UNDER-FIRE George Reynolds has never been afraid to boast about his spending on Darlington Football Club.

The multi-millionaire chairman has, according to wife and fellow director Susan Reynolds, ploughed £20m into the Feethams outfit.

About £5m went on clearing the club's debts following his takeover of the club in May 1999. He bought out the majority shareholdings of Reg Brearley and Mike Peden to save the Quakers going out of business.

A new stadium was next on the agenda as the flamboyant reformed safecracker put a block on transfer fees in his first season.

Spending on players "did not guarantee success" he told fans, who were asked to be patient.

The cost of the stadium, for which a grandeur and finish has been promised which "towers above all others", has been put at £15m,with no expense spared by Mr Reynolds.

Last June, he revealed this included £2m on fixtures and fittings, with £280,000 being spent on state-of- the-art turnstiles and £88 each for every executive, director and Press seat.

Thousands more have been spent on other extravagant features, such as marble floors and escalators to take fans to the top of the stands.

The new stadium is due to be ready for the 2002/3 season.

Away from the club, Mr Reynolds' fortune, amassed from manufacturing kitchen worktops, is thought to stand at about £150m.

His inclusion in a national "rich list" has detailed his assets as including a £7m mansion near Bishop Auckland, County Durham, a £1.5m property in London and a helicopter.

Last month, he sold his George Reynolds UK chipboard business - claiming he had "lost £50m" - so he could concentrate on the football business.

He has said he will plough further funds into player transfers - but only if fans back the club by turning up in their numbers on match days.

At the same time, Mr Reynolds has admitted that even if the club were to complete an unlikely rise up the divisions toward the hallowed ground of the Premiership, he would not expect to get his money back.

He once said: "I'll never get it back, I know. But the main thing I'll leave a lot of people happy".