GEORGE Reynolds' vision of Premiership football for Darlington was always pie in the sky. But while his methods may seem distinctly off-beat his long-term plan at least has a chance of taking the club forward.

Being called the Quakers smacks of being deeply rooted in drab, long-gone days, and along with a name for the new stadium Reynolds should ask the fans to suggest a new nickname to improve the overall image.

The club is perceived throughout the land as one which lurches from crisis to crisis. There have been a few highs but success has never been sustained for long.

There's a hard-core of maybe 2,000 fans, but the people of Darlington - halfway between Geordies and Tykes - need to see something worth getting excited about before they exhibit any great passion.

Whether the new stadium in itself will prove an attraction remains to be seen, but for the moment most people merely question why it is needed, especially as a comparison between Feethams and the quagmire at Victoria Park last weekend suggested Darlington's pitch problem has been cured.

The immediate concern of the fans, however, is the quality of the team since Reynolds exercised his right to balance the books by paying players what they are worth.

He responded to Saturday's demonstration by saying if anyone thought they could do better they were welcome to try.

The big stumbling block there, of course, is that they would have to take on the £15m cost of building the stadium, on which detailed drainage work has already been carried out.

But with the possibility looming of having a Conference club playing in a deserted stadium, Reynolds needs to change tack now to avert a potential crisis.

Allowing the respected Neil Aspin to escape to arch rivals Hartlepool while at the same time elevating his PR man to Director of Football sends out the wrong message to fans. It would be better to have someone who knows the game inside out to help a rookie manager doing his best in difficult circumstances.

If Reynolds makes the right moves in the next few weeks, it should not be asking too much for the townsfolk to get behind the club and help to realise the vision of crowds of 10,000 watching a winning team in previously unimagined comfort.

DURHAM have provided a lot of England Under-19 cricketers in the last few years, but to see four of them in the top six of the batting order in Madras this week was quite amazing.

Nicky Peng scored 132, Gary Pratt 40, Gordon Muchall 49 and all-rounder Ian Pattison made seven before taking a few wickets.

Muchall, the latest to graduate to this level, is a product of Durham School but both he and Peng were born in Newcastle and have enjoyed intensive coaching as a members of the highly successful Northumberland elite squad.

The only danger with this is that it produces manufactured players, and it is going to be extremely interesting to see how Peng, in particular, copes with living up to the expectations he has created.

A lot of England Under-19s fall by the wayside - in Durham's case pacemen Steve Lugsden and Colin Campbell spring to mind. Both saw their progress interrupted by injury, and it is to be hoped that Steve Harmison, another Northumberland product, overcomes his shin problems and blossoms into an England paceman.

AT A TIME when Newcastle footballer Kieron Dyer also has shin splints and £18m defender Rio Ferdinand has injured himself watching television, we can only marvel at the exploits of Fred Trueman.

Whether it was due to free school milk, cod liver oil, harsher winters or whatever, sportsmen broke down far less frequently 40 years ago and Trueman bowled twice the overs of current players with barely a twinge.

As he was my boyhood hero it was quite a shock this week to receive a brochure entitled The Fiery Fred Collection, advertising the auction of the great man's memorabilia.

Fred has obviously decided it's time to clear out the loft and to commemorate his 70th birthday a firm called gr8s are auctioning 200 of his possessions at London's Grosvenor Hotel on February 6.

You can bid for much of the stuff - surprise, surprise - on the Internet and Fred can't be blamed for getting rid of Toby jugs, tankards, plaques, lighters and the like if, as predicted, they fetch £40-£100 each.

But I'm amazed he's prepared to part with the ball with which he became the first to reach 300 Test wickets when he had Australia's Neil Hawke caught by Colin Cowdrey at The Oval in 1964.

If you want to get your paws on that, it's estimated the bidding will start at £15,000 and you'll have to be at the Grosvenor. For more details log into www.gr8s.com