Darlington fanatic Neil Maddison is determined to help the club move up the Football League ladder.

Despite playing in the Premiership and First Division in all his career, the 31-year-old knows all about life at the wrong end of the league.

"I've supported Darlington all my life," he said.

"I used to watch from the Tin Shed, and I saw them win promotion when Cyril Knowles was the manager. My favourite player at the time was David McLean, he scored some great goals.

"There will be exciting times ahead if things take off. The chairman has got some big plans, and the new stadium is looking more and more impressive.

"People are wondering why I've dropped from the Premiership to the Third Division, but I want to be a part of the club's progress, and help win promotion to the Second Division and beyond.

"It wasn't about money for me, it was about personal happiness. I had offers to go to clubs in the First and Second Division, but I made no secret of the fact that I wanted to play for Darlington.

"But I'm not promising anything - the team might not take off straight away. It's up to me to fit in pretty quickly. One thing's for certain, I will do my best for the club and help the rest of the team, especially the youngsters.

"I don't like getting beat, whether it's in a five a side game or on a Saturday afternoon. It's an instinct which I have, just like a lot of footballers."

Maddison was under the wing of 12 managers in his time at Southampton and Middlesbrough.

"I've played under a lot of people, like Lawrie McMenemy, Chris Nicholl, Graeme Souness, Bryan Robson and Terry Venables,'' he said.

"Hopefully, I've picked up plenty from each of them, and put it to good use for myself. I'm studying for my coaching badge, and at some stage, I want to go into coaching, and maybe I might get the chance at Darlington. I hope to stop longer than two years on my contract.

"Football is all I know, I've never done anything else."

Blackburn remain confident of securing the services of Tugay Kermioglu after his initial application for a work permit was refused.

The Home Office say the Turkish midfielder does not meet the required criteria.

Dutchman Giovanni van Bronckhorst joined Arsenal from Rangers for £8.5m yesterday and admitted: ''I won the league in Scotland - now I want to win it in England.''

The 26-year-old midfielder, who has signed a five-year contact, was unveiled at Highbury five days after Arsenal splashed out £8m on Everton striker Francis Jeffers.

Wes Brown is to begin talks within the next month on a new contract with Manchester United which is expected to see his wages double to around £30,000 a week. The 21-year-old centre-half is next on Sir Alex Ferguson's list of players he wants to tie to a new long-term contract.

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