A QUAKERS fan living 4,851 miles away from Darlington enlisted friends in his new hometown to help fundraise for his beloved club - and made headline news in the process.
Chris Willsden, who was born in Darlington, moved to Bandera, in Texas, seven years ago, but his passion for all things Darlington FC has seen the ex-pat back the campaign to bring the club home.
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Mr Willsden, a former owner of The Bay Horse pub, in Hurworth, who spent Thursday celebrating his team's well earned championship win, launched The Darlington Bandera Texas fans’ group, which is located the American town known locally as “the cowboy capital of the world”.
And despite the Atlantic Ocean and thousands of miles now separating Mr Willsden from his beloved hometown, he is keen to share Darlington’s success with the rest of the world.
Mr Willsden said: “You can take the boy out of Darlo but you can’t take Darlo out of the boy.
Chris Willsden
“In the nicest possible way, I press-ganged my friends over here and said to them 'how would you like to be joint owners of a soccer team in England?'.
“I have a sense of humour about it, but they’re all involved because they want to be.
“Over here one of my buddies ended up paying a few hundred pounds for a Darlington shirt in an auction.
“I’ve got people to fundraise here because they ‘get it’ – they understand.”
The newly recruited Texan Quakers raised £1,600 – or $2,500 – to help fund Darlington FC’s move to Blackwell Meadows and Mr Willsden’s passion for the club was picked up by Texan media.
His story was front page news in The Bandera Bulletin’s most recent edition headlined “Bandera backing English team’s revival”.
And the life-long supporter has been sharing his delight at Darlington’s promotion and championship win after following Thursday night's 7-1 win over Whitby Town.
Mr Willsden added: “I was listening, as always, to the game on Darlington Fans Radio, which is a wonderful service for ex-pats like me.
“I really have to thank them for what they do and as you can imagine, I was thrilled when I heard.
“It was Thursday (April 20) afternoon here when it happened as there’s a six hour time difference and I was texting my wife who was at work with all the goals. It was crazy.
“They’ve done such a good job to get to where they are, considering four years ago we had one player on contract and not much else.
“Martin Gray has done a brilliant job and I’d have to say well done to all the background staff who do a great job too.”
Mr Willsden is planning a trip home to Darlington for the start of next season when he hopes to see Darlington on the Blackwell Meadows pitch.
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