And Now We Wait...

We now await the most important decision in Darlington's 129-year history as tomorrow the deliberations will finally end and administrator Harvey Madden will put us out of our misery, one way or another.

If it proves to be the end I'm sure we will all be feeling pretty numb and the consequences of our demise will not sink in for quite a while.

I remain optimistic, based on no real reason whatsover, probably because I find it hard to accept that my matchday routine might disappear forever. I'm too old to change my habits.

Let's hope I don't have to...

Darlo's Last Stand?

The sense of expectancy as I woke was similar to that before our trip to Wembley for the FA Trophy final just a few months ago - an overwhelming sense of nervousness and unease - but for totally different reasons this time.  Not a good feeling either.

I was out of the house by 5:30am and had a nice stress-free journey to King's X - Da Vinci's was just opening as I got there.  I had a ravenous appetite though and the breakfast hit the spot.

I walked up to Euston with my train being called just as I walked onto the concourse.  I was originally travelling on my own and had plumped for first class as it wasn't much dearer than standard.

Arrival at Barrow

But with the advent of administration and the prospect of this being our last ever game, I was joined by Iain Swalwell and Paul Brown, who had also left home at a ridiculously early hour, and they paid the £15 upgrade so they could join me. I'm worth it!

A nice quiet journey and we arrived at Lancaster to find John Bell on the platform - by rights he should have been at Barrow already but his connections let him down.

Our connection to Barrow was on time and it was a very pleasant journey with some beautiful scenery as well as opportunities for me to do a bit of bird-watching as we travelled between Arnside and Grange-over-Sands. A shame the weather wasn't a bit brighter.

Brian up for the ball


We arrived on time at Barrow and it was only a couple of hundred yards walk to the pub, the Duke of Edinburgh Hotel.  This place is owned by Lancaster Brewery and as such four of their beers were on sale: Blonde, Amber, Red and Black.

There were also some guest ales - Beartown Santa's Claws, Oxfordshire Ales Triple B, Wincle Wassale and Woodlands Oak Beauty.

The hotel bar was a bit quiet when we got in but it slowly started to fill with Darlo fans, including Rich, John and Andy who'd been on the same train as us.

However we were surprised when they didn't follow us but I'd forgotten that they had to go to Wetherspoons for their breakfast first. They also had retired Northern Echo columnist and Northern League chairman, Mike Amos, in tow.

I tried a good few of the beers on offer and they were OK without being brilliant - usually served with heads that were a bit too frothy and large for my liking so I decided to have a few bottles as well seeing as they had a decent foreign selection - I opted for Duvel and Brooklyn Brown Ale.

Trev joined us - as did old chum Neil Raper whose son Lewis famously gave Gazza a hard time when he (Lewis) ran the line - at the grand age of 11 - at the fundraising game several years ago.  It was good to hear from Neil that Lewis is making his way up the refereeing ladder.

MB-W goes down at the edge of the box

Just as we were about to depart for the Holker Street, Brian turns up - thankfully he was driving and is only allowed a quick half pint before we hustle back out of the door and onto the game.

We stopped for a few photos at the statue of Emlyn Hughes opposite the hotel - he is a celebrated son of Barrow even though his home town club weren't interested in him, Hughes having to join Blackpool instead as he started his career.

It took about ten minutes to walk to the ground and there was a huge queue at the away turnstiles when we arrived.  I left the others to join the queue while I circumnavigated the ground in order to collect my press pass.

Once inside there was already a healthy number of Darlo fans on the uncovered away terrace plus quite a few TV cameras ready to catch all the emotion that the occasion promised.

I set about getting a few fans' pictures - a lot of friendly faces, especially given the sad circumstances and it was especially good to see that Steve Harland had managed to swap his shift and get here.  Steve is doing a grand job hiring bands for gigs in Stockton these days and keeping the old punks of Teesside entertained.

As I was snapping the news came over the tannoy that the game was going to be delayed by 15 mins due to the queues at the away end.

Dancing with poles?

As the teams took the pitch there was a great roar from the away end but also a lot of applause from the home fans who were generous with their support for Darlo and their fans throughout.

The masses of Darlo fans were obviously hoping for a fairy-tale ending - if that what it turns out to be - for this last game. Sadly it was not to be but it wasn't the result that mattered.

The Darlo team for this historic occasion was Russell, Arnison, Hatch, Taylor, Brown; McReady, Chandler, Bridge-Wilkinson, Rundle; Hopson; Bowman with subs being Nixon (gk), P Gray, Harrison, Ramshaw and J Gray.

For a decent proportion of the first half Darlington gave as good as they got and pressed forward, attacking the Barrow goal in front of the Darlo fans and went close on a couple of occasions.

Unfortunately Darlo never really got into the flowing style that has become a trademark of their play under caretaker Craig Liddle and Barrow always looked that little bit sharper - no doubt the lack of training together in recent weeks can't have helped.

Spike Lee was injured and joined Liddle on the away bench - Liam Hatch was therefore drafted in with Kris Taylor to make up the centre-back pairing which meant Ryan Bowman was leading the Darlo line.

Unfortunately he got very little joy out of former Darlo loanee Danny Hone who was first to virtually all of the high balls during the game and was probably the pick of the Barrow defence.

Adam Rundle - note the sponsor
logo has been taped over

Adam Rundle, John McReady and Dale Hopson were all very busy and created some decent movement but failed to really attack the goal.

Barrow took the lead quite early on as Adam Boyes shot speculatively at goal - normally Sam Russell would have easily dealt with this sort of shot.  Perhaps his mind wasn't totally there as the ball proceeded to slip through his hands and into the net.

The home team then doubled their lead after Cook headed home from a cross.  Aaron Brown looked to have been fouled in the build-up but referee Amy Fearn didn't agree.

There was then a loud shout for a Darlo penalty as Mark Bridge-Wilkinson was fouled on the edge of the box.  The ref wasn't fooled and just gave a free-kick.  Paul Arnison came over to the linesman stood in front of me and tried to persuade him it was inside the box. Do they ever change their minds?

At the break I had a wander round and had a chat with a few old faces - former neighbour Geoff Thompson was wearing a replica shirt that was a bit tighter than it used to be.  I also saw the various members of the Darlington FC Rescue Group and had a chat with Doug Embleton who was busy taking his own shots of the occasion.

The game was also notable for the fact that it was the first time a female official has taken charge of a game at Holker Street and it wasn't exactly an impressive debut.  She seemed inconsistent, especially with regards to free-kicks, and made some odd decisions but to be fair, I've seen worse at this level.

She is quite a wee thing though and sometimes she seemed to take far too long sorting out the players when there was a freekick as the players towered over her and tended to ignore her.  Maybe an assertiveness course would be useful.

But I'm not trying to suggest she was in any culpable for the result as Darlington were not at their best and in the second half, chances were few and far between as the Quakers were on the back foot for the most part.

For the second half I'd positioned myself close to the Darlo dugout - Craig Liddle was constantly animated as he tried to get us back into the game but looked an increasingly frustrated figure as we failed to a significant impact.

Hatch was throwing himself into his defensive duties and in the end he paid the price as he had to go off with an injury, being replaced by one of the youth team, Scott Harrison, who made a good impression.

McReady was replaced by James Gray in an effort to put some more energy into our attack and then Rundle was replaced by another youth team player, Rob Ramshaw who made a ten-minute senior debut.

Darlo legend Craig Liddle

Unfortunately Martin and I had booked our rail tickets before the significance of this game was known and we had to depart Barrow station at 5:21pm. 

This meant missing the three minutes of added time and the subsequent emotional scenes as the players and fans applauded each other. Perhaps this was just as well as it probably would have been too emotional for us.

Our train was on time and we headed back to Preston accompanied by Trev, Pete, Karl and Mike and a few younger Darlo fans who lived in the north-west.  The journey was spent musing over some of the grounds we might end up visiting if we find ourselves lower down the pyramid in some form or another.

We left Trev, Karl and Mike at Preston - our connection at Preston there was also on-time - a cup of tea, a read of the programme (spotting the typo on the front page - the game was in 2011 apparently!) and then a snooze before we pulled in Euston on time twenty minutes earlier than planned.

Martin, Pete and I headed to the Euston Tap for some consolatory beers - it was pretty hectic for a Saturday night and the staff were only just coping. 

As ever though, some excellent beers on offer - I tried the Red Willow Ageless, Thornbridge Sequoia (which Martin got a taste for too) and the Northcote Brewery/Euston Tap Collaboration One for the Road.

The latter is the last brew to be made at Northcote as they have now decided to pack in brewing - which is a shame because One For The Road is very drinkable given it has about ten different hops in it (including some wild hops from Hackney).

And then time was called and it was time for bed.  The Euston Tap will be open for my business next week but will Darlo?

Here We Go Again....Again

It doesn't seem that long ago since Darlo last went into administration - and what do you know, it wasn't - less than two years ago.  That's three times in nine years.

It is hard to believe that we've come to this so soon after the highs of the Wembley victory just seven months ago. In fact if is wasn't for the fact that this is Darlington, it would be unthinkable.

There was a feeling in pre-season that the club weren't doing enough to push the club and build on the momentum of the FA Trophy win.

However on the playing side it looked as if Mark Cooper was bringing in some decent players for the new campaign and most bookmakers felt the same, making us one of the main contenders for a play-off spot at the least.

So it was with a fairly unusual sense of optimism that we started the season but after a narrow opening victory over newly-promoted Braintree, in which we were never totally convincing, we started to drop too many points against teams that we felt we should be beating.

Raj Singh - happer times after FA Trophy win at Gateshead

Defeats at the hands of supposedly weaker sides such as Tamworth, Bath City and Braintree led to manager Mark Cooper publicly criticising his players.  This tactic may work in the short term but it became a constant barrage with few players avoiding the wrath of his tongue.

At first most fans probably agreed with him as the players were severely underachieving but in the end it was self-defeating and he seemed to have lost the confidence of the squad.

The spineless performance and subsequent defeat at Braintree at the end of October was the final straw for the chairman and despite earlier support for his manager, Cooper was sacked.

Things came further to a head after we failed to beat Hinckley United at home in the FA Cup before things hit rock bottom after losing 3-0 in the replay.  Was Cooper really the the problem or was it the players?

On the team coach home after that defeat an unnamed player shouted out "Mr Chairman, please pay me off".  That was it - the blue touch paper was lit and Raj went on the rampage, insisting that players renegotiate their contracts or the club dies.

In the chaos that ensured, some players refused and left the club whilst others, to their credit, did accept cuts.

The saddest thing is that our form under the reins of caretaker Craig Liddle began to look very encouraging - the players looked fitter, we started to play decent football, some players made the step up from the youth and morale amongst players seemed to be on the up despite not being paid in recent weeks.

Singh now claimed that he was losing £80,000 a month which is hard for most of us to understand.  What exactly has changed in Raj's budget since the start of the season?

We know Raj is not with us for the love of the club - he's a Boro fan - but more the development potential of the land around the stadium.

Perhaps this was simply a way of him getting out for good, especially after the local council refused to lift planning covenants (quite rightly) on the land which he doesn't even own (and given the stance of the ground owners in respect to selling the the land to Singh, he wasn't likely to).

As suspected for some weeks, the administrator finally stepped in yesterday and announced that "Without any financial support from outside the club or anyone willing to acquire the club, I will, unfortunately, have little alternative but to cease to trade in a very short time".

Too little time I fear for the Darlington FC Rescue Group led by Mark Meynell to get realistically involved - they needed Singh to keep the club going until the summer - but that option would appear to have gone.

What happens next is anyone's guess...

There Goes The Neighbourhood...

The start to the new year saw the departure of one of the oldest businesses in my part of the East End as Duncan’s Pie and Mash shop on Green Street closed for good.


Joan Holt seving the masses

Although I was a relatively late convert to the pleasure of green liquor and pies done London-stylee, I have now tried a wide variety of this fare in different parts of London and can say, hand on heart with no hint of local bias, that Duncan’s was the best I’d come across.

And that was no mean feat given that there was some stiff competition in the area from Robin’s in nearby East Ham and also from Nathan’s just the other side of the Boleyn Ground.

The only thing I've never got to grips with is jellied eels.  I tried them back in the late 1980s and they were horrible - never again!

The local pie and mash shops are full to the gunnels on match-days as exiled Hammers fans poured into the area but trade at other times is patchy as the older residents of the borough die off or move out of the area.

Unfortunately the pleasures of pie and mash have failed to catch the imagination of the more recent influx of residents. Presumably no one has yet produced halal pie and mash?

Just recently Jamie Oliver’s Great Britain TV series visited Robin’s shop - Oliver tried to persuade viewers that pies originated in Egypt but I suspect that they were a pale imitation of what we know and love today.

Nevertheless it was still nice to see the footage of the shop. In an interview, the owners hinted they would be closing and sure enough the shop was long gone by the time the programme was transmitted – a shame after almost ninety years in business.



David Holt - keep the spuds boiling

 I’d popped into Duncan’s last week for a couple of takeaway pies and proprietor Joan said she was  pleased I'd dropped in – would I let the Pie and Mash club know that they were closing up in case anyone wanted to make a final visit?

Joan had been very impressed with the appetites of some members of the club when making their last visit back in 2010.

Joan added that they’d been going for forty years and that now was probably the time to call it a day.

And so the big day came and it was time for one last visit for a 2 and 2 – double pie and double mash. I made my way there before noon to beat the rush and managed to bag a seat. Whilst there I took a few final shots of the place, including some behind the scenes.

I had a quick chat with John – busy backstage in charge of the pies and mash – who although looking forward to taking thngs a bit easier said that he would miss his customers, especially on match days.

And then a farewell to Joan, busy serving at the front, before I left taking with me a few final pies for the freezer.

The queue was almost out of the door by then and I heard that later on that the queue stretched almost to the tube station and many fans failed to get in for a last taste.

A Dying Breed

I'm sure most readers will be aware of the sad death of our friend and fellow fan, Lance Ireland, in the early hours of New Year's Eve.

Lance had been diagnosed with cancer earlier in the year but was determined not to make a fuss and get on with life as best he could in whatever time he had remaining.

As much as he was often the centre of attention when out on the road with DAFTS, it wasn't a role he courted and overt attention unsettled him - ever the soldier it was a case of no fuss, no pack drill.

We all have our own memories of Lance - unsettling fellow travellers with his repetoire of songs, the variety of headwear,  his views on football today (how long do you have?), turning up far too early at an away meet, his Morris dancing at the Spring Thing festival, the Darlo shrine in the Sportsman, being sent to his own table in the pub when he simply got too daft and many more.

Lance was one of the first to donate to any cause - the youth development and the prediction league both benefitted on a regular basis.  At the start of each season, he always give me £10 to give to Liz for the London Millers annual raffle (and even when he won he'd decline the prize).

 Lance Ireland, Sheik of Harborne

It was heartening to see that he was finally able to meet his Hollywood sweetheart Rhonda Fleming at her home in LA a week or so after Darlo's victory at Wembley.  The welcome he was given spoke volumes for the friendship he developed with her over previous years.

It is fair to say that he will be missed by all that knew him - they don't make them like that anymore.

Thanks for the memories Lance - I'm sure St Peter knows all the words to Me and My Pussycat by now...

Medway Meandering

As has been too often the case in recent months, the local tube line is out of action and I must catch the 115 bus down to Canning Town tube.  It doesn't add too much to my journey time - maybe an additional 15 minutes at the most - but it is still a pain.  I don't like buses.

Still, I get to Kings Cross in time for a leisurely breakfast at Da Vincis - the main man is in today and so the chips are perfect.

Due to that element of OCD in me that makes me get to places far too early, I'm way ahead of schedule so have a good look round Foyles in the mall at St Pancras.  Even after that I'm still not expecting to see Trevor for half an hour so get a cuppa at the Sourced Market - full of healthy organic (and expensive) goodies but worth a peruse - only for Trevor to turn up, himself ahead of schedule.

The Man Of Kent

For the trip down to Kent, we're going to be taking the high-speed line from St Pancras - about 15 mins to Ebbsfleet and less than thirty to our initial destination, Rochester.

The conductor on our very empty train is a very chatty chap - took one look at us and figured we're out for a beery day. When we tell him that seeing Darlo is part of the day, he's impressed at our devotion to the cause.

I receive a call from John W - he is already in Rochester and having a look at the castle - but ten minutes later he is there to meet us at the station.

We're there at 10:30am - normally a bit too early even for us but Rochester has the early opening Britannia Cafe Bar – very reminiscent of a Wetherspoons - there is breakfast on offer but the early birds in there are all on beer. 

Three handpumps on offer featuring Gadds No 7, Abigale Ridgeway Pale Ale, and Goachers Light. We get stuck in but it isn't long before I'm interrupted by calls from Martin Deans - he's at St Pancras and wants to know how and where he gets his rail ticket.  I've spoilt him, you know.

The beers in the BCB are fine but as it approaches noon, we wander along to the Man of Kent – a pub I visited a couple of years ago when Liz and I came to take a look at what were then prospective cats.

By the time we've got our first beers, Steve Duffy has joined us.  Also lounging is the bar is pub dog Dude, looking a bit older and quieter than on my last visit.  He seems content to raise his head and check us out rather than come over to inspect us as he used to.

As ever there is an excellent array of Kent's finest at the bar: Wrigglers Best Bitter. Whitstable Pearl of Kent, Abigale Ridgeway Pale Ale, Wantsum Black Prince, Kentish Ale Dominator, Gads Dogbolter, Goachers Mild and Gold Star, Tonbridge Rustic and Old Dairy Sun Tap.

Synchronised waving

Even when the bar is quiet with just a few customers, the pub is somewhere you immediately feel at home and it would be very easy to spend the rest of the day there.

After trying a decent number of beers though we resist and head back to the station.

Just a short hop to Ebbsfleet station and, thanks to Martin, we take the  short cut through car park C to Ebbsfleet's Stonebridge Road ground.

I pass Howard - busy chatting to the driver of Darlo's team coach and trying to get some gossip - I leave him to it and head off to sign in.

A very friendly welcome from all the stewards for what is an unsegregated crowd.   The stadium is neat and tidy - two stands and a covered terrace plus an open end.  The sort of ground that would suit Darlo.

The squad were still warming up as I wandered out onto the pitch, being careful to avoid being hit by some of the wayward shooting on display. Hopefully they’ll be better during the game.

The Darlo side had a new face as Dale Hopson, another product of the youth team set-up, made his senior debut. However his performance belied his lack of experience as Darlo played the best football that I’ve seen this season.

After all the recent news about Darlington’s off-the-field woes, the home side were probably surprised by the way that Darlington attacked them straight from the kick-off. There was no shortage of creative effort as Darlo ran rings around the Ebbsfleet defence with Hopson playing neat passing football with Rundle, McReady and Hatch and looking every bit an established player.

The major surprise of the first half was that Darlington had only achieved a single goal lead as various players went close to opening the scoring with keeper Edwards pulling off some decent saves and Darlo going close on numerous occasions.

Liam Hatch opens the scoring

The goal finally came after former Gravesend and Northfleet (as Ebbsfleet were then) player Liam Hatch stabbed home from close range after the home keeper failed to deal with a cross from Mark Bridge-Wilkinson.

Darlington continued to dominate after the break but failed to capitalise on their creativity. Ebbsfleet slowly started to come into the game and it looked like we would be made to pay when the home side equalised.

The ball was played into the Darlo penalty area – Sam Russell came out to clear but was beaten to the ball as Willock headed into the net. Rather a soft goal.

Far too often in the past Darlo would have crumbled and conceded the initiative at this point but not today as we went straight back on the attack. And it took just a few minutes to restore the lead as Hatch scored his second goal of the game.

Hopson was again involved, laying off the ball to MB-W – his cross found Hatch in plenty of space and time to welly the ball past the keeper. The away fans go wild.

It was then that our composure deserted us as Ebbsfleet pressed harder and we started to panic and lose our shape. Thanks to some last gasp blocks and one superb tackle from captain Ian Miller, we held out.

It was from one Ebbsfleet corner that Darlo secured the points – the ball falling to sub James Gray who fed it forward. The home defence failed to intercept the pass and Hopson ran free and left one-on-one with the keeper. Hopson shimmied to send the keeper the wrong way and slotted the ball home like a seasoned pro.

Cue more Darlo mayhem on the terraces and celebration as the final whistle blew a few seconds later. 

This was a great victory – not just the performance but the superb attitude shown by the players and the way we went about playing the game. Clearly Craig Liddle has got the lads fired up and this was a real morale boost for fans and players.

Dale Hopson scores his debut goal

Highlights of the game can be seen here.

After the game we hurried back to Ebbsfleet station, just missing a train back to London but we didn't have to wait long for another.  The fifteen minute journey is very impressive and so we're in the Euston Tap by 6pm.

An old chum of mine from Newcastle CAMRA, John Holland, popped in for a quick half so it was good to catch up with all the pub news from there - not that I'll get a chance to try any for a while given the Gateshead game is on Boxing Day.

Some cracking beers in here tonight - Fyne West Highlander Black IPA, Redemption Fellowship Porter (to keep John W happy) and a trio from the wonderful Magic Rock brewery - Curious NZ on cask with High Wire and Cannoball IPA on nu-keg.  Superb!

But eventually the hunger pangs began to win the battle over my thirst and I headed home for a curry.  A most excellent day out from start to finish. More please!

The Nature of Addiction

For once on a weekend, football wasn't at the centre of my universe - thanks of course to the three-nil humiliation at Hinckley which was the start of yet another low point in Darlo's history.

In truth, I wouldn't have attended a game even if Darlo had been in the first round of the FA Cup as I was already committed to attending a few gigs of one of my favourite musicians.

Devin Townsend is the fella - one-time vocalist for guitar noodler Steve Vai before creating his own extreme metal band Strapping Young Lad - and in recent years he has formed his band the Devin Townsend Project which is a bit more mellow.

Townsend was playing four straight nights in London - each gig devoted to one of his quadrilogy of DTP albums - and I was aiming to go to three of them, joined by my niece Allie who has seemingly got similar tastes to me. Gotta love those genes!

The venue for the first two gigs was the University of London Union which is close to Euston and therefore pre-gig beers were taken at the Euston Tap a few hundred yards away. Perfect for getting that pre-gig atmosphere.

The first night was devoted to Ki which is the first of the quadrilogy - quite an even paced album with a mixture of slow and fast numbers.  The venue was packed with fans from all over the world - many making the journey from North America and Scandinavia - devotion to the cause.

For the next day - when Addicted was the album to be performed - Allie and I were joined by Liz. I'd bought VIP tickets which meant we would do a meet'n'greet with the band before the gig.

Once again a few pre-gig beers in the Tap before we headed off and joined the queue of other VIPers.  As we were let in we were all given a goody bag (t-shirt,  poster, exclusive tracks on RAM key, programme, laminate etc) before the band were brought in to meet us all.

Devin got the most attention but the rest of the band are a friendly and, I'm pleased to say, hairy bunch of individuals who were genuinely pleased to meet their fans and have a good time.  The other fans were good too - no one pushing in to get to see the band first.

Being a VIP meant we were let into the venue first and so most of us headed down to the front - even if there was another three hours before the band were onstage.

Brian Waddell and Hairy Fan (who may have had a beer or two)

Support for tonight was a band called Amplifier who I'd not previously encountered.  I'd heard one track a day or so beforehand which sounded promising.

However they totally exceeded my expectations with their 40 minute set - a stunning wall of sounds - part progressive, part space-rock.  I shall be checking out their back catalogue immediately.  Check this track out - brilliant.

After what seemed an age setting up the gear for DTP and a few gremlins in the first couple of numbers, Devin hit the strage and proceeded to play Addicted in track order. The sound was excellent, helped by the vocals of Anneke van Giersbergen - what a pair of lungs. Nice legs too! And stood directly in front of me too.

There are a couple of good clips here and here.  Or this one which is taken by somebody directly behind me - quality isn't brilliant, especially my singing.

Overall the best gig I've attended for a long, long time for sound and atmosphere.  A great day from start to finish. And there will be a DVD of it too - can't wait!

Hairy Fan, Devin Townsend and niece Allie