The future of Darlington Football Club

Paul Cook: Welcome readers to The Northern Echo's live debate on the future of Darlington Football Club.

Paul Cook: Feel free to send your comments and questions regarding the past two months and the future of the club.

[Comment From Ted_do] Are we saved then?

Paul Cook: We're still waiting for final confirmation from the administrators as regards the deal. We hope to hear more today.

[Comment From david edwards] It’ll be great to see Colin Todd in charge of Darlo - a good football man.

Craig Stoddart: I don't know if all Darlo fans are pleased with Todd but I think he's far better an appointment than could have been expected. I was fearing another Gary Bennett...

[Comment From Andi_darlo] Did the echo agree to positive press RE George Houghton in return for advertising on the ground

Paul Cook: There is no such agreement as to any coverage whether positive or negative. If Mr Houghton does return as expected then there are plenty of questions to be answered. We still have the supporters' questions from last month. The latest developments also open a series of more questions and we hope to put those to George soon.

Craig Stoddart: Ha, I can see where you're coming from but it's not true. Nice conspiracy theory though!

[Comment From Pierremontquaker03] An utter shambles, unprofessional and a season wasted. But we must move forward.

Craig Stoddart: Very much a season wasted. We should have finished the season so much better than we did and it remains to be seen where we go from here.

Paul Cook: It appears so. Why George put the club into administration still remains a mystery. He appeared not to have the finances to keep the club going though the latest news does conflict with that. And there may have been an opportunity for him to seek loans from the PFA or Football League to avoid administration.

[Comment From darlomilo] If George Houghton has bought the club back out of admin why did he put DFC into admin in the first place when surely the extra revenue from playoffs or promotion could have helped the club.

Paul Cook: He must answer that question otherwise I fear he will lose the trust of the fans. Darlington could be in the play-off final this weekend. Success would have seen the return of the local derby with Hartlepool and other money-spinning games with Leeds, Southampton, etc.

[Comment From Peter] Is it confirmed that George Houghton will return as Chairman?

Paul Cook: We are still waiting clarification from the club. Even if the contracts are signed then he still has various processes to go through before he returns as chairman.

[Comment From Jimmy Riddler] If Houghton returns, what's to stop all this happening again?

Paul Cook: Nothing. But if he does do it again then he will be banned from being a director and he could lose the investment he has made into the club. But he has to answer these questions himself otherwise he will lose any trust he still has with fans.

[Comment From Sam Cooper] Did the Northern Echo know about the club going into administration when they started sponsoring the ground the day before?

Paul Cook: Technically yes. We found out the club was likely to go into adminstration but plans to sponsor the ground had been started months before. I think Peter Barron answered this question the day after the announcement was made.

[Comment From Andi_darlo] Why would any players want to commit anything to Darlo? When things are looking good and we are certs for the playoffs at least, who says George Houghton won’t pull the plug again? Gonna be difficult to attract anyone?

Craig Stoddart: You're right, but it's a club's market these days. There's going to be more players than ever released by their club this summer.

Craig Stoddart: So that's going to mean club's can dictate the terms of contract more easily. Plus, Darlo is hardly the only club in financial problems.

[Comment From JB] Have the echo made any attempt to ask re-schedule the interview that George Haughton cancelled? There were lots of questions put forward that still remain unanswered....

Paul Cook: George is currently away and unable to answer questions directly. We hope to re-arrange something. We still have the questions from last month and we have our own questions which have arisen in the last month. But feel free to contact us with questions you have if the interview is re-arranged.

[Comment From quaker4life] There was some confusion over whether it was legal for Houghton to take over again after putting the club into administration - can you clear this up?

Paul Cook: That is a decision for the Football League to make under its fit and proper persons' test. On first glance there appears to be no problems. He was allowed to come in last time and directors are only banned once they have led two clubs into administration. The situation seems to be very similar to the one at Leeds United with Ken Bates. I feel the Football League have to make some statement on this to prevent other clubs appearing to restructure their debt and take away the hopes of the fans.

Craig Stoddart: Apologies if we've not answered your question yet, there's more than we can cope with! Got far more questions here than we expected. Just goes to show the strength of feeling among fans about the club.

[Comment From James] Is the Todd appointment made by whoever is to take over today? So if the takeover falls through he won't be manager?

Paul Cook: Todd has been offered a contract. I don't know the ins and outs of the contract but it would likely to be tied with the club coming out of administration. So I suspect you are right.

[Comment From DantDarlo] Have there been any further developments regarding a role for Dean Windass?

Paul Cook: Windass has indeed been approached. Dean is coming to the end of his playing career and I'm sure he has a decision to make. He may have other offers but he does live only an hour away from Darlington and is good friends with Colin Todd so it would be a good and sensible move for him.

Craig Stoddart: Hopefully he'll still be able to do a good job in League Two. I know he didn't make much of an impact on loan at Oldham in League One, but it was only last season he was scoring in the Championship, bit of shame he wasn't given a chance in the Premier League.

[Comment From To Jo] Have the council agreed to his planning applications and is this why he is back

Paul Cook: No one in the town wants to lose the Football League club and the status and economy of the town it brings. That would include the council and the MP and other groups.

Paul Cook: But if George has simply gone through administration to force the council's hands then he has further questions to answer.

[Comment From Kris_Leeds] How's it looking player wise? I see Ravenhill has left, anyone else on their way out?

Craig Stoddart: Let's be honest, if you were not getting paid you'd be looking for new employers. Colin Todd wants as many of the current squad to stay, but he will be aware that they will all be looking at earning a contract elsewhere.

[Comment From Alex] It also seems strange that he was holding out longer for a new buyer despite a good offer being on the table as the longer he waited the more players could potentially leave and thus making the club an even less attractive proposition for a potential buyer

Paul Cook: That was up to George Houghton and the administrators. We don't know what the offer was and whether it was a "good offer". But I agree that George seemed to be taking his time and players have started to leave and the club have lost Dave Penney.

[Comment From David Kimmons] Are we still losing 54k a week?

Paul Cook: No. The administrators have cut costs to the bone.

[Comment From John T] Do you know who is backing Houghton? Is that a question the Echo will ask?

[Comment From the wandering quaker] In my opinion, with GH retaining control, there will be a lot of season ticket holders who won't renew, purely on the basis that he could pull the plug again. Therefore we'll get the same "rants" about the town not wanting a club, but can you honestly blame the die-hards for feeling that way? I believe that we'll only average crowds of around 2,000, which won't help the finances at all.

Paul Cook: No. It appears he may have found finance from another company. It's still not confirmed that Mr Houghton has retained control but if and when he does, then that's a question for him.

Craig Stoddart: In response to wandering quaker - Nobody could blame famns for staying away, a lot of them feel cheated for what happened last season - a wasted season. It wouldn't be just fans staying away, a fear sponsors might do likewise.

[Comment From Andi_darlo] Do you think colin todd is the right man for the job? Craig? Paul?

Paul Cook: Yes. He did a very good job at Bradford City to stabilise them following their own administration. Darlington need someone to come in to give them their best chance next season and Colin Todd has the credentials to do that while giving Dean Windass experience in a coaching role.

Craig Stoddart: Colin Todd isn't just an experienced manager, he's a manager that has worked at a club, Bradford, during administration. So he's ideally placed to manage a club going through a financial crisis. Worst case scenario would've been an untested, inexperienced young manager (i.e., another Gary Bennett)

[Comment From Kris_Leeds] Is there any end to the whole saga of the stadium being used as a venue for other events?

Paul Cook: The council answered this last week. The stadium can be used for a range of events and if the club wants to boost income, which it clearly needs to do, then such events must continue.

[Comment From Ted_do] Do you know if Darlington Building Society is going to carry on with the shirt deal next season?

Paul Cook: We don't know. That's a decision for the building society to make.

[Comment From Andi_darlo] Do you think we will ever look back on this whole thing and think of it as a positive? A fresh start, clean slate, whatever you want to call it?

Paul Cook: Many clubs in the past have come out and made similar fresh starts. The fans must also back the club to help everyone move forward.

Craig Stoddart: I'm not sure if we'll ever call it a positive - Darlington were about to get promoted for the first time since 1991. Starting from scratch, which is almost what Darlington are doing, is not such a bad thing as long as mistakes from the past are learnt from

[Comment From Dave] Yesterday Paul Cook did a decent story based on the club's accounts. Are there any more such stories to come because I am sure the club's financial affairs of late would make interesting reading if some digging were done. This is what we want to read, especially if George Houghton is coming back.

[Comment From Bajan Quaker] Will Tommo get his job back? I hope so.

Paul Cook: The accounts looked horrifying. And they are only up to October 2007. Mr Houghton did reduce the playing budget but still paid money to keep Liam Hatch in January. For the club to move forward, Mr Houghton has to learn from his mistakes and budget to the crowds the club gets not complain and budget for crowds he wants the club to get.

Craig Stoddart: In response to Bajan Quaker - Let's hope Tommo gets his job back, he's part of the furniture at that place! And if anyone's not sure who Tommo is, it's Andrew Thompson the kitman (used to be groundsman)

[Comment From Zesh Rehman] Did Raj Singh appear genuine on the occasions you spoke to him, Paul and Craig?

Paul Cook: He seemed he genuinely cared for the club on the field. He put in nearly £1.2million in December. It's a pity that Raj will not be involved.

[Comment From Paul] Re Players - presumably all their contracts will require re-negotiating? But as you say, times are hard all over so that should re-set the scales as it were.

[Comment From Rob] When will the club be able to start signing players again, and do you think we will be able to offer competitive salaries again?

Craig Stoddart: In response to Paul - Don't think current contract can be re-negotiated - once they've been signed they're set in stone. Contracts that players sign this sumnmer, however, are a diifferent matter.

[Comment From shane bowmer] Are we saved or not?

[Comment From love slug] Will windass be the next Gabbiadini? And bang in 35 goals?!

Craig Stoddart: Unfortunately I don't think Windass will be the next Gabbiadini, Marco was a one-off. Pawel Abbott could've been the next Gabbiadini, he's a really classy striker and much better than League Two standard.

Paul Cook: The deals have all still to be signed and finalised. There are a series of processes the club must go through even then. But today's news is the most optimistic since February. The club still has average attendances of nearly 3,000 in a stadium with a 25,000 capacity. Some owner has to make these figures add up to ensure this situation does not arise again.

[Comment From Big Jim] Is it a question the Echo will ASK HIM, Paul, or just a question FOR HIM that won't get asked, like so many.

Paul Cook: We don't have a magic hotline to George Houghton. Neither does he dicate what we write. We will put these questions as soon as we get the chance. We did have an interview scheduled, which he was unable to do and we hope to re-arrange. We promise to do the best we can.

[Comment From Ralph Naden] Raj Singh should at the very least be given an honorary membership of the Supporters Club. He gave us someone to rally behind and make sure that DFC was not lost.

[Comment From ste] George Haughton only cares about his own pocket and not the club.

[Comment From grove] I response to the "Will you be renewing your season ticket if Houghton returns? " Call me daft, but I will as long as there’s a Football Club.

Paul Cook: One man is never bigger than the club and I feel Grove that other fans should follow your lead.

[Comment From mobi] Is there a particular reason why The Northern Echo have carried out no investigations to try and discover the reasons behind the administration? Do you think you have fulfilled your remit as an independent news organisation?

Paul Cook: The club was put into administration because it was reportedly £5m in debt and losing £54,000 a week. The only alternative was liquidation. George Houghton ran out of money and the situation was unsustainable. Now the club appears to have been saved a new owner has to budget for the income coming in. We have looked into the finances of the club and I'm sure more information will become available soon.

[Comment From shanebowmer@live.co.uk] Good point grove !!

[Comment From mobi] The percentage of income the club spent on wages was against Football League rules. How were we able to get away with this?

[Comment From Graeme] How badly is the club likely to be hit for breaking the salary cap?

Paul Cook: The Football League has also to answer these. Their rules should be in place to prevent clubs spending money they do not have and going into administration and so protecting the game.

[Comment From divas] How did the interview with Colin Todd in the Echo some weeks ago come about? Did he contact the paper, or were you acting on some information that he was being lined up by George Houghton?

[Comment From Kris_Leeds] Were the reports of Stephen Vaughan all hot air as far as we know or was he genuinely interested?

Craig Stoddart: Haughton didn't tell us about Todd, we'd discovered about his interest in the job through a different source and contact Todd to ask him.

Paul Cook: In reponse to Kris: We were informed by reliable sources that Stephen Vaughan was on the verge of taking over. He said it was a "done deal". Even the smallest investigation into Stephen Vaughan shows the club has probably had a lucky escape. However, the reports were not simply "hot air" and there was some truth behind them. That has been because Vaughan playing his own PR game to suit Chester fans.

[Comment From James] Why are we having a live debate? Debate about what? There doesn't appear to be any new news.

Craig Stoddart: This is the first time The Echo has tried anything like this, we've been been planning it for a couple of weeks as a way of giving fans and readers a different sort of forum to discuss what's been going on at the club. There' has been hundreds of questions, far more than we expected, and we're not going to be able to get through them all.

[Comment From James] Have you contacted the football league?

Paul Cook: We have contacted the Football League regarding the accounts and regarding George Houghton's possible involvement with the club. We're awaiting any replies but the league is busy going into the final weekend of the season.

[Comment From Adam] Is it likely that the 110% of revenue being spent was caused by lack of profit in the time leading up to administration because of all of our cancelled games?

Paul Cook: Those figures were for the financial year up to October 2007 and have nothing to do with the postponed games earlier this year.

[Comment From Davey] Thank you to the Northern Echo for your first rate coverage of Quakers. You have answered a lot of questions both today and in recent weeks. Could you please tell me where Kennedy and Austin are going this summer as I fear they will be snapped up by Hartlepool. Thank you.

Craig Stoddart: I know Dave Penney wants Jason Kennedy at Oldham, he's the one Darlington player he is determined to sign.

[Comment From Neil] This debate is a great idea!

[Comment From John T] In looking at your poll only 640 season tickets will be renewed if Houghton is there, are you surprised at this result?

Paul Cook: Not particularly. Mr Houghton has to come out and answer all these questions himself to regain some trust among the fans. But now is the time for all fans to come out and support their club otherwise it may fall into the same sorry scenario again.

[Comment From Jonathan Davison] I would like to ask when Darlington was due for automatic promotion, why was Darlington put in administration. Could they have not waited for the 1 or 2 weeks after getting the promotion?

Craig Stoddart: We're going to have to finish this shortly otherwise we'd be here all day! We hope to have another one of these forums in the future - there's certainly been more than enough interest.

Paul Cook: The damage unfortunately was already done. The club were set for the play-offs, yes, but the only alternative was liquidation and there would be no club at all. That said, Mr Houghton has managed to find some funding from somewhere if he is to continue at the club as expected.

[Comment From Ralph Naden] Craig - have you been surprised by the amount of interest on here after so much apathy. The town really does care about its football club - perhaps people have been too embarrassed to admit it.

Craig Stoddart: But does the town care about the club? We know the fans do, obviously, but when less than 3,000 of the town turn up for games in the club's hour of need towards the end of the season it does make you wonder how much people care.

[Comment From Jonathan Davison] Do you blame the size of the stadium?

Craig Stoddart: I do blame the stadium for a lot of people not attending games any longer. Loads of my mates hate the place for loads reasons such as ticket prices, the distance from the pitch, the distance it is from the town centre, the queues, etc, etc.

[Comment From darren] Do you believe in George Houghton?

Paul Cook: There are few alternatives. Either we back Mr Houghton or we back no-one. It's now up to the fans to back Darlington Football Club.

Craig Stoddart: I think we'll call it a day now. Thanks everyone for your questions, apologies if we've not answered yours. And the chances are we haven't as there's been more than we can handle. We'll do another one of these in the future and hopefully the club will be in a better state by then.

Paul Cook: I'll echo those thanks. And feel free to email any of our news team with any further questions and we'll endeavour to answer them or put them to the right people.