UNTIL the administrator has unravelled the full extent of the mess at Darlington Football Club, its true plight will not be entirely clear.

But what is apparent now is that there is no future for George Reynolds as chairman. His investment in the new stadium was a huge gamble and he has lost that gamble spectacularly. No-one should take comfort from this sad state of affairs but it is worth pointing out that Mr Reynolds did have plenty of advice about the wisdom of his great adventure.

His belief that he could somehow overturn the accepted, if crazy, economics of the football business was badly misplaced. His belief that the fans would turn-up to his spanking-new Reynolds Arena - an exercise in self-glorification if ever there was one - regardless of what was happening on the pitch, lies at the heart of the club's problem.

Now, having built the stadium, a way has to be found to reconcile Third Division football and attendances with Premiership facilities and running costs. A return to Feethams for the club with Mr Reynolds holding on to his beloved stadium is a possibility but not an attractive one. The new stadium would then be the total white elephant many talked of when it was first mooted.

The challenge now is to find a way for Mr Reynolds to extricate himself from the club with a modicum of dignity intact (some might argue that he doesn't deserve to) and to harness the evident goodwill towards the club in the town.

The fans will return if they have confidence in the club's realistic management and they can watch a moderately successful team.

That's the cold reality facing the club and its supporters in 2004.