A year ago Darlington were heading for the Second Division and planning for a move to a new stadium. Today they are facing a relegation battle to stay in the Football League. Northern Echo Sport looks back on a far from dull 12 months.

WHAT a difference a year makes! According to Harold Wilson, a week is along time in politics, but to the Darlington fans the last 12 months must seem like an eternity in football terms.

The dreams of promotion last season have rapidly turned into the nightmare of a relegation battle.

This time last year Darlington were flying high near the top of the division, attracting crowds of almost 7,000 for home games and putting the finishing touches to plans for a new 25,000 all-seater stadium.

The stadium would appear to be still on target, but if current form continues they may well be welcoming the likes of Leigh RMI and Hayes Town to Neasham Road, rather than the planned visits of Manchester United and Liverpool.

Attendances have fallen, star names have left and it has been left to the kids in the squad to pick up the pieces.

Last Saturday they reached their lowest point since George Reynolds bailed the club out of near bankruptcy in May, 1999.

A 3-0 home defeat at the hands of Chesterfield was just too much for many fans to bear.

After the game Chesterfield striker David Reeves said "it was men against boys".

A look at the form guide in the league shows Darlington down among the dead men and it needs more than boys to bail them out.

Drastic action would appear necessary to halt their current slide and the first move the chairman made was to take a "back seat" as far as the football side was concerned.

A sensible move, many would say, considering recent events, but his second move was a trifle more bizarre.

Although Gary Bennett remains in charge of footballing affairs, the appointment of Luke Raine as Director of Football had more than the Feethams faithful scratching their heads.

Raine is an extremely affable person, but for a club with lofty ambitions to become a Premiership side it would seem a highly-questionable decision.

Raine admits he is "no Terry Venables" and I'm sure he would not bracket himself with the likes of Johan Cruyff and Kenny Dalglish, who have held the football director title during their careers.

When quizzed on his football experience at a meeting of Darlington supporters in Newton Aycliffe this week, Raine said he worked for George Reynolds.

Apart from a spell in charge at Newton Aycliffe FC, Raine, a joiner by trade, would appear to lack experience of the sport at a professional level.

According to reports, Raine has handled himself very well since his promotion, and it appears merely an extension of his previous incarnation as director of public relations.

So why give him the title?

The move would appear to give more ammunition to those poking fun at the recent demise of the club.

Raine admitted: "We've done things wrong and haven't been fair to the supporters this season. For that we apologise because we have let them down on the playing side.

"We tried to bluster our way through the season and we have let the fans down because of our inexperience. We must go back to basics to put things right."

He has admitted that Bennett's hands have been tied this season on the transfer front, and it must be the manager's decision what exactly those basics will be.

One thing is certain - the last eight days have tested flamboyant chairman George Reynolds' patience to the limit.

In April last year, with promotion looking a strong possibility, Reynolds greeted the news that planning permission had been given for the new stadium with delight.

"It's brilliant news, not just for me but for the fans and for the town," he said.

"I would walk over broken glass for the fans of this club, I love them and they deserve this new ground. When I took over I told them I would get them a new stadium and I have delivered. I said we would fill the stadium we've got, and we're doing that. I said we would get promoted, and we've almost got that. I'm delighted."

A hasty decision this week by the former safe cracker to ban under-18s from the Tin Shed, following some unpleasant chanting in his direction, has rightly been lifted.

Fans pay their money and have a right to vent their fury, so long as they stay within the confines of the law.

A sit-in at the end of last Saturday's game confirmed that his love affair with a section of the Tin Shed faithful is rapidly turning sour.

Even before the play-off final defeat against Peterborough last May, the first cracks were beginning to show in the Darlington family.

Former boss David Hodgson revealed - on the eve of the play-off final - he was owed an astonishing £2m by the club and had written off the debt. Rumours were rife about the future of leading scorer and Tin Shed idol Marco Gabbiadini, whose contract was coming to an end.

The defeat at Wembley saw more cracks appear in the close season with Reynolds, bravely in many people's view, lifting the lid on the players' wages.

Condemning his players as greedy, Reynolds released details to The Northern Echo about how much Quakers players earned last season.

He took the step after his players walked out of a meeting when he suggested making cuts in their bonuses for this season, with the total wage bill for last season coming to just under £1.4m.

That appeared to be the beginning of the end of the colourful chairman's relationship with his players and, for that matter, his manager.

Hodgson, unhappy at his chairman's decision, quit with just days to go before the start of the season saying he was "mentally tired" and felt that it was right to clear his desk

Eighteen of the 33 players Hodgson tried to build into a team last year have left Feethams.

Hodgson had become increasingly frustrated at the lack of breakthroughs in the transfer market and felt he was at a disadvantage to other clubs because the chairman wouldn't pay signing-on or agents' fees.

Reynolds and Hodgson are strong personalities and in the end it appeared inevitable one would have to go.

Quality players like Gabbiadini, Neil Heaney and Lee Nogan have gone, and as if to pour salt in already deep wounds, Neil Aspin this week signed for arch-rivals Hartlepool United.

Many fans are still very appreciative of Reynolds and what he has done for the club, but what Darlington need now is experience, and that costs money.

Two or three signings are needed to halt the current slide, and that will cost money.

This season, and probably the next as well, should be seen as transitional.

The move to a 25,000 all-seater stadium would appear a million miles away now, with avoiding relegation the immediate priority.

But a long, hard look at the workings of Darlington FC are needed to ensure the new stadium doesn't turn out to be the best ground in the Conference.