Darlington Football Club is looking forward to a new start this season with the town's residents and businesses backing it all the way.

A successful pre-season both on and off the field has seen the club win five out of seven of its friendly matches and the season ticket and corporate match day box sales are up on last year.

And the club hopes to have a park and ride bus scheme operating for the first home game of the season against Grimsby on Saturday, August 7.

On Tuesday night, Ron Greener, one of the Quakers' greatest ever players, was honoured when the Neasham Road stadium's presidential lounge was renamed the Ron Greener Suite.

Easington-born Mr Greener, 70, joined Darlington in 1955 and stayed with the club until 1968, making 492 appearances.

He said: "When Andrew Battison, the chief executive, suggested the idea to me, I was stunned and very proud.

"I hope the club, the supporters and the players get the success they all deserve."

The ceremony was followed by the club's most important pre-season friendly against Leeds United, and even though the visitors won 4-2, the match attracted 5,872 supporters.

Chief executive Mr Battison said: "We are delighted with how things are going. The season ticket sales have gone exceptionally well and are above what we originally budgeted for.

"We have employed no gimmicks or given anything away and are very grateful to those who have committed to purchasing them.

"There has been a lot of corporate activity as well, which reflects what we are doing off the field.

"We are trying to put roots back into the community and there seems to be a lot of people coming back to us."

Mr Battison said that the club was working with Darlington Council on the 106 planning agreement and that it hoped to deliver a park and ride scheme for its first home league match.

"We've got an agreement with Stagecoach," he said.

"Basically, a number of buses will leave from the market place and travel up to the ground and then back again at the end of the match."

On the field, Mr Battison said he was pleased with the team's pre-season performances.

He said: "We made a couple of mistakes against Leeds but there were a lot of positives to take out of it.

"We had a good crowd of 5,872 for a Tuesday night game, on a Saturday that would have been about 8,000."

Mr Battison also said progress was being made to find a new stadium name.

"We are talking to a number of people and aiming to get fair value for a stadium this size. We are not giving it away but negotiations are continuing."