THE country's leading academic on football research says George Reynolds is a classic example of a chairman expecting instant success.

But John Williams, director of the Centre for Football Research at the University of Leicester, also believes Mr Reynolds has staked too much to walk away from the club.

He said: "It's one of those issues where a kind of ambitious maverick of a chairman has come in and it has excited supporters because of the way he's talked about Darlington being one of the sleeping giants of the North-East.

"He has put a lot of his own money into the club and staked a lot of his reputation on what happens to the club in the next few years, and things have not worked out.

"He's angry and frustrated by that, and all of this threatens the economic future of the club because he will have budgeted for success quickly."

Mr Williams said he feels the meeting on Thursday could have been an attempt by the chairman to show the supporters he is one of them.

He said: "He's a chairman who's had a high public profile and has attracted a lot of publicity because of his past.

"His role with Darlington came and he probably thinks it makes him look a bit daft not to get the kind of success he thought was automatic, and he's displacing some of the blame for that.

"Often, what chairmen try to do is say: 'I'm not the administrator here, I'm a fan and as a fan I'm angry'. It may be that he is trying to align himself with supporters, and hopes this will attract large public support.

"Clearly he's angry and frustrated that performances on the field aren't matching what he's doing off it."

Mr Williams, who has followed Mr Reynolds' takeover of the club, feels the multi-millionaire will stick it out.

He said: "I don't think he can walk away - he's got too much money tied up in the stadium.

"What can the stadium do except host a football club? The only thing Darlington can do with it is have football matches there."

And he added: "The stadium has clear financial implications. Clearly, he's budgeted for crowds of 15,000 or 20,000 next season and they're not going to get that.

"Darlington Football Club is going to have to play there, but something is going to have to change quite quickly about the club's performances."

Mr Williams drew comparisons between Mrs Reynolds' statement about players throwing games to Portsmouth chairman Milan Mandaric's decision not to pay his players' monthly wage bill because of poor performances.

He said: "They're interesting cases because it is the administration coming out with this, rather than the managers of the club.

"That's what's so unusual, that people involved in running the club are not supposed to know that much about the game or interfere in the hiring or firing of the playing staff.

"Although Darlington has not threatened to stop their players' wages, this director has obviously decided to impugn the integrity of the club's players."