DARLINGTON complete their campaign at Chester City on Saturday, but their biggest match of the season comes a day later when Quakers stage a game to raise desperately needed funds.

And assistant manager Martin Gray is appealing for Darlington fans to turn up in large numbers and show their support for the club.

Stars from North-East football, such as Peter Beardsley, Paul Gascoigne and Gareth Southgate will be playing at The Northern Echo Darlington Arena (2pm kick off) in a game arranged to help Quakers through their financial crisis.

They will take on the Darlington side of the 1999/2000 season, which reached Wembley in the play-offs, in a match organised by manager Dave Penney and Gray.

“We need as many people as possible to come to this game,” said Gray, who played a key role in the play-off team.

“The game is all about getting the players and the staff paid.

“We’re looking for the fans’ support to keep this club running and that is what this match is for. I’ve heard a few fans have concerns over where the money made from the game is going. But the game is purely to raise money to pay staff at the club while we are out of season.

“The season is almost over, so there’s going to be no home games, so no money coming in.

“All the money that comes in will go towards paying wages, that’s the reason the administrators asked myself and Dave to do the game.

“As I’d done a charity match before with David Hodgson, I said I’d make some phone calls and from there it has snowballed.”

Gray was assistant manager to Hodgson during Quakers’ 2004 administration when a fundraising game attracted about 14,000 to the arena.

But five years ago, Darlington players and staff continued to be paid during administration, unlike the current crisis in which players and staff have received only a fraction of their salary during the past three months. “The situation is as bad as it has ever been at Darlington,” said Gray, who is full of admiration for the club’s non-playing staff. “It’s worse than the last administration, because at least then we were getting our full wages.

“It’s easy to forget that it’s not just the players not getting paid. There’s the cleaner, the kitman, the groundsman, the commercial staff. Everybody at the club has been affected by this and they’ve all taken the wage deferral.

“What shouldn’t be forgotten is the dedication of not just the playing staff, but the non-playing staff as well.

They could quite easily have walked away and found another job, but they took a 50 per cent wage deferral.

“They gave that commitment to the club despite knowing that this would drag on for a while and wouldn’t be sorted out overnight. For three months, they’ve been going through this, they have given the club everything.

“The players deserve a lot of credit, but so do the people off the pitch who run the club.”

Falling into administration during February had a major impact on Quakers’ promotion hopes and Gray is angry that the chance of League One football was taken away.

He said: “It’s been really hard putting this game together, especially during a time when I feel we should have been in a promotion season.

We should have been enjoying a promotion party on Saturday, but instead we’ve spent our time organising this game. I hope the fans turn out in force.”

■ Tickets, costing £10 for adults and £5 for children, are available from the club and The Northern Echo. Anyone with a car park pass for regular matches, who needs a pass for the friendly all-stars game, is asked to call the club, on 01325-387000, before match day.