‘WE are coming home’.

That is what proud Darlington Football Club supporters can sing on their way to today’s sell-out match against FC Halifax Town.

In an ideal world they would be returning to their spiritual home at Feethams, but Quakers’ fans know better than most that life does not always turn out as you would hope.

The club’s four years in exile away from their hometown have been put to good use however. Under the leadership of manager Martin Gray they have secured three promotions so that the long climb back to league status, somthing that looked all but impossible in 2012, now appears to be a more realistic prospect. 

They may have been demoted to the Northern League, forced to play under an assumed name and share a ground, but this is a club with an indomitable spirit.

Today’s match at Blackwell Meadows is a fitting reward for Quakers’ supporters who have stayed loyal, raised hundreds of thousands of pounds to keep the club afloat, and continued to travel to their temporary home at Bishop Auckland, as well as to fixtures across the country.

The team who have worked so hard behind the scenes, including directors John Tempest, Richard Cook and Darlington RFC chairman, Mike Wilkinson, to bring the club back to Darlington deserve enormous credit.

Sceptics will cast doubt on whether the town’s football and rugby clubs can share facilities and rub along together in harmony. There will undoubtedly be some teething problems that emerge today which will need to be ironed out, but this is a day to enjoy. 

It is a day that many said would never come. It marks a new dawn for Darlington FC which is now owned and run by fans. 

The Northern Echo wishes the club, players, officials and its supporters every success.