noticed Darlo don't seem to have any fixtures allocated again this year.... ... why are they not allowed in?

too much dog poo on the pitch.

It's the jumpers for goalposts I think, not permitted in the FA Cup.

To play in the FA Cup you must have played in the FA Trophy/Vase the season before. As The Lodgers are a new team they weren't permitted in the cups last season. Think they are in the Trophy this year.

So they're not Darlington FC as they keep saying?

This is news to me, they keep claiming their history on Wikipedia etc.

They are Darlington 1883.

The has nothing to do with the formation of our old rivals, it's the clubs record attendance .

You're not complaining about us bankrolling you though are you Bish?

'Bankrolling'

ahhhaaaahaaaaa



Funniest post on here for ages



You couldn't afford to bankroll a tuck shop.

They are a new club, that's how they weaseled out of paying small local businesses while only weeks later playing transfer fees in the northern league

Bunch of thieves basically

Isn't saturdays game a bit of a cup final for you. ..Who'd have thought about a game like this a year ago,eh ..

sussex just so you are aware, a bit of history for you.

A few years ago, we were struggling near the foot of division 4.

We had to visit accrington on a very wet saturday.

A similar position to what we are in now.

We won that game.

And we went another 22 games unbeaten.

That included a game against a team you might remember.

We have been here before.

You will never get there again.

yep... even if IOR walked away, a fans committee of supporters and local businesses and local people with knowledge of legal affairs/business etc would ensure that the lowest level of footy we would possibly sink to would be blue square north... which is the highest level Darlo could ever aspire to while they have no ground and don't play in their home town

Laughing at Pools being second bottom of the football league is pointless... they need to get their own club rebuilt from the ground up

I can't see them being in the conference within 15 years if I'm honest, how things stand with them right now

The current set up they play at isn't even graded at Blue Square North standard and to build that sort of facility you're probably talking £3-5 million. The community run club thing is all well and good if they're happy to stay around the level they are at now. Realistically it's hard to see it's ceiling being much higher than that.

so who now thinks that... it may be a good thing that the ground is in council/ local government ownership?

How likely are we to ever be evicted for non payment of what is essentially a very low rent?

If the ground fell into private hands we could end up in the situation of a lot of clubs, and can't afford the rent (or in the case of those clubs, the rent plus the ridiculous wages they were paying to their players)

PS IOR may not do that to us... but any subsequent owners of the ground certainly could.... and the council would almost certainly not be in a position to buy it back in future...

My pools top half finish with bet victor is safe then..good,because there would severe f consequences for everybody on here if my bet went tits up..

I've always thought that the council owning the ground is a good idea. I've never bought the 'would you develop a rented house' argument, as a long term lease is nothing like a short term tenancy. It's just a shame that the owners don't see it like this, but owners come and go. The council will (for better and for worse) be around much longer.

TBF I have done you a disservice by calling you the Lodgers. My humble apologies as if rumour is correct I should have been calling (for a few months) you the Squatters. As one of the owners can you confirm/deny this?

Go easy on them Mr Bishop. Everybody needs a pot to piss in.

They're just pissing in yours.

Darlington ripping off someone trying to help them, surely not!

they are genuinely thieves, its an utter disgrace the money they spunked last year after leaving local businesses hanging..

a pre-requisite for any lower league club is good will amongst the population of its locality

They have done more to alienate themselves from their townsfolk and businesses than possibly any other club in the country. They have a lot of bridge building to do first