Darlington Borough Council was feeling sore this week over the way its mauling at the hands of the Local Government Ombudsman was reported by our sister paper The Northern Echo.

The ombudsman's report was critical of the council for not enforcing a legal agreement relating to the building of Darlington FC's grand new stadium. The council was guilty of maladministration because it failed to make the club keep its promises set out in that agreement designed to protect local residents who were unhappy the stadium was built on their doorstep.

After the council had leaked the report to the Echo, the paper duly reported this criticism prominently on its front page on Wednesday and also the council's response which, in summary, was that it felt it had no choice faced with a difficult owner (George Reynolds) and a club facing ruin.

Pragmatic decision-making has its place, but the council seems to misunderstand how this affair has undermined its credibility.

The whole point of planning agreements like the one signed by the council and Mr Reynolds in 2000 is that they are drawn up to protect the council's position regardless of the attitude of the other party, at the time of draft or in the future. The fact that Mr Reynolds was the club saviour in 2000 who became the unreasonable club owner in 2003 is not relevant.

If the council thought the club would honour the agreement at the time of signing it must surely stand accused of naivety in the extreme. The conditions were exacting and, arguably, onerous.

If the council was not prepared to use the agreement to ensure the club complied with the conditions relating to traffic, parking and public transport, it should not have signed it in the first place. The ombudsman's report reveals that the council breached the trust its resident swould and should expect to place in it. It deserves to be criticised.