Comment: He should go for the club's sake

George Reynolds saved the club and built a superb new stadium. For that we have always given him enormous credit.

But, with the benefit of hindsight, the dream was doomed from the beginning. To create a 25,000-seater stadium for a Third Division football club, without investing in a team to fill it, made no business sense whatsoever.

To sign an agreement with Darlington council which allowed the stadium to be used only for football, added to the madness. The sums just didn't add up and last night's events became inevitable.

Whoever takes over, the sums still won't add up. Does the council stay true to its pledge to stick with the original conditions, or bend the rules?

Did it seriously believe Mr Reynolds could make a go of it or did it secretly plan to move the goalposts anyway once the stadium was built?

What is clear is that the town will not rally behind the club while Mr Reynolds remains involved. Whether it is multi-millionaires being sounded out about investing in the club, or ordinary fans being asked to throw a few quid into a collector's bucket, the answer has been depressingly repeated: "Not while Reynolds is there."

He has been at the centre of a public relations disaster which has alienated fans and potential investors. By vilifying people on his giant noticeboard and by following through with threats to confront critics at their homes, the pool of goodwill has seeped away.

Calls to The Northern Echo last night from key figures in the town made the same point: "Reynolds has to go."

It is not a question of kicking a man while he is down. It is a plain fact: Mr Reynolds has lost the support of the people of the town.

Darlington needs a friendly, vibrant football club and all strands of the local community need to come together to ensure the Quakers have a future.

That will not happen unless the man who saved the club from bankruptcy and built a fine new stadium walks away from the wreckage of his dreams.