I’ve just seen on the Facebook page there’s a fans panel thingy coming up. Maybe try and get your questions answered on that occasion.

Then again, I’ve just seen whose on the panel, Youve not got much chance of the club being challenged by some of them chancers, who do they even represent except themselves ?

I’ve been going to pools since the 70s and a couple of them are about my age, didn’t see them at many games until recently. Funny that. Only popped up since money and personal glory got involved.

Always the same. The likes of Tim Dawson who hasn’t been to Pools in a decade apart from big games but seems to think he’s got the right to speak for everyone.

Can we use the money for williams contract?

We've been promoted several times - three that I remember ...

... never won owt though

12k but slowed right down, needs an injection or better marketing to get anywhere near.

You may find this interesting, an article in the times this week about Darlo. Notice the debt level at the time we were put into admin by Singh. There is so much similar to us then as the situation you find yourselves in now.

"have you actually listened to Mott the Hoople?” It was late by the time the question came, in a Tyneside bar back in 2012, trying to make sense of a truly dramatic day at the 25,000 all-seater Darlington Arena as the town’s football team disappeared after 128 years of existence, mired in debt, but was then given an 11th-hour reprieve by two blokes in a Peugeot 308.

“We’ve got the money!” they shouted, running across the car park. Later, the pair would admit that they had been blasting the rock band Mott the Hoople on the stereo as they made a ten-minute journey in six. It was better than a last-minute winner.

Earlier a fan had placed a ceremonial Darlington FC scarf outside the stadium’s main entrance to signify its death. The receiver had said all avenues had been exhausted.

It transpired that was not quite the case. The heroes arrived, genuinely with money, the locks were taken off and the youth team coach Craig Liddle, who was in temporary charge and has a beer named after him for service to the club, spoke exhaustedly inside what always felt like a white elephant of a stadium. The drama masked the truth, everything was out of place. The stadium, built by the eccentric owner George Reynolds, was crazily big, the debt, at £1.8 million, unmanageable, the goodwill (and the cash), as it turned out, insufficient to pluck victory from the jaws of defeat.

The club went into administration, had to change its name, becoming Darlington 1883, and had to start life in the Northern League, the ninth tier of English football.

It was touch and go for a period of time — if that was it or we would start again,” says David Steel, a lifelong Darlington fan and now a member of the DFC Supporters’ Group board (of which there are 12).

“It was heartbreaking but it wasn’t a huge surprise. We had been mismanaged by a number of self serving owners. You know when you see someone running and they stumble for half a minute and then fall over? The previous 15 years was the stumble and 2012 was the fall."

“Eight years ago we were clueless, homeless and we had no players, we appointed a manager, Martin Gray, who literally had a clean sheet of paper. I’m in the camp of what happened was the best thing that could have happened. We had a blast in the Northern league, it was fantastic. We had the weird feeling of being a big fish in a small pond.

“We realised pretty quickly we were onto something and the fan model was interesting and there was a collective spirit again. The crowd was there, the team was good and were were winning.

“The club has two boards, the Supporters’ Group board and we represent the owners, which is the fans, who have 80 per cent of the stake of the club. We work with the operating board [which has five members], which is the chief exec, who runs the club day to day and realises our vision.”

There are about 800 owners of Darlington FC (who were allowed to change their name back). The drive is to be clever. In 2017, they started the “Boost The Budget” fund, where fans could pay any amount to help fund the signing and wages of players. In year one, it raised £40,000, that was doubled the following year, last season reached £103,000, and after worrying about the impact of Covid-19, of members being furloughed or losing their jobs, Steel and his fellow members went for an ambitious £100,000. As of Friday morning, the pot for manager Alun Armstrong next season in National League North (tier six) had £87,470 in it. Five days ago someone put £14 in, yesterday came £400.

“You get everything from some chucking a tenner in to a few fans who have put in significant funds,” Steel says. “It all counts, of course it does. We have got individual investors who put in £14 or five grand and everything in between. It’s a wonderful model. If somebody who put in £500 last year has been fired from their job this year and they’re struggling, they don’t have to do it and the club won’t fold as a result.

“This is the optimum example of the fans owning the club. The fans love the current manager Alun Armstrong and he did a wonderful job with the £103,000 last year, plus the rest of the money that was his budget.

“Alun came in and said he would put a bit of North East spirit back into the squad and get local lads who will fight for the shirt. We’re a good team to watch too.”

The club has moved ground twice, first to share with Bishop Auckland and then, four years ago to Blackwell Meadows, the home of Darlington Rugby Club.

It is easy to forget how much fans care sometimes. The Tin Shed, the roof of the home end at Feethams — Darlington’s home before the decision to build the arena — was dismantled in 2004, stored and brought back in 2016. Steel first went with his dad, Colin, whose last game was at the Arena, before he passed away in 2013 with cancer.

“My old fella would have loved the last eight years,” Steel says. “I used to text him from games and say what it was like being back on the terraces. We talked incessantly about Feethams. My mam says ‘he would be dead proud of you now’.

“The first time I went back on the Tin Shed was emotional. It is something else we have got, a part of Feethams. I wish we’d never left there. I first started going in 1989 and we won the Conference and the next season we won Division Four. It was the link back to being a kid. It was such a lovely feeling.”

This one from Yeovil looks loads more professional

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/yeoviltown

Guess it’s much easier for Hpool to use a few simple fans instead.

Decent that , and a template for how it should be done.

Very interesting , thanks for posting. I am convinced the same fate awaits us , the season 2023/24 should be interesting.

Some right fucking miserable twats on here . You cant be real fans when all you do is have a go at other fans . Fucking shape up man we all supporting the same team ffs

Just as well you’re here to cheer the mood up then.

Haha I am

Are yous all chipping into the GoFund for the club?

Can't speak for anyone else but I did.

Nope ! Not into putting money into big black holes

same with me. if it was for setting up a pheonix club or the future possibility of one then it would be different.

Why would you want a Phoenix club when we have a club . That's shocking . Are you wanting a part of it or something

Aren't you having a go at other fans when you call them "right fucking miserable twats"???

darlo, halifax, chester had clubs. bury used to have. all stuggled financially for years. pools are also still in a struggle. it might never happen but there is more than a possibility of a pheonix club having to be set up in the future. being ready for it is much better than having it thrust on you without a bucket to pee into. the present situation we are in is not great for many clubs survival and as present fans we do not need for future generations to point fingers at us for burying our heads in the sand.

Hypocrisy Alert

Try and be civil

I think that’s a warning but I am not a mod as I am not racist, homophobic, or a shady character

Who's been buttering you up???

What's up pet, is nobody listening to you.

Gary Coxall donated £5 yesterday

Well contribute something other than negativity you whiney bastard, adapt, overcome or live in PJ's shadow.
Why bother coming on?

Any money that goes into a football club goes into a big black hole. I noticed Darlington have raised nearly £100K for their boost the budget which goes towards players wages. I do believe Darlington is a more affluent town but nobody is being asked to break their banks just give what you can afford to throw away to help the manager recruit players.
Obviously there must be an agreement that this money goes towards recruiting of players.

You have raised £16k since this began, 12 days after we started our boost the budget campaign. We have raised £131k in a month.
Now before you bite my head off, this isn't a dig at you or a "look at how good we are" post.
You currently have a bigger fan base and have some very passionate fans yet you just have to look at how this fundraiser is running to see that even the most passionate fans can see that you are chucking good money after bad. I honestly believe that if you had something where you felt the money was going to be used to its maximum and not just to keep things afloat for a few weeks then you would be raising the same amounts as we do every year.
I think the penny has dropped and more of you are realising that Singh is no different to how he was a few years ago. Keep your money for when you really will need it. It probably wont be long before Singh calls in his loans again.

Cracking effort for your team Mr Star! - I think you're right about here - too many people unsure about what's happening behind closed doors to commit themselves to digging deep for the club - a bit of transparency and honesty wouldn't come amiss to either dispel concerns or to prepare fans for the next survival battle

Challinor will be next - Anyone fancy becoming the club manager on a voluntary basis? I mean do we really need a full time manager at this level? do we even need a ground , why not sell the fixtures and fittings for scrap and just all stand behind a perimeter fence , savings need to be made.

What Darlo can do, Pools can do and very much vice versa. We are opposite sides of the same coin, twin brothers if you will. Mr Star makes some excellent points in regards to the concerns of the majority.

Likewise , what happened to Darlo can happen to Pools.

very true. would all the present shit and goings have happened anyway without this virus. was it on the cards anyway with the current situation being used as an excuse.

I think so. This pandemic can and will be used as an excuse though. Will the pandemic speed up the process? probably.

In a way Darlo are in a better position , they are on the way up , whereas we appear to be still on the descent. They have had their pain , taken the medicine whilst ours is yet to come.

I notice now there is a glimmer of hope of football restarting again, lots of clubs are clicking their gears into action , offering ST refunds, ST's , new strips etc , whilst the Vic stands idle. Its imperative we hit the ground running , but it doesn't look like we will , of course doing that made even more difficult when you have paid off your Media Manager and CEO.

I sent the club an e-mail 6 weeks ago , still haven't had a reply. Is there any excuse for that?

Maguire didn't reply to emails, most people will tell you they have sent asking, requesting and even offering, he is an arrogant chap with an inflated opinion of himself, couldn't find a clown in a circus or keep water cold!

Singh used the banking crisis from 3 years earlier as his excuse at Darlo. I would think the pandemic has hit him harder than that ever did, not only is all football income up the spout, his property developing will be on hold and his care homes will be struggling too. His other half will be bending his ear about losing money without a doubt.

I actually spoke with him at the ground last week , possibly the last Pools supporter to do so in a formal capacity. Maybe it was meeting me that finished him off . He didn't come across as arrogant to me , only self assured , which you would need to be in that position , but quite often can lead to arrogance. I ran past him a couple of dozen ideas I had , got a few things off my chest , told him a few home truths about the running of the club and how I saw the future if things didn't change , and he seemed genuinely interested. Was with him for an hour and a half. He certainly didn't betray the body language of someone about to leave the club. If he does , the whole thing would've been a waste of my time. Credit were it is due , I contacted the bloke and he agreed to meet and listen to what I had to say.

He has eyes tattooed on his eyelids, so he looks interested when in fact, he is asleep.

When the total reaches 30k will this lovely lot piggy back it again, whilst donating about a tenner each themselves, and hold a talk in for the money ?

https://youtu.be/Y0rl4Z77-z0

Them two 3 and 5 from the left look dodgy mind

It's easy to criticise aspects of this in terms of content and public speaking but its not easy to stand in front of a crowd and speak. I've fallen out with a few on that panel over the years but I would not question their passion of commitment. It's a thankless task, well done.

Agree Mr I.

Personally I would advise new CEO to scrap the fans panel. Its about time the CEO at Pools started earning their wages and leading from the front, making their own decisions not passing the buck onto the fans , many of whom have over inflated egos and hidden agendas and long standing grudges against other groups. If we want to bring the fans together under one umbrella these groups need to be scrapped and the club stop indulging them. They could work when things are going well but not when a club is in decline.

Have we signed a player with this money yet ?

AFAIK the club haven't put out a statement to say the £60k has been used (£30k fans + matching £30k from Raj) so you would like to think Dave Challinor still has it in his back pocket. It's be helpful if someone from the Mail or Radio Tees would ask him the question, though you'd think the club would see the PR value in keeping fans informed without needing to be asked.

The only signings since the fund raiser stopped, apart from free agent Ryan Johnson on a short-term deal, are the two one-year loan deals for Lewis Cass from Newcastle and Henrich Ravas from Derby County. Dunno how much of their wages Pools are expected to pay.

The money was only transferred to the club last week.

Also if Raj had 30k he was willing to spend then he would spend it, he doesn’t need the fans to donate 30k for him to unlock his money. Him saying he would match it was simply a good bit of PR that would cost him nothing extra, if anything it would save him 30k.

Cass and Ravas only signed last week.

Listening to Challinor’s interview he said there’s no more money to bring players in so read into that what you will. Had the booster money already been spent or has Raj just pocketed it and said it’s been spent, who knows.


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Considering he seemingly rejected a life changing for the club business deal out of spite, I'm pretty sure it's the above.

we do not know yet if that was one of the biggest bullets pools have ever dodged. if deals look too good they usually are.

Challinor also mentioned how much smaller our budget is to Chesterfield's last night. Certainly got his work cut out that's for sure.

sometimes it can actually be in your favour. the players know this and if he has signed the right type of lad it could end up with us playing another 42 cup finals with players of the right attitude which has not always been the case. a fit and hungry side is better than one who think they are superstars who really think they are too good for the club.

Exactly , anyway I thought that was the point this season, a small squad, regardless of finances etc?. It doesnt stop the likes of Accrington , Rochdale and even Fleetwood competing. People may say Fleetwood, ah but they have a sugar daddy, but even with money, Fleetwood cant attract the same sort of players Sunderland and Portsmouth can attract.

Pools always used to see themselves as a small club, somewhere along the line that has become blurred, and now some see us as a big club , and should be splashing the cash with a big squad etc, this is where i feel we have went wrong since we came down, keep it small and neat and tidy is the way forward, still think our squad is too big now. Obviously with a small squad you have to sign players who have a history of playing 40 games a season, hence the madness of signing players like Williams, Davies, Raynes etc