IT was the evening of May 4, 1999, when George Reynolds - the chipboard tycoon on the brink of taking over Darlington Football Club - strode on to the Feethams turf to a rapturous welcome.

"I promise you I will deliver the goods for Darlington," he told a buoyant crowd, ahead of the Quakers' clash with Exeter City.

The goods, it was rumoured, were to include a new 25,000-capacity ground to rival any of football's new breed of super stadia, the likes of which can be seen at Southampton, Sunderland or Leicester.

A fortnight later, details of the chairman's dream were officially released, with the news that the club was eyeing up several sites with a view to a £20m development.

Neasham Road soon emerged as favourite - to the fury of nearby residents, who brought Darlington town centre to a standstill with a protest against the plans.

Their efforts proved in vain though, as both the borough council and, crucially, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, gave the stadium the thumbs-up in April 2000.

The club reached the Third Division play-off final at Wembley the following month, but defeat by Peterborough came as a blow to Mr Reynolds' lofty aspirations.

Undeterred, the Quakers' stadium project forged ahead.

On October 2 of the same year, the saga took a twist when the club parted company with main contractor Taylor Woodrow and then enlisted Hall Construction for the mammoth task.

By July 2001, work was well ahead of schedule, with the 1,600-tonne steel framework and 6,000 tonnes of concrete terracing in place.

But as the impressive venue took shape, hostility between Mr Reynolds and the club's fans over Quakers' fortunes on the pitch was growing.

In March 2002, the chairman confirmed mounting speculation that the stadium would not be ready in time for the new football season that August because of delays in deliveries of "the finishing touches".

They included the marble floors and extravagantly-priced carpets that adorn the interior.

Mr Reynolds, left reeling by the collapsed signing of Colombian World Cup star Tino Asprilla, conceded in October 2002 that the ground would not be open before the start of the following season.

After a fresh string of PR gaffes - the controversial messageboard and the proposed red-and-white home strip among them - the stadium was finally set to be put to the test last August.

It had been named the Reynolds Arena, a fact drilled home to thousands of motorists on the A66 each day by the enormous signage on the side of the South Stand.

On August 16, with a council-imposed capacity of only 11,500, the arena threw open its doors to welcome fans hopeful of the club putting the past behind it.

However, a 2-0 defeat by Kidderminster Harriers that day would prove to be just the start of the Quakers' recent problems.

Behind the scenes, the club was defaulting on payments to the Sterling Consortium, the finance group that loaned £3.9m to Mr Reynolds to complete the stadium between May 2002 and November 2003.

Crowds dwindled as the team struggled near the foot of the Third Division.

The chairman bowed to mounting financial pressure on December 23 and the club collapsed into administration.

Earlier this month, Sterling bought Mr Reynolds' prized asset, a move that led to yesterday's symbolic development.

Today, the future of what Mr Reynolds says is "the best Third Division ground in Europe" remains uncertain.

But one thing is for sure, the stadium will never again bear the name of the man whose dream of building it has turned into the most spectacular of nightmares.