Wow.

[ferrarilover]

Stolen from BRFC, in turn stolen from Darlo, but my goodness, what a read.

I have come across this and thought it might be good to share. Fair play and good luck to them:

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Let’s make Barrow on Saturday a celebration of the life of Darlington Football Club, not a wake or a funeral or an attack of those who have dropped us into this position.

Go to Barrow and show people around the world how proud we are of our team and our lads. Let’s show people that we still care, that we are still proud of the club and our town. Let’s show people that Darlington Football Club stands as an ambassador for our town and our area and we will not just give it up and slope off home. We will fight on.

Let’s show the players that that shirt still means something, that that shirt still needs to be worn with pride and that it is worth putting on that shirt and running out on that pitch and representing all of us one last time. One last go lads, everything you have got, one last time, 90 minutes of life as a Darlo player left. Shit or bust, hero or zero. Go out with a bang and not a whimper.

Use this game to thank them and the legend that is Craig Liddle for everything they have done recently, against so much strife, unpleasantness and uncertainty and tell them that we are so proud that they are carrying on, lets get behind whoever takes a place on that pitch, regardless of opinion, past reputation or performance on the day. Because this might be the last time!

Lets show people what it means to be a fan of Darlo, celebrate those 128 years of existence. Celebrate everything that has gone before, the good, the bad, and the ugly, show people that we although we have been here through thin and thinner, that we have suffered blow after blow we are still not beaten ,we are still not broken, we are still here and we still stand proudly behind Darlington Football Club.

Show them that although we have been on knocked down and might be on the canvas right now we will get back on our feet and come out punching. It will be us who land the knock out blow. Use this day to shame all of those plastics and couldn’t give a damns in the town into thinking about what they could have been a part of, make them see what have been about, what we are about and what we will be about again.

Lets celebrate the good times, the 85 promotion, Boro, the Conference win in 89/90, Welling away, 90/91 champions, Rochdale at home, Knowles, Little, Hodgy Platt, Hodgy (again), Wembley in 96 and 2000 and that sweet moment in May when a little fella headed home from half a yard to win us the cup.

Make everyone who has knocked us or laughed at us over the years understand that today we embrace all of the crap players, the terrible teams, the rubbish managers and the crazy chairman who have afflicted us. Why? Because all of that makes the few good times even better. Because all of those things are what Darlington Football Club is about. Let’s show them what it means to call your self a Darlo fan one last time.

Lets also think of all those people in the Tin Shed in the sky who aren’t able to stand with us on Saturday, think about what the club meant to them and how they passed on that love for the club to you, think about how one day you want to pass that love on to the next generation so that they know what being a Darlo fan is all about. I am sure they will be stood leaning on that crash barrier under the Sunday Sun board with their scarf’s and flasks of Bovril thinking "typical bloody Darlo" - but they would still make the journey if they could! In fact I am sure they will be there with us. Sing that bit louder for them.

If anyone is unsure about going and is able to go they should make the trip, it could be your only chance to say goodbye to the team you love. It could be your last chance to wear the black and white and get behind the lads. Do whatever it takes to get to Barrow, wear your shirts with pride and wave your scarf’s one last time. Tell anyone you meet where you are going and why. Tell them you are proud to support the lads!

And should this turn out to be the last time then lets celebrate all of that, lets support the lads and the manager, lets keep singing up to the final whistle and beyond because this club means something to each and every one of us, it has been part of our lives for so long, it is what makes us who were are, it is what makes us better than everyone else and it might not be there for much longer. Let’s make this day one of the greatest moments for this football club.

If it is to be the end lets go out on a high, all guns blazing giving it everything we have got and not for one minute forgetting that we are Darlington Football Club and we will bounce back!

[Southampton Gull]

Fantastic, you can see that his post is full of passion but also hurt. Darlington deserve better than the cards they've been dealt and I hope they can rise again in some form or other.

[popside_yidlad]

A little update for those that may have missed it their former chairman 'houghton' vowed to try and save the club in its final moments but at a fraction of what admin was asking for.

Im sure we all wish him the best of luck and hope that darlo survive

[Dave]

Possibly one of the best posts i have ever read on the net, just goes show how far removed some these premiership glory hunters are from clubs like ours / Darlo etc.

Forget clubs like City, united, Liverpool, most premiership clubs could save Darlo with there spare change and thats really gets my goat, better end this now , feel a rant coming on, best of luck Darlo hope to battle again on day.

[diamondgirl]

My thoughts exactly Forever. I have long said that the wealth, within football, is so unevenly spread, and it's getting worse. If it wasn't for the "small" clubs like us, Darlo, Salisbury and the like, the likes of Man U/City, Chelsea the Arse would simply not survive. Lower league/grass roots football is the lifeblood of the sport and needs all the help it can get in order to survive. Actually, let me put that another way. It's not so much help that is needed just a little understanding and compassion. I appreciate that there must be rules, but what is the point, of deducting points, from a club that goes into administration. All that happens is, they get relegated. Lower league = less supporters = less revenue = more debt = club folds. What is the sense in that ? I liken it to being overdrawn at the bank. You overdraw = bank charges = further debt. Madness.

[diamondgirl]

Another thought.

Maybe the original post should be copied to the folk at the football league/association, who make decisions that affect so many good men, women and children, who, willingly, give up their saturdays to, every other week, treke the length and breath of the country in support of "Their Heroes".

Yes, there are more important things in life, but for 90 mins on Sat. afternoon, for a football supporter, there is only one thing that matters....a day out with like minded friends, a bit of banter with the "oppo" fans and a win for your boys. Not a lot to ask is it.....is it?

[Colorado Gull]

A fantastic post, one of the best I've ever read and I couldn't feel more sorry for Darlington and the Darlo fans. It infuriates me that the Premiership don't help the little clubs. I was listening to Talk Sport the other day and Ray Parlor had a great idea that every Premiership player donates £1,000 of their week’s wages. That's 20 clubs with around 25 players in a squad, if each player in each club did that, that would save Darlington Football Club. I understand that this would never happen, but you can't say that it shouldn't! This would promote the good side of English Football, big clubs helping the little clubs.

I too hope that DFC will rise again in some sort of form.

[wodger of awabia]

Fantastic, you can see that his post is full of passion but also hurt. Darlington deserve better than the cards they've been dealt and I hope they can rise again in some form or other.

Certainly the loyal fans deserve better, but the club has been mis-managed for years, this is not the first time that they have overspent & gone "t#ts up" they signed expensive players & staff that they could not afford, & the small business people that supplied them had to take the loss. The sooner they go the better I.M.O. & they can take Portsmouth with them (who by rights should be in the Evostick league). The rest of the well run clubs can then get on with competing & living within their means.

[wodger of awabia]

A fantastic post, one of the best I've ever read and I couldn't feel more sorry for Darlington and the Darlo fans. It infuriates me that the Premiership don't help the little clubs. I was listening to Talk Sport the other day and Ray Parlor had a great idea that every Premiership player donates £1,000 of their week’s wages. That's 20 clubs with around 25 players in a squad, if each player in each club did that, that would save Darlington Football Club. I understand that this would never happen, but you can't say that it shouldn't! This would promote the good side of English Football, big clubs helping the little clubs.

I too hope that DFC will rise again in some sort of form.

OK then, but I've got a much better idea, I'll go out a buy an expensive car that I can't afford, I everyone on this forum can send me £20.00 to pay for it!

[popside_yidlad]

May I suggest something tad unusual. Maybe we could sing darlos name for a min Saturday as tribute? How would people feel

[Southampton Gull]

Certainly the loyal fans deserve better, but the club has been mis-managed for years, this is not the first time that they have overspent & gone "t#ts up" they signed expensive players & staff that they could not afford, & the small business people that supplied them had to take the loss. The sooner they go the better I.M.O. & they can take Portsmouth with them (who by rights should be in the Evostick league). The rest of the well run clubs can then get on with competing & living within their means.

Couldn't disagree more, How would you have felt if Roberts had put our club in jeopardy?

Individuals should be punished for financial mis-maagement, not Clubs.

[stevegull]

Strange one, this.

Just a few months ago many of you said it would serve Plymouth right if they went out of business due to their years of financial mismanagement. Why has this verdict changed for a club we have little or no connections to?

Just curious...

[Southampton Gull]

Not me, Steve. I don't want to see ANY club go out of business, not even Portsmouth who I hate with a passion

[diamondgirl]

I agree Dave. It's not the clubs, as such, it's the supporters that I feel sorry for. How would we have felt if that cretin Roberts had got his way. He would have killed OUR club. The players would, in the main, have gone on to play for other teams but we, the supporters, would have been left with nothing.

If a club performs badlley, over a season, then so be it but to lose your football club status over financial miss management is just not fair on the life blood of the clubs.... The Supporters.

I don't want to see any club go to the dogs, (well maybe Crawley) not even Plymuff

[Colorado Gull]

OK then, but I've got a much better idea, I'll go out a buy an expensive car that I can't afford, I everyone on this forum can send me £20.00 to pay for it!

That's not the point, what you've got to think about here are the fans. Is it the fans fault that their Chairman decided to build a stadium way too large for the club? No. DFC means a lot to many people in Darlington and if all the Premiership teams united and said to their players that they had to donate £1,000 of their wages (which is a miniscule amount for them) then a football club would be saved and English Football would be seen in a positive light. How would you feel if Torquay United got themselves into administration and there was no way out of it but to wind up the club up with absolutely no help coming from teams in the BPL, who pay their players a ludicrous amount of money. I would be pretty hacked off, it would not be the fans fault and that's just how it is at Darlington. A chairman’s big ambitions turned out to be the wrong decision, deciding to build a big stadium, certainly not the fault of the fans who won't be able to watch their club play football ever again. Big clubs should help the little clubs when they are in a mess and if that did happen, there would be much more appreciation towards the money bags of the Premier League.