DARLINGTON Football Club’s greatest-ever player is looking forward to putting his boots back on to help out his former team.

Marco Gabbiadini’s goals for the Quakers helped him win two golden boots, an award for the best Darlington player of alltime, and fired the club to the 1999-2000 end-of-season play-offs.

Now Gabbiadini, who retired from the game in 2004, will team up with the play-off heroes in a fundraising friendly match for the administration-hit League Two club.

Gabbiadini arrived at Darlington in 1998 after a period with knee injuries and short spells at a number of clubs, following his release by Derby County. He now runs a hotel in York.

He said: “My time at Darlington was fantastic. I came after I had had a terrible year when I left Derby. Things hadn’t gone very well for me.

“I had a couple of injuries, I was about 30 and it was touch and go. But I was very determined. I wanted to prove that I had dropped down the division, but I could have still played at a higher level. I wanted to prove that.

Darlington was a great place to do that.

“The biggest memory at the time was the fans. George Reynolds had come in and, for all his sins, one of the biggest things he did was to provide cheap tickets.

We had great crowds, sometimes people were locked out.

“We had a great atmosphere at Feethams. Unfortunately, we didn’t quite make promotion, although I had two cracking seasons.”

Gabbiadini started with York City before he made his name at Sunderland, where he won two promotions, an England B cap and a North-East Player of the Year award.

After leaving Darlington, he spent three years with Northampton Town. In 2003, he was named Darlington’s greatest player at the Farewell to Feethams awards, shortly before he signed for their arch-rivals Hartlepool United.

However, his long-standing knee injury brought down the curtain on his career, during which he amassed 273 goals from 791 games.

On Darlington’s administration, Gabbiadini said: “It seems to be a sign of the times in football.

“They are not the only ones and I’m sure they won’t be the last. The positive thing is clubs always seem to survive.

“It must be an awful time for the people of Darlington and I’m sure it must have been upsetting for the team who woke up one morning and the league table had put them in a different position.”

The fundraising match takes place on Sunday, May 3 at The Northern Echo Darlington Arena. Players announced for the match include Paul Gascoigne, Peter Beardsley, Gareth Southgate, Kevin Ball, Colin Cooper and Steve Agnew.

Tickets, costing £10 for adults and £5 for children, are available from the club and The Northern Echo.

Your chance to quiz the chairman

FANS of Darlington Football Club are to be given a chance to put their questions and concerns to the former chairman.

George Houghton, who placed the club in administration nearly two months ago, is giving an exclusive interview to The Northern Echo.

Today, Chief Sports Writer Scott Wilson and Chief Reporter David Roberts will be questioning Mr Houghton on the events surrounding the administration and his plans for the future of the club.

The paper is also inviting supporters to submit questions to the former chairman.

Mr Houghton, who is still the owner of Darlington’s stadium, has not ruled out remaining at the club in a backseat capacity. The interview will be videoed and placed online and will also take place live on the Northern Echo website.

Anyone who would like to submit questions can email them to david.roberts@nne.co.uk before noon today with “Houghton interview” in the subject line.

While it is not guaranteed that every question can be answered, it is hoped to put as many as possible.

The interview will take place at 1.30pm and fans can follow its progress live online at thenorthern echo.co.uk