Darlo look to have a decent chance of making the playoffs for promotion to the National League. We also have a decent chance of joining them there if they succeed so the big Derby could potentially be back on next year.

My question is about stadium size. Someone mentioned a while back that there is a problem with their current ground in that it doesn’t meet the standards.

Could someone from them down the road clarify please.

I read the Darlo fans forum regularly & from what I can gather, the ground meets the standard for the NL, but not any higher. Although I am happy to be corrected by some of the Darlo fans on here as they will be much better informed than I am.

Okay, well I’m a Darlo fan.

The simple answer here is that promotion can be accommodated but it would throw up a number of issues. It would mean spending money on our landlords ground, without much, or any return whilst keeping the main objective of building a new stadium very much on track.

So in some ways promotion this year would not be ideal, if it happens obvs we would try to enjoy it and bed in to the National League but my personal view is that this would be a tall order.

Right place/wrong time - perhaps?

Can’t we ground share….

doubt its going to happen anyway as darlo seem to be in a bit of freefall and might not actually make the play offs now from once topping the league. anyway who would want to miss the delights of kings lynn on a tuesday night.

Darlo should just about hang on to a play off place with their games in hand. After that, anything can happen - though they'll have to finish the season in much better form than they are now to have a chance of progressing to a final.

I would be disappointed if we didnt get to the play offs now, however I cant see us going up.
And as Infidel says, it would cause issues that we could do without.
One in particular would be the likelihood we struggle and the barmpots every club has will be calling for the head of a decent manager who we can trust to keep things on an even keel without the need to buy players in for the sake of it.

I agree with you entirely, but…..and there’s always a ‘but’….. the principle that you actually play to win and achieve something is the major driving force for most supporters, getting to the ‘vinegar strokes’ of a season and suddenly having to consider that club politics think it best not get promoted is suicide ….then unless you can wave the prospect of a new ground under their noses, ….and even then it would be a hard sell, momentum will fall away.

Ha. Momentum has fallen away now, since the departure of Mark Beck! Not only did he score goals but he also helped out our rather fragile defence.

Other key players have split too, inc Dodds, who is a very good prospect.

Personally I think that Darlo could slip out of the playoffs and this would be disappointing to say the least. We were never going to finish in the top 2 but we were looking good.

“Were” being the key word here.

darlo are similar to pools in the mid 50,s. just cannot afford promotion but for different reasons. nostalgia and love for their club will not last forever with the modern day fan who demands success and promotions more than they used to do. they could easily be another workington if they do not become a realistic promotion candidate and getting it will not cause extra problems.

Everything hinges on a new stadium getting the green light. This may seem like pie in the sky but apparently it’s happening.

have they got somewhere earmarked for it. if so where is it planned to be.

Depends who you talk to but its either Skerningham (not far from Whinfield for those who know Darlo) or Faverdale.

All the proposed sites ‘out of towners,’ which I detest but seems to be the model nowadays, but those without transport can be marginalised ….however it’s usually the only choice nowadays.

If pools ever moved out it would be the end for me. There is nothing worse than out or edge of town grounds.

Remember a few years back when IOR was trying to buy the ground and it went around that they were considering moving to a new ground at Wynyard which caused some arguments on here.
I suspected it was a bluff, but it was a time of change and you never quite knew.
I said I wouldn’t go because the club had left the town plus I felt sorry for those with no car and kids as there was no access by public transport …. But, plenty thought it a grand idea.
I remember a programme when Cleveland County Council were trying to get the Riverside finished in time for the new season and trying to sell the loony idea it was an asset for all of Cleveland and a County Councillor suggested Pools could ground share…. the others taking part nodded except for Sir John Hall who said it was a silly idea (from those who knew nowt about football) because they failed to understand was that football is tribal and every tribe has it’s ‘homeland’.
Darlo can expect another variation from the catalogue for sheet metal box stadiums, just hope it’s not a community stadium…. But if it’s a ticket into the league, grab it.

I can’t stand these new out of town stadiums either. They are soulless.

I was in York last Saturday and pre bought some tickets for their Trophy Q.F. the day before.

However there was a balls up pre match, meaning us and lots of others simply couldn’t get in, and all of us were pushed from pillar to post, queuing, not getting info, not getting treated well. It was crap tbh. Basically we were denied entry at the two turnstile areas we were sent to, computer said no, humans didn’t work!


The stadium is not run by the club, it’s run by a stadium management company and therein lies the problem.

The funny thing is that York lost and the manager post match, mentioned the delayed kick off as a reason for the players poor performance. A bit tenuous I feel but it definitely was badly handled for everyone.

I hope when Darlo get their new stadium they will maintain the friendly club like feel, we enjoy now.

I think there was also a rumour of a ground being built on the steelworks site and the Vic sold off.
Towns and cities with grounds at the heart of the community are the best. Nowhere for me beats Newcastle when at home. The toon is bouncing and the atmosphere brilliant. We are the 4th division version.

think its actually worse for the town or any other if clubs move to the edge of the town. you will not spend a penny in that town but go straight to the match and back home. clubs who own their own ground love em as they have a captive audiance for food and drink. the worst one i can think of is fylde, situated on a green desert.

Dont think Darlo will go up and dont think we capable of getting 13 wins to avoid relegation so more than likely the Derbie will be resumed in 2 seasons as a NLN fixture.
While South Shields n Spennymoor by pass us up the pyramid.

doubt that will happen as spenny are playing at their highest level and think shields will also tail off slightly if they get into the national league becoming a solihull type of club. do not think either have that much going for them as league clubs but suppose you could say the same for betty,s boys.

You used to have Gateshead in your list of clubs that would be passing Pools by but it looks like they're getting relegated

Shields look nailed on for the NLN next season after lording it over the likes of Atherton Collieries and Belper Town. It'll be interesting to see how they go against Scunthorpe and York next season - and Darlington for that matter. Spennymoor are nothing more than a mid-table NLN club.

The odd thing is clubs with good support going down and these hobby clubs of the money brigade supported by ten men and a Labrador are moving up. Give it a few years and more people with too much money proving a point by buying an obscure club and giving it success …..will give the average crowd in league two as 1,564.

Forest Green are a good example. They’ll be relegated next season too.

Hobby clubs need reigning in. A club should be sustainable off its own back, not down to the whims of some bloke with ego problems.
Spenny for example are a good little club punching above their weight due to Brad Groves chucking money at them. However they fiddle their crowd numbers by giving away loads of season tickets to their junior section and count them as attending even if they don't! Its a bit pathetic if you ask me!
A good guide as to how good a clubs support really is, is the away attendances. Spenny took 11 to Boston last week. They barely brought 200 to us for the recent league game. I know our away end is a bit shit but their turn out was embarrassing.

Dident av time to name all the teams Sir
Do you think we can avoid a double relegation given the clip of the recruitment process at Pools nowadays and how competitive the NL is.
Expecting you to come back with we staying up n goin to league one next season.

Pools chances of staying up are between slim and none right now. There was a point in out first season in the NL when another relegation was a real possibility, so I wouldn't rule anything out next season if the recruitment is as bad as last summer.

It's tough for the optimists at the minute Kev, but you must have bought your your crystal ball on Darlington market

They are a truly prime example, a man with money to burn deciding to buy a club and make it work because people like that I suspect like to see eveything they touch work….even down to imposing his dietary preferences at the ground on the supporters.
The catch is…where did these so called fans come from in a big village with a population of 5,000 people,…. in an area with established clubs that most proper supporters would have been supporting for years…..doesn’t make sense to me…Stepford fans?
Even Rushden and Diamonds despite a nice ground and instantly expanded support, collapsed like a pack of cards in a breeze and disappeared without trace…when the main man decides to move on there is neither the tradition or finance there to hold it together……you could end up with clubs in neat little stadiums with neat little crowds., no history or loyalty just money and ambition….making a mockery of the league but with all the potential of it’s owners interest, if it dies, the project dies too.

Gretna F.C.

It was always going to end in tears, and it did.

Gretna has a population of about 3K and is quite an insular spot, yet their little team got doped beyond belief then crashed and burned when whatshisname couldn't provide anymore.

Rushden’s ground gone, FGR could follow if the owner turns it into organic veg farm

Rushden’s the only ground I can say I’ve been every away match there…mind you there was only three.
Won one, drew one and lost one.

If carlsberg did announcements it would be this.

Optimists v Realists.
I used to be optimistic but sing killed that then my coffee consumption went up.
End of the day our great support is contributing nothing to our horrendous results. And that is a piss take.

No matter how good the support, supporters can only do so much. In fact in many ways, you can forget the manager too, because at the end of the day it’s all about what happens in those 90 minutes on the pitch.
But I’d rather have good support than no support at all because it’s something to build on.

once a teams success and what league they played in was measured by the number of fans that attended. once there was little or no away support unless it was a local derby. what fans do bring in now if far less important with money coming into all clubs from every direction, the league, cup runs, sponsorship etc. thats without it being topped up by suger daddies and a bit of dodgy accounting. be interesting what the percentage of money coming into pools is from the fans themselves.

no, its a bit of a non league thing that those traditional non league clubs fans just do not travel at all. ex league clubs like darlo and york will take more away than what they recieve like pools did. clubs who have been down in the doldrums a long time like halifax and chester have a different mindset from fans even the new ones who have never seen league football. they have more interest in the league than any other non league side but their own. fans from old time non league outfits just love the non league scene and hate the EFL and what it stands for.

As bad as our results have been this season, they'd could have been a sight worse with no supporters in. Do you not think the packed away ends for the wins at Rochdale and Doncaster made a difference?

Admittedly with no home win for nearly 2 months it's impossible to pretend that the home support is turning the Vic into a fortress, but it's not for the want of trying. Last Saturday could have been the one but for another atrocious error from a referee.

5 of Pools' last 8 games are at home. if there's any chance at all of staying up those games are where it will be done. Tough as it looks on paper, maybe home to Orient a week tomorrow is when it all clicks? Come on Kev, for all you are a 'realist' I know you'll be there, you're not one of the armchair fans sitting in judgement in the comfort of their own living rooms. UTP.

on the plus side most struggling clubs get an unexpected win against the odds sometime in the season especially away from home like betty,s beating carlisle who were moving up the league at speed. hope its sooner rather than later and not at stockport when we are already down.