overshadow the moment when 'Pools fans tonight find out that Darlington are going down.

I wouldn't be surprised if there were 'Pools fans that celebrated the confirmation of Darlington's impending exit from the Football League - no supporter of a football team likes to see their rival Club doing well, even if the majority of 'Pools fans will miss having the opportunity to have a local derby against Darlo and that's understandable.

There you again pok Or do i call you.. Young Winston Of Kent..

To be fair POK I wouldnt find it funny if Darlo went down..

Financial struggle and the white elephant is enough to laugh at.. They have some really decent fans just like ourselves and i feel sorry for them, Even though we had the " We are so rich its unbelievable" Still the fact of them going down isnt funny.

I'm not finding it funny that Darlo are going down. I'm finding it funny at how incompetently that Club has been run over the last ten years and it seems to have been that which has effectively sealed their demise.

All I'm saying is from a Hartlepool United perspective is that we should enjoy the moment that we hear that they are down, because we don't know how long exactly it will take for them to come straight back.

We do wonder what's happening at your club sometimes ..

Believe you me, Sussex. The problems that we have at our Club are a tiny little speck on the horizon, I think, compared to the problems you're currently having.

Come on of course it's funny, the "richest" club in league two is going down to the conference not for the first time but yet again.

They are going down in no style at all, 3 useless sh!t managers in a season, a seasons squad of 50 chancers, hasbeens and near players or thereabouts and massive crowds of about 1500 in a 20,000 plus seater stadium and some of you don't find anything amusing in that, you must have had a humour bypass op.

If you can't raise a smile knowing that, then just think for a moment that the smug self satisfied grins on the face of Lucan, Quakerz and all the other Darlow tw@ts that have been an irritant over the years are unlikely to be there for much longer and what's more not likely to reappear at any time soon.

Aye but for every Hopps and Q there are the likes of loan Star, Sarf, Teeside Q, Sussex and several hundred perfectly decent blokes who support their local team. I'd take them over some Hartlepool born Newcastle/sunderland/ Man United supporting arsehole everyday of the week and twice on sundays.

I take no pleasure in seeing them in such dire straights.

Are we that far apart , long term pok..

Are we bollocks. We are both small lower league teams of equal measure in just about any way you can analyise. Look at the historical results for instance, they could hardly be more even. The only difference is we got a sugar daddy who has a business head whereas Darlo's version was a fcuking nutter. It could so easily have been role reversal.

The time may well come when the roles are reversed again.

It's not really a landmark even Mr Kent. It's another unfortunate decline of yet another small club who tried to get big with the help of a bank and got royally fooked up the ring by the bankers via the 'investors.'

It's really not as momentous as America's darkie pres. is it??

Fookin hell, complete sense from a poolie, I'm impressed

I'll set up a dedicated thread on our site for you to tease one out on a bit later if you must. I dare say the usual suspects will partake a la post Rochdale on rivals 2 years ago.

Darlo winning 1-0 !!

Well done to them! Being totally honest I do hope they stay up, its a mamoth task and I cant see it happening but you never know.

It's official!!! They're down!!!!!

I'm numb , totally unexpected..

You got the first bit correct

Run that one by me again?

We don't know when they'll be back.

Brilliant POK

Nor it appears do you know which day it is.

At a guess I'd say it'd take them, give or take a couple of months, about a year to come straight back.

Personally I doubt that they'll come straight back or even come back at all.

And by the way, it's Wednesday.

There are some interesting photos of the Darlo fans from last night at Rochdale here:

http://www.darlofc.co.uk/news.php?NewsID=231

I think we'll be back within two seasons. Next season might be more of a shock to the system, but it gives us a chance to re-build and get our house in order.

I think you'll go bust first, just an opinion not a wish.

Why? We don't appear to be in any real trouble financially at the moment.

In what way are those clubs you mentioned bigger than Darlington?

I'm not kidding myself at all, I'm mates with a York City fan and have been too Bootham Crescent a few times in the last couple of seasons, so I know all too well how tough the conference is.

As for my overestimating the financial state of the club, I'm not saying we're in no danger at all, but we're being pretty well run at the moment, which makes a change given how we were run previously. Singh seems to have his head screwed on in regards to running the club.

More supporters, more times out of the 4th Division

And most of them haven't been in administration 6304958585885 times

More supporters? Do you know big Oxford and York is compared to Darlington?

I've never said we'll come straight back up, I think we'll be here for a couple of seasons.

Oxford United Club Honours
League Cup Winners 1986
Football League Division Two Winners 1984-1985
Division Two Runners-Up 1995-1996

Darlington Club Honours
GM Vauxhall Conference Winners 1989-1990
Fourth Division Champions 1990-1991.

Comparing honours like that, how on Earth can you say that Oxford United isn't bigger than Darlington?

So you're using the fact that Oxford Utd won the League Cup more than 20 years ago to back up your arguement? Portsmouth have won more in 2 years than Arsenal, are they a bigger club?

you use the old titles & promotions to try and back up your arguments at work all the time.

That's not true, I don't like to go too far back when debating things. Yes, by all means the last few years but to bring up a League Cup success 24 years ago is a little bit over the top. I'm not saying we're a big club, but what I'm saying is we're capable of getting back into the League within a couple of seasons.

Winning the League Cup is still winning the League Cup.

Well thats odd, because the rest of the gobshite 'Loids continually bang on about a wankless trophy they won nearly twenty years ago

Daft non-league into admin tosspieces

Maybe some of them do, but like you say, it was twenty years ago. It means nothing now.

There is no chance of our crowds going up too much. I think if we go on a run, then the number of home fans attending will increase. But then you've got to remember the away followings will be much lower than this seasons, so we'll probably be looking at somewhere around the 2,000-2,300 mark.

We're helped financially by the Parachute Payment, which obviously the other Conference teams won't get.

I'm hoping Luton go up via the play-offs, as they're scoring goals for fun lately, and if they don't get promoted this season then they'll probably walk the league next season.