TYCOON George Reynolds last night urged Darlington fans to keep faith in his dream of turning the Third Division minnows into a footballing force.

Twenty-four hours after team manager David Hodgson's dramatic resignation days before the start of the new season, the multi-millionaire owner of the Quakers spoke out.

The club chairman, who built his own booming business empire from scratch, assured supporters that everything was still firmly on track at Feethams.

And he happily restated the pledges that he made when he saved the club from imminent liquidation last year, saying: "I said I would bail the club out of its financial mess, build a new £15m stadium and take Darlington all the way to the premier league.

"I have already paid off debts topping £5m, construction on the stadium is about to get under way and we are preparing for our climb up the divisions.

"With my commercial track record, does anyone seriously think I would throw away £5m and pay a further £150,000 a month out of my own pocket if I didn't have complete confidence in Darlington."

And despite the turmoil of recent days, Mr Reynolds said he is now more sure than ever the club will succeed.

He reminded his critics: " I have put my money where my mouth is. My first priority was to get the club on a firm financial footing, now we will turn our attention to bringing stability to the team."

Speaking, exclusively to The Northern Echo, for the first time since Hodgson walked out, he said: "We are all sorry David has decided to leave, he has done a great job at Darlington, but we can't force him to stay."

Rumours of players walking out in protest have followed Hodgson's resignation, but Mr Reynolds also moved to scotch these.

"Like me the lads are sad over David's departure but no one is panicking - everything remains calm and, I have to say, optimistic for the start of the season."

Aware that there has been much speculation over whether or not the new ground would be built beside the town's Neasham Road, he added: "I 'm prepared to take bets from anyone who doesn't believe I will build the new stadium."

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