Not that anyone at Darlington Football Club would admit it, but the team’s future in the Football League is already hanging by the thread after a start to the season that has seen just two points acquired in their opening 10 league matches.
However it’s certain that the diminishing faithful at the Darlington Arena are only partly concerned by the team’s poor form, as they could have been left without a club entirely after a summer of uncertainty on and off the pitch.
The club entered administration for six months from Feburary last season, something that not only wrecked their promotion ambitions but also dwindled down their playing staff to just three and put the clubs future in real jeopardy.
A charity match and a number of other fund-raising events kept the club going throughout the summer until a buyer was found days before the beginning of the season, meaning the club could come out of administration and avoid another 10-point deduction.
So in all fairness you can forgive Quakers fans for not complaining too much about the clubs current predicament which see’s them already eight points adrift at the bottom of the table.
Colin Todd had been appointed earlier in the summer due the consortium’s confidence that the club would take it’s place in League Two at the start of the season, but instantly Todd’s job became almost impossible as all but three of the first team squad was culled to keep the club alive.
It took a huge re-building job for Darlington to even have a team at the beginning of the season with a number of free transfers from throughout the football league joining Todd to fight against relegation.
In addition a number of youth players were promoted to the first team including Curtis Main who had in-fact turned out for the full team on a number of occasions last season.
With a squad with more odds and ends than a Blue Peter model, Darlington have struggled to make any impact this season, just two points have been recorded, four goals scored and plenty of embarrassment endured along the way.
The player/assistant manager role of Dean Windass summed up the clubs predicament perfectly, a player clearly way past his prime trying desperately to re-create some of the magic that made him a cult hero with fans up and down the country.
The result wasn’t pretty.
Todd and Windass were sacked after the club failed to pick up a win away at Grimsby Town a few weeks ago, but the move has clearly been made by an owner, Raj Singh, whose footballing nouse is on a par with Del Boy.
It seems obvious that the owners expectations of the clubs progress this season are completely unrealistic, and if he felt that Todd should be keeping a squad up with a shoestring budget and a host of players who have come from all ends of the country then he needs his head checked.
The new man appointed Steve Staunton is on a hiding to nothing in my book.
He is sure to fight tooth and nail to keep the club afloat, but even with his managerial talent, which as we saw while he took charge of the Republic of Ireland is slightly limited, it would take a major turn around to see this club climb up the table; even 23rd would be an achievement.
Singh clearly needs a reality check, and maybe when he sees Staunton struggle just like those before him maybe he’ll realise that not only was sacking Todd a mistake but also that his club are doomed to relegation whether he likes it or not.
He’s revealed he will back Staunton and his assistant Kevin Richardson in the transfer market, but in having to wait another two months for that opportunity the beginning of the end might have already begun.
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