2002-2008
Proud to be one of 140 trusts under the Supporters Direct initiative
2002-2008 |
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| LATEST
NEWS: See below for the latest news from the Trust |
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FAQ: What does the Trust do, its history and how does it work? |  |
| FUND-RAISING: Latest Trust lottery numbers and FITC sponsorship |
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TRUST BOARD: Profiles 2008/2009 |  |
| CAMPAIGNS and MEETINGS |  |
TRUST SUPPORTERS and ARCHIVED NEWS |  |
| TRUST AGM 2008
Darlington Supporters' Trust held its
AGM at the Coachman Hotel, Victoria Road, Darlington on Wednesday 4th June
2008.
The meeting saw a review of the past year. This including the Trust supporting coaching sessions are continuing at Croft School and the Trust is looking
at setting up something similar involving Football In The Community at another
school. Talks are ongoing about other community initiatives, including with
disabled fans. There have also been Talk-In events with former players, aimed at taking the Trust and promoting the club out in the commmunity.
The Trust has also recently received its latest payment from its lottery
scheme - £700. Thanks to all members who continue to support it. Results
are published on our fund-raising page.
The AGM approved the Trust accounts and
reappointed Sochall Smith as our auditors for a further year - the
audit cost us £290 plus VAT, which is amazingly good value.
Tony Taylor, along with Maureen Taylor and David Taylor were standing
for election and, there being no other nominations, were duly elected
to serve for a two year period. Paul Hodgson and Ian Carter agreed to
be co-opted for a further year. Kevan Stonehouse, from Football in the
Community and Walter Lucas from Middleton Tyas, both agreed to be co-opted.
The following officers and committee appointments were therefore confirmed
by the first board meeting immediately after the AGM: Chairman - Tony
Taylor; Vice Chairman - Steve Duffy; Secretary - Abbe Marshall-Wyer; Membership
Secretary - Dave Taylor; Treasurer - Maureen Taylor; Committee Members:
Ian Carter, Kev Stonehouse, Walter Lucas, Paul Hodgson, Paul Wyer
The Trust board also made a special thank you to Pete Ashmore for the
excellent work he has done over the year for the Come On Prediction
League and Abbe has been asked to contact him with a token of our
thanks.
|
2007-2008 COME ON DARLO PREDICTION LEAGUE
Jordi jumps ahead to win
“Some people are on
the pitch, they think it’s all over . . . It is now!
And so the fourth Come On Darlo Prediction League comes to its conclusion
with the Football League play-off finals.
The winner is: Neil Jordison
And what a final couple of weeks for Neil Jordison as he timed his run to perfection
to clinch the league title with 190 points. Terry finished on 176 with David
in bronze medal place on 169. Well done to all three managers. And it’s commiserations
to the other 170 managers who fought so hard (well, fought reasonably well in
some cases) to take that title. John Sainsbury, Trevor Gretton and Dave Taylor
were so close, yet so far. While Emma Davis is our First Lady in seventh spot,
but definitely no relation to George Dubbya Bush. And, it was a case of “As
You Were” at the foot of the table as Gillian Percival easily held off the challenge
of Wayne King and Elvis Presley to claim the highly prestigious (honest) Wooden
Spoon Spot in 173rd place. Where managers have finished on equal points, then
the manager with the most correct away scores predictions took precedence. Where
this was also equal, then managers finished in joint position. So, who scored
all the points then in the three sections?
In the Darlo scores section, it was a double delight for the ladies as both
Emma Davis and Jean Johnson scored a hugely impressive 109 points in total (remember,
eight for a correct score and three for a correct result) - both having eight
correct scores. Third spot was Terry Simpson on 107 points with seven correct
scores and John Sainsbury in fourth on 103 with eight correct scores.
There were six managers who didn’t record a single correct score all season
(no wonder the bookies are rich and we’re poor!). And bottom of this section
were the aforementioned trio of Gillian Percival and Wayne King on 33, and Elvis
Presley on 39. The next section of League and Cup (all promotion, relegation
and cup finals) was topped by Victorian Richardson and Neil Jordison who both
had 63 points – five points for correct position of team or two points within
the same section. Chris Welburn and Martyn Walton were in close attendance on
59 points. Down in the dumps were an all-star cast of Frankie Laine and Lonnie
Donnegan on 16 points, with Scott Dinsdale on 17 . . . Well, at least Scott
Dinsdale is a star, not sure of the other two! Lastly, the Darlo questions and
local clubs’ league positions table was headed by Beth Taylor with 37 points
– excellent scores Beth, well done. Close by in second was Steve Calvert on
36 with Pete Ashmore and Mark Stephenson in third on 35. “Cheeky Boy” Lemsip
Opec was clutching at straws in last place on a measly four points, just behind
Guy Mitchell with six. Three were three managers just above on seven points
– Carl Bozeate, Wendy Booth and Walter Lucas.
It’s been a long season and our biggest league to date – 173 managers set
out with high hopes of securing that first prize and, more importantly, finishing
above your mates / wife / husband / son / daughter, etc (delete as applicable).
To all those verbally abused during the course of the season – live with it,
at least you got mentioned. And for all those who didn’t get mentioned – you
must try harder! Many thanks to everyone who entered. Winners – your prizes
will be posted out to you in due course. Hope you all have a good summer and
roll on next season – it must be Darlo’s turn . . . Mustn’t it?
Pete
Check out how
well you're doing by clicking the latest table - PDF doc
Second: Terry Simpson
Third: David Alderson
Wooden spoonist: Gillian Percival
PS - Anyone viewing the tables here who would like them emailing direct, should
contact me on quakerpete@hotmail.com
| LEAGUE TABLE:
1 Jordie's Winners Neil Jordison 97 63 30 190 Trevor Gretton sent us a photo from all those taking part in the Hayssen
Sandiacre "min-league" - when he presented Wayne King (right)
with a wooden spoon for finishing bottom of that - and second bottom of
the whole thing! |
| COLLETT & COACHING
A thank-you for Andy Collett for attending
our April talk-in at Barnard Castle. There was a pleasing turn-out at the
Beaconsfield Hotel, especially given that it clashed with the Champions
League sem-final on TV. We hope to organise more "on the road" events next
season, as a way of bringing the trust and club to the greater County Durham
area.
The Trust last held a talk-in at the Iron
Horse in Newton Aycliffe, on Wednesday 12th March.
Despite a disappointing turn-out, thanks to our special guests Martin
Gray and former Darlo striker Dale Anderson, a local Aycliffe lad. It
was still enjoyable for those who attended, helped by the informal atmosphere.
And we also had new Trust members joining on the night.
The talk-ins are a way of reaching Darlington fans out of town, as well
as a chance to bring the club into their communities. We had a very successful
night with club directors earlier in the season at Barnard Castle.
The Trust has been working closely with Football in the Community, with
a school coaching scheme. We're currently in discussions with FiTC and
Mencap about supporting coaching sessions for the Gateway organisation.
This looks a very worthwhile five-month series of sessions. We've already
had a demonstration of football skills from members and, also with help
from Darlington Disabled Supporters' Group, hope to provide financial
support.
Partly this is thanks to the backing from fans who have joined the Trust
lottery scheme - another cheque for £700 arrived from the organisers recently.
Gateway have quite a few members who attend games here. They're a very active
group, with 200 taking part in evenings at their centre. We hope by the
start of next season to be reporting a positive start.
|
Looking beyond the hardcore
The only disappointing aspect of being a
Darlington fan this season has been the attendances.
The club's owner George Houghton used the Northern Echo last week to
ask the question why, apart from a "hardcore of loyal fans", more people are
not attending matches. The average attendance at Darlington this season is 3,849
- the same as last season but down on the average for the 2003/04 season of
5,023.
He said: "I do not believe that the team can do much more to attract the crowds."
No-one would argue with that.
We all have our personal views and perhaps it's time more than ever for the
club and supporters to work together to pool our views and "expertise."
Perhaps on this issue more than any other, clubs can make use of that hardcore
fans' knowledge and their ability to tap into circles of friends and acquaintances.
Certainly, the Supporters' Club's initiative on Boxing Day to maximise the attendance
by "bringing a friend" was successful. Other innovative ways of bringing the
football club to the attention of the stay-at-home fan could be looked at to
try to attract the "missing" hundreds.
As a trust, we'd be happy to work with the club and Supporters' Club on
future ideas.
As for the reasons why, it's a regular talking point and we all have our own
ideas. Football as a whole has undoubtedly got more expensive in recent years,
while the "credit crunch" could be having an effect.
There are worries too about the ageing profile of the average fan, with the
younger supporter not having the same habit of watching football as their fathers
and grandfathers.
Darlington is not alone in bringing in deals for young fans. The trick is bringing
their fathers, older brothers and uncles. As a Trust, in a small way, we've
been looking at encouraging links in schemes such as coaching, to try to increase
the profile of the club. Looking to capture the fans of the future may not bring
immediate results but it's needed alongside shorter term initiatives. Making
more local children pull on Darlington replica shirts, rather than Boro, Sunderland
or Newcastle is surely the key to the club's long term future.
I personally believe that TV, while it has created a boom and vast income
streams for the top clubs, has been strangling the game lower down. It is too
easy now for the armchair fan to stay at home or in the pub, or to "adopt" a
Premier club. Maybe we need to give up on these people; maybe they're lost to
"real" football? But there are others who may come back, with some persuasion.
Steve Duffy
Supporters themselves often
debate the reasons why more townspeople don't come to home matches more regularly.
But it's not just in Darlington, other clubs are wrestling with the issues of
attendances and how to attract the almost mythical "floating fan".
Game 39 plan is no holiday
BY TONY TAYLOR, TRUST CHAIRMAN The Football Supporters Federation (www.fsf.org.uk) is forming a new branch in the North East and the Darlington Supporters Trust will be playing an active role in the development of the FSF in the region.
I have to say that I find this argument ludicrous, given the way in which we know television revenue is distributed around the world of football – ie the bulk of it remains in the Premiership with a few crumbs finding their way down to lower league clubs. This plan for Game 39 is based on branding of the Premiership and has everything to do with money for the big (and they are also the few) clubs at the top of our game and does nothing to help fans in this country. I doubt if we will hear any suggestions that the additional revenue gained will help to reduce ticket prices in this country – if only we could pay at the same level as fans of Budesliga clubs in Germany! It is also verging on arrogance to suggest that it is a great deal for the fans as they can book a nice holiday at the same time to watch their team play abroad. Of course, all of us prawn sandwich eating football fans have such disposable income to hand as the economy heads towards a potential recession.
So why is a fan of Darlington getting worked up about this? Well, quite simply, we all must recognise that it is going to do serious damage to our national game and this will have a spin off on clubs like Darlington. Even Michel Platini at UEFA has ridiculed the idea – foreign England manager, foreign players, and now the Premiership looks set to play abroad. It’s not a case of being xenophobic, but this is surely one further step towards franchise football – how long before another MK Dons type of situation arises with a club with poor attendances being franchised to another part of the country?
It is now vital to stand up for the fans and the future of our game. Sign the petition as a start. Do join us at the Trust and make a contribution to the future of the game. Already, the Trust has paid over several thousand pounds this season alone to help Football in the Community and Youth Developlment and you really can have in influence on events.
As a footnote, Tony has been seconded onto the National Council of the
Football Supporters Federation, to represent Supporters Direct and the
interests of the supporters' trust movement. Meanwhile, a bit of a clash with
the Darlo game, but supporters of all north east clubs are welcome to debate
the issue at the FSF's Northeast meeting on Tuesday 19th February (7.30pm) at
Gateshead Stadium.
This comes at quite a fitting time, given all the controversy about the Premiership Clubs getting involved in a Game 39 scenario, which will see competitive premiership matches being played outside of the UK.
The argument put forward by the Premiership’s very able Richard Scudamore, who recently addressed one of our Supporters Direct conferences, was that this will bring more revenue into the game and this can only be of benefit to football as a whole.
How your shopping can help Trust good causes...
Take the hassle out of shopping and browse
over five million available products at The
Darlo Trust webshop.
Every time you buy online from major High Street names such as Amazon, HMV,
LoveFilm, John Lewis and Waterstone's via the Trust webshop page, the Trust
receives a donation. Money raised is used to help Football in The Community,
Youth Development and the Darlington Disabled Supporters Group. Please help
by buying from these great high street names at great prices (often with special
deals for the Trust).
Have a browse and remember to bookmark the page. But remember you have to access
the online shopping sites via this weblink.
Don't forget you can also shop online for official Darlington FC merchandise at the new Online Club Shop - this includes replica kit, leisure wear and souvenirs.
| SUPPORT
THE VOICE FOR FANS
The
Football Supporters Federation, of which the Darlington Supporters
Trust is an active member, has formed a North East regional branch and we
encourage all Trust members to support the FSF.
Many people are, it seems, confused about the role of the two organisations, although both work together in harmony on behalf of fans.
Essentially, the Trust (through its membership of Supporters Direct) is tasked with looking at corporate governance and the introduction of best practice in the management of football clubs as businesses. Clearly, the ultimate aim of Trusts around the country is to gain an involvement in running the club through the appointment of a democratically-elected supporter director.
We firmly believe that this brings added value to the board of football
clubs and, indeed, UEFA is now seriously looking at promoting this as
the model structure for football clubs across Europe. Meanwhile, the Football
Supporters Federation is responsible for individual fans' concerns on
a wide range of issues and, like Supporters Direct, the FSF holds regular
meetings (often jointly with Supporters Direct) on specific topics with
relevant football authorities or other bodies such as the Independent
Football Commission and police match commanders. We also jointly meet
up with government and the all party football group of MPs when necessary.
This may seem rather bureaucratic to some people, and many will have the
attitude of "I just want to watch a game of football on a Saturday afternoon" that is probably true of many supporters and, in reality, it is what
the Trust, the FSF and our parent organisation Supporters Direct stand
for. Football, given the crazy finances involved and an economy facing
a possible serious recession, is at a crossroads. Disposable incomes are
likely to decline and the football industry will have to change to accommodate
these changing circumstances. Your voice as supporters is essential and
we urge you all to join both the Trust and the FSF to keep your views
heard both at the Club and at a national level. We are making progress
and people are listening. Do take the chance to participate.
DAVID TAYLOR, TRUST MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY
|
School scheme kicks off with Co-op grant
Darlington Supporters' Trust has won a £500
grant towards a coaching scheme it is helping to set up at a local primary school.
United Cooperatives Ltd in North East and Yorkshire has approved the application
for the scheme, to be run with Darlington's Football In The Community at Croft
Primary School. Trust chairman Tony Taylor said: "We're very appreciative
of the Co-op committee's kind offer which will certainly help us get things
moving with the project at Croft. "
Meanwhile, thanks to those who supported the Trust's general knowledge quiz
night at the school on 24th April. which raised another £270 towards
the project.
 CLUB
CHIEFS AT TRUST TALK-IN
Darlington Supporters' Trust hosted a"talk-in"
evening, at the Beaconsfield Arms in Barnard Castle on December 5th
with special guests, Darlington FC chief executive Jon Sotnik and Barry
Simmonds. It was a chance for supporters to ask questions about the club
on and off the field.
Subjects included the plans for Football In the Community and the
hopes for producing more home-grown young players and the possiblity for
future concerts at the stadium.
Many thanks to the continued support of Kath and Jerry, who provide
a welcome stop off point for Darlo fans in Barnard Castle. Despite the
lure of Newcastle live on TV and the fact that the weather was dreadful
there was a healthy turn out from the Barney Quakers. The original speaker
for the evening was Jon Sotnick, however Barry Simmonds also offered his
support to the evening, giving a two for the price of one event! Its fair
to say that both spoke open and honestly about how they see things now
and into the future. They clearly share a vision and come across as people
who have the drive and determination to make that vision become reality
and welcome the fans in playing an equal role in making our future a successful
one. The fact that they over ran by 45 minutes indicates their enthusiasm
for the future, and the fact that nobody left early indicated that those
in attendance clearly shared that enthusiasm. Speaking to supporters at
the end of the night supported that fact, we even had a couple of Leeds
supporters that decided to call in and they could not speak highly enough
of the evening or the speakers and are looking at popping down over Christmas
to watch a match, not converted but hey it’s a start! We would like to
place on record our appreciation to both Jon and Barry for attending the
evening and thank them both for their kind offer to attend further Talk-Ins
in the future. The Trust continue to look at additional venues to hold
Talk-Ins as we look at widening the community in terms of the club’s fan
base, we welcome suggestions from supporters. We hope to arrange evenings
in Catterick/Richmond area and Newton Aycliffe in the near future.
Attending the match at Morecambe on Saturday was an experience! A story
of one late train, two missed connections, a wasted journey to Preston,
a cancelled service, and two taxi farws totalling £125 (courtesy of Cross
Country Trains!)….all for 22 minutes of football in the pouring rain,
but yes we will be back there on January 15th for the rescheduled trip!...was
also good to bump into a group of the Barney Quakers that had made the
trip, I can only hope they had a better journey than I did.
Ian Carter
A quiz night was organised by the Supporters' Trust and Croft School
PTA, in aid of the Trust-supported Football in the Community coaching
scheme on Wednesday October 3rd. The £301.58 profit from the night is
paid directly to FiTC to cover the costs of coaching the children at Croft
School. Many thanks to all concerned.
|
A sense of realism is welcome
By Tony Taylor, Trust chairman As the cost of supporting your team always seems to be a matter for discussion,
a quick look at some of our counterparts in Europe may well be a bit of an eye
opener. Well, maybe not our direct counterparts, but if we look at the Budesliga
in Germany, we can see that a season ticket to watch Borussia Dortmund will
cost less than £100, less than many people pay for non-league tickets in this
country. It’s always positive when a football club and its supporter groups
operate in unison and with common objectives. With that thought in mind, it
was especially pleasing for the Trust to be invited for informal discussions
with Barry Simmonds, Managing Director of the Club, following on from our earlier
talks with Jon Sotnik. We were delighted to hear that the Chairman was determined
to see the Club rise to the Championship and it was positive to hear realistic
and sensible plans being put into place. It was even more impressive to be given
a firm commitment that the views of fans would be taken into account and that
a regular consultation with key stakeholder groups was likely to take place.
Again, we emphasised that the Trust and its membership of loyal Darlington supporters
would work effectively with the football club and, in particular, would be able
to relay the views of the fan base to the football club’s executive decision
makers in a responsible and reasoned manner. Music to our ears? Of course, but
the proof of any pudding is in the eating and we look forward with keen anticipation
to working with Mr Simmonds and his colleagues and playing our full part in
helping Darlington progress up the league; after such a good start to this season,
there is clearly a “feelgood factor” about the place and we hope to be able
to encourage as many of the “disparu” lost fans to return and support the team.
We are, as always, interested in meeting up with individuals who want to join
the Trust (for just £5 a year adults/£1 year juniors – with FiTC discounts available
for the latter!). Equally, we are developing plans for more community based
football programmes with Kev Stonehouse and his team, and if your organisation
would be interested in sponsoring one of these, please do not hesitate to contact
us. Football in the Community and Youth Development are two areas that we are
particularly interested in forging new relationships and it can only be for
the benefit of the football club in the longer term. As always, if anyone is
interested in helping us with this important part of our work, please do not
hesitate to get in touch.
Learning centre plans welcomed
Darlington Supporters' Trust has welcomed plans by the football club for educational
and community facilities at the arena site. The learning centre is part of £12m
proposals, which include a hotel, football pitches and indoor sports centre.
A spokesman for the Trust said: "The most exciting bit from our point of
view is the learning centre. It is important that the club is close to the community.
The plans will benefit everybody. "We fully support the concept that football
clubs are close to their communities and this is long overdue." The trust
said it would look, as part of the consultation, at the detail of the plans
but was encouraging of efforts to create off-the-field revenue for the club.
The plans include a classroom next to pitches for sports based courses, allowing
DFC to increase the size of its Centre of Excellence to take up to 60 scholars.
There will also be a hotel and catering training centre, linked to the 100-bed
hotel, in a link-up with Darlington College.
Read more details about the development plans and for image of plans
Disabled fans, tell us what you want
BY PAUL HODGSON, Darlington Disabled Supporters' Group
Up until now a Supporters' Trust sub-group has been involved with the task of creating the Darlington Disabled Supporters' Group.
But to take it further we need to bring in various parties who we feel have
an important role to play in the group.
Call the DSG on 0709 287 0189. More information on the Darlington Disabled Supporters Group websiteThe aims of the group are:
We have some
fantastic facilities for them which we should rightly boast of thus improving
a generally neglected area of fan base.
In the longer term, we would
also like to see Darlington FC become one of the first professional teams in the
country to have its own powerchair football team and possibly even provide other
leisure facilities for disabled people within the community.
The club last year won an award from Darlington Association on Disability (DAD)
for its facilities for disabled people, the award was a great merit to the club
but ironically until the DSG’s formation we were the only north east club
not to have a disabled group associated to it.
We are currently in consultation with the club who fully support the initiative
and are keen to see it fully up and running
We are also in contact with potential partners within the community to come
on board for what can only be a positive move for the Football Club.
One interesting and much valued partner has been Hartlepool United Disabled
Supporters Association (HUDSA), who have provided, and continue to provide,
fantastic help to us.
We hope to launch the group officially shortly before the Hartlepool home fixture
and will be using the goodwill generated between the two sets of fans on this
initiative as a way of positively promoting the forthcoming derby fixture.
HUDSA have a fantastic organisation in place yet it was created despite an initially
arms-length attitude from their club.
We go into creation with our club fully supportive of its formation and fully
appreciative of meeting the needs of disabled supporters that in itself is as
good a starting point as we can hope for.
But to me, to most important people are you, the disabled fans of Darlington
, do you want accessible transport to away games? What do you want from the
group? Contact the group or the club and between us we will endeavour to provide
it.
| JOIN THE TRUST SUPERCASH LOTTERY:
A reminder that the weekly results from the lottery, run by the National
Sports Development Association on behalf of the Trust are published on our
fund-raising page. We so far have 50 members taking
part and have far raised £1,000 - £500 each, which has been
presented to youth development and Football in the Community already.
E-mail us if you want to join or DOWNLOAD THE APPLICATION FORM - on a PDF or Word document. |
We
currently have more than 300 members but the larger the membership, the more effective
the Trust can be. If you'd like to join Darlington Supporters' Trust, membership
still costs just £5 a year.
You can also now pay membership by standing order - or give any regular donation you may wish to the Trust in this way. Existing members can also now renew in this way. Print out a copy of the form and return to the Trust. Click here or on the membership form left to download a Trust membership form (PDF)
We're always looking out for supporters who can offer either their time or expertise to help the Trust. Please get in touch, if you're able to lend a hand in any way possible.
Donate
to Darlington Supporters' Trust online!
You can
now help Darlington Supporters' Trust, by making a donation
- however small - safely and securely, via PayPal with your credit
card. Simply click on the Donation button above. You pick the amount and the transaction is made online via PayPal's secure server.
You help the Trust each time you use Trainline
| Darlington Supporters' Trust was established in 2002, is one of more than 140 now operating under the Government-backed Supporters' Direct initiative. We are an Industrial and Provident Society, with a constitution, our accounts are audited and lodged with the FSA. | The Trust currently has around 320 members, including life members. Elections are held to serve on our board (committee), meetings for members and an AGM are held during the season. |
| Our funds are held in Trust bank accounts, open to members' scrutiny.
Money is spent only after consultation with members and within our rules
- anything else would be illegal. Members voted for £51,000 raised for the Trust Crisis Fund Jan-April 2004 to remain untouched, in case the Trust requires it for any potential future crisis. This is a matter for the Trust and its members alone and we remain committed to adhering to that. |
Among its activities, the Trust
is currently involved in the following areas:
|
To contact the Trust, e-mail us at darlotrust@hotmail.com or write to Darlington Supporters' Trust, PO Box 178, Northallerton, DL7 7AG
Download copy of Trust newsletter - Spring 2007
Downloadable copy of the Trust constitution Updated 2005
Click to download a Trust membership form (PDF)
Downloadable copy of the Trust annual report 2003/2004 and year end accounts to January 2004
Help Darlington Supporters' Trust by using Lycos
You help the Trust each time you use Trainline
News from Supporters Direct and elsewhere from among the 140 of our fellow trusts.
Life in the old Seadogs yet
Tony Taylor, chairman of Darlington Supporters' Trust and a director of Supporters
Direct, was one of those helping the Seadogs Trust set up in recent months.
Here he gives an update:
But for some fans, it has become a reality. AFC Wimbledon led the way when Wimbledon was taken away from the Borough of Merton and found itself half way up the M1 at Milton Keynes. Others followed, including Brentford, York City, Lincoln and FC United of Manchester.
Well fans at Scarborough’s McCain stadium last season saw the sad demise of the club they had supported and which had been in existence since 1879. I was present with them on the day that they were condemned to relegation last season, a relegation that was to end with the complete closure of the club. There were real tears that day and real anger that this had been allowed to happen.
The Seadog Trust had been set up to try and negotiate with the then owners of the Club and to progress forward. Sadly, this was to no avail and during the summer, the Trust was faced with the closure of the Club and no ground to play in. It was at this point that the Trust swung into action and managed to get a team put together, along with a Manager (Brian France) from North Ferriby. In no time at all, friendly matches were organised outside of Scarborough (including one very entertaining 2 – 2 draw at Northallerton) and a ground share agreed with Bridlington Town FC and the newly formed, Trust owned club, found itself a member of the Northern Counties East League.
There is also talk now of an imminent return to Scarborough, its spiritual home, but in the meantime, between 400 and 600 fans make their way to Bridlington for home games (Bridlington, several leagues up the pyramid, normally play host to crowds of around 100).
A “hustings” meeting of the Seadog Trust was held after a 3-0 demolition of Yorkshire Amateur in the league .
The meeting was chaired independently by myself frrom the Darlington Trust and all Seadog Trust members (who own the new club) were entitled to “grill” the candidates about their manifesto and plans for the club. Each of the 11 candidates for the contested election made a brief – and in many cases, passionate – case for them to be elected to the board to run the club. The election is to be run in line with best practice and is a secret ballot on a one member, one vote basis, with the Darlington Supporters Trust providing the key personnel for the Election Sub Group to ensure that fair play is guaranteed.
The election result will be announced in early December at which point the new board will progress the club further. Those of us in Darlington who have been involved with Scarborough Athletic from the start wish them every success as they strive to get their club back into Scarborough and back up the football pyramid.
It’s incredible, isn’t it? Fans of a club working together to save and resurrect a football club. Well, they say it can never happen…..take a look at Scarborough, York, Lincoln, Brentford etc.
It can happen, it does happen and, as sure as day follows night, it will happen in the future, particularly as the football authorities (including UEFA and the FA) have accepted the relevance and role of Supporters Trusts in the modern game.
Imagine it – being in a position to elect the board of directors for your club. Fanciful, isn’t it? Not workable, ridiculous idea, arrant nonsense by people who have no idea of what is involved. Fans don’t understand, they can’t read accounts, football is a serious business with specialist demands….the list goes on.
JOIN THE TRUST - annual membership still only £5; under 16 £1
You can now help
the Trust by becoming a Trust life membership for £100.
We've already got nearly 40 life members. You can pay via PayPal
online with your credit card by going to
this link or clicking on the button below. Or click
to download a membership form You can also download a form to make a
regular standing order
Bank details:
Abbey Bank
High Row, Darlington, Co. Durham
Account: 41259426
Sort Code: 09-06-66
Reference: 00000000
You can
now help Darlington Supporters' Trust, by making a donation
- however small - safely and securely, via PayPal with your credit
card. Simply click on the Donation button above. You pick the amount and the transaction is made online via PayPal's secure server. Or you can also donate regularly by standing order
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