THE new regime at Darlington Football Club is closing in on a triple boost for supporters and the community.

The Sterling Consortium completed its takeover of the Quakers at the end of May and instantly promised big changes at the Neasham Road venue.

Officials last night told The Northern Echo that they were already working on:

* A money-spinning park-and-ride deal with the local council.

* Providing a match-day bus service from the town centre to the ground.

* Bringing a study centre to one corner of the stadium.

Quakers' chief executive Andy Battison has been in talks about the transport deals.

Darlington Borough Council is keen to offset the forthcoming loss of spaces in three car parks in the town by using at least 400 spaces at the arena for a park-and-ride scheme.

Mr Battison said: "A number of car parks in the town are being redeveloped, which is going to remove a significant number of spaces.

"The council has a desire to operate a park-and-ride from our ground, and they are kicking at an open door because we are certainly interested.

"The idea is that they could rent it on some form of commercial partnership basis with ourselves."

The club is also seeking a bus operator to run services from the centre of Darlington to the edge-of-town stadium on match days.

Mr Battison said: "We have put it out to tender. There is no reason why it cannot be established fairly early in the season.

"The police are very much in favour of it and it is going to help with traffic management on Neasham Road and the A66.

"It also gets people up to our place to drink in our bar and buy our food, bringing more money to the club as a result."

The scheme has found favour with police, especially after many match days in the stadium's inaugural season were blighted by chaos on the roads.

A study centre is also being debated, with the club having held initial talks with representatives of a leading North-East college.

Youngsters could access a technology suite, with up to 25 computers, for curriculum-based activities.

Meanwhile, the long-awaited announcement of the new stadium name, to replace the Reynolds Arena, is still some way off, although discussions with an interested party took place on Friday.

Club commercial manager Bob Gorrill has also announced that an open day aimed at rebuilding relations with the Darlington business community brought in £40,000 worth of new deals.

Mr Gorrill was brought to Darlington from Mansfield Town Football Club when the takeover was complete, and was tasked with re-branding many parts of the stadium.

On Friday, the stadium's Bar 66 was renamed The Tin Shed, a homage to the North Terrace stand at Darlington's former Feethams ground.