DAVID HODGSON last night called for the people of Darlington to unite behind its troubled football club.

The Darlington manager called a Press conference with the Darlington Supporters' Trust and the Supporters' Club to send out the message that they are all working together with the same aim - to save the Quakers.

The trust is part of a consortium of businessmen hoping to launch a take-over bid for the club and the 25,000-seater Reynolds Arena.

Mr Hodgson voiced his support for the organisation's efforts to secure supporter representation at the club, hopefully with a seat on the board.

"I'm all for the trust and its beliefs and what it is eventually hoping to do," he said.

Mr Hodgson also said he wanted to clarify where money contributed to fund-raising activities was going.

Supporters' Club members, who were represented at the Press conference by vice- chairman Karen Glencross, are raising cash to keep the Quakers running day-to-day, while the 1,200-member trust is aiming to invest in the long-term future of football in Darlington.

However, the trust has declared that should the club be faced with the immediate crisis of a winding-up order, money from the crisis fund would be ploughed in.

Mr Hodgson said: "People have been fantastic, putting money in the buckets and I want it to be clear where it is going."

Both he and trust board member Tony Taylor praised The Northern Echo's sponsor-a-minute appeal, which raised more than £24,000 in the run-up to last Saturday's match against Rochdale.

"Funds were needed to keep the club going. The last thing the consortium would want is for the club to fold before a bid could be put in," said Mr Taylor.

In the event that former chairman George Reynolds reclaimed the club, Mr Taylor said a decision about how the money raised should be used would be put to the membership.

He also revealed his hopes that the April 22 deadline set by creditors for the club to come out of administration could be extended.

"I have spoken with the administrators and, hopefully, that can be extended if there is some form of genuine interest in the football club," he said.

Read more about the Quakers here.