Club Profile: Darlington FC

25 000 seater stadiums, links with England legends, multiple administrations and one convicted criminal, Darlington FC has seen it all, after a chaotic 21st century the club appears to be in a period of calm. But how exactly did we get here?

Year Founded: 1883

Nickname: The Quakers

Stadium: Blackwell Meadows

Capacity: 3300

Manager: Stevew Watson

League: National League North 

Origins

As one of the original founder members of the Northern League, the club has its name and place enshrined in history. As an amateur club, Darlington would go on to win the Northern League in 1896 and 1900 respectively. Having had this success, the Quakers would turn professional in 1908, playing its matches at Feethams, a stadium that would serve the club for 120 years, until 2003 (more on that later). 

After spells in non league, the club were admitted into the football league pyramid in 1921, where the club would go on to compete in the third division north, the 3rd level of English Football. In the same decade the club would be promoted to the second tier and record a 15th placed finish in 1926. To this day, this is the clubs highest ever finish in the English football pyramid. 

Having gone 41 years without a promotion, the Quakers were promoted from the fourth division  in 1966. Despite this, for the most part during the 20th century The Quakers would find themselves in the bottom tier of English league football. 

The Reynolds Fiasco 

Following financial troubles in the 1990s the club was bought by local businessman and self proclaimed multi millionaire, George Reynolds. Reynolds initially appeared to be a saviour for the Quakers, paying off the club’s debts when he claimed to write a cheque for around 5 million pounds. The man, who had already been jailed four times in his life before taking over the club, vowed to take the club to the Premier League and build a 25 000 seater stadium. 

Darlington went on to have ambitious attempts to sign England legend Paul Gascoine turned down, as Gascoigne believed this to be little more than a marketing ploy. 

Reynolds fulfilled his pledge to build a large stadium for the club, and in 2003 Darlo would move into the appropriately named Reynolds arena. However, the stadium was largely funded through high interest loans, and loans that would never actually be paid back. This resulted in the club entering administration at the end of 2003. 

With fans seeing through Reynolds’ lies (despite continuous threats of violence towards those that spoke out against him), he would step down and resign but not before leaving the club with a mountain of debt and a threat of liquidation. 

Life after Reynolds

The next decade would see the club have three different chairmen, but the financial fortunes would remain the same and unthinkably The Quakers went on to be placed in administration twice more, and would eventually lose their football league status in 2010. 

The club would be wound up in 2012, and under the name Darlington 1883, they would now compete in the Northern League Division One. After 3 promotions, Darlington now find themselves in the National League North. After changing its name back, they also do so under the original Darlington FC name. 

Now 100% fan owned, it can be said that the days of volatile and deluded owners are behind them, and the clubs fans are now able to look forward and not back.