Search: ' Feethams'

The Darlington chairman is banning those who criticise him from the club's new stadium. Ron Hamilton reports

On the outskirts of Darlington stands the club’s fine new stadium. The 25,000-capacity, as-yet unnamed stadium boasts restaurants, a nightclub and a reputed £85,000 worth of marble floor­ing. A new home fit for a king rather than a team struggling to avoid the drop to the con­ference. And while this stadium will welcome the Conference-dodging Quakers on to the pitch for the first time at the start of next season, one man who will not be there is former editor of fanzine Where’s The Money Gone?, Dave Mac­Lean. For that matter, neither is MacLean wel­come at Darlington’s current, less glam­orous abode, Feethams.

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Jon Lymer looks at the deal that, to all but Darlington's publicity staff, looked doomed from the start

In the run up to the closing of the new transfer window, Darlington came within a whisker of clinching one of the most unexpected moves of recent years. In the event, however, the club and its erratic chairman, George Rey­nolds, sim­ply continued along their romp to the heart of insanity.

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Ed Parkinson recalls a striker who failed to break through at Chelsea, but scored the goals that took Hartlepool up and returned to save them from relegation

On a wet Wednesday in October 1988, desperate Hartlepool manager Bobby Moncur drove to Swansea to watch Newcastle reserves. At the final whistle, believing he had seen the answer to his goalscoring problems, Bobby invited Joe Allon into his car and persuaded him to sign for Hartlepool.

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Money does not always bring success, as Hartlepool found out in the play-offs. Ed Parkinson reports

Reasonably sane supporters of Hartlepool and Darlington probably approached most seasons in the last century with a common set of priorities – stay in the league, stay solvent and finish above the local rival. The first two have proved difficult for both clubs at times but over­all supremacy in the third area is a matter of heated debate.

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Designing football stadiums has become big business for architechts, reports Matthew Foreman

When Derby and Bolton fans arrive at their new stadium for the first Premiership match of the season, they’ll find bars to tempt them away from the local, catering to put the hot-dog stand out of business and that symbol of 90s football, the revamped club shop. And as soon as the ground is empty the club can start preparing for the next business conference.

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