A daft idea to float past a hot air balloon billionaire (From The Northern Echo)

A daft idea to float past a hot air balloon billionaire

8:01pm Monday 9th January 2012 in Peter Barron By Peter Barron

IN an editorial comment last week, I said that every avenue had to be explored to try to find a way of saving Darlington Football Club.

I called on everyone in a position of authority and influence in the town to be able to say that at least they did their best to find a way to keep the club alive.

Today's crucial meeting between Darlington Borough Council and the owners of the football stadium and land so far appears to have failed to find a way forward.

Building a supermarket or major retail development is seen as the only viable way of getting enough value out of the site to satisfy the needs of all parties.

And that is a non-starter.

Tesco would love to be on the site, and would almost certainly agree to fund a way forward for Darlington FC in a smaller, more economic stadium. But it won't happen.

I am not an apologist for the local authority but, to be fair, it has to act in the best interests of all 100,000 taxpayers in the borough.

Another out-of-town supermarket would lead to a huge outcry due to the impact on the town centre and nearby residents.

Without the supermarket option, it's hard to identify another solution that would be viable quickly enough in the dire economic conditions which prevail.

Darlington Borough Council says discussions are continuing in the hope of finding the key to Quakers' future, and it is right that the talking goes on until the hour the dreaded axe falls.

It seems, however, that the only hope now is that a mega-rich investor rides to Darlington Football Club's rescue at the eleventh hour.

On our website today, the latest news on the Quakers has shared the front page slot with a picture of Richard Branson visiting the old headquarters of Northern Rock after the bank's takeover by Virgin Money.

Having stepped in to save a famous North-East business, and put his company's name on Newcastle United shirts, is it too much to hope that Mr Branson might want to cement his new association with the North-East by investing in a 128-year-old football club with facilities worthy of at least the Championship?

I can hear the jibes and the laughter already. It's a a daft idea, grasping at straws - Virgin on the ridiculous.

But long-shots are all Darlington Football Club has left.