QUESTIONS, questions, questions.That's the problem for those dealing with George Reynolds: so many questions; so few answers.

The questions came thick and fast on two fronts yesterday. As creditors met to hear the depth of the black hole Darlington Football Club finds itself in, Mr Reynolds was being questioned about his business affairs at a public examination hearing at Teesside County Court.

The problem for the club's administrators, and for the legal team involved in the court hearing, is that it is so difficult to find answers to the many legitimate questions they need to ask.

Missing accounts, forgotten conversations, legal agreements not worth the paper they were written on. In fact, their task is probably impossible - the web is that tangled.

What we do know for certain is that Darlington Football Club is in a mess which is unique in professional football. Other clubs have gone into administration but none with a 25,000-seater stadium accommodating crowds of 3,000, and none with the unique challenges which come with George Reynolds.

The Quakers, with 120 years of history behind them, are in grave danger of going out of business. It is as serious as that.

While the search for answers goes on, all the local community can do is unite in striving to keep the club alive.

David Hodgson has played a blinder in arranging Sunday's all-stars fund-raising event so swiftly.

Members of the Darlington Supporters' Trust are also to be applauded for their tireless campaign to muster support in all kinds of ways.

As well as publicising all those efforts, The Northern Echo today launches its own appeal to generate crucial additional funds by urging local organisations to sponsor a minute of Darlington's do-or-die match at home to Rochdale on January 31.

Big crowds on Sunday and a week on Saturday, plus the proceeds of our appeal and other fundraising initiatives, should see the club's short-term survival assured.

But does the club have a long-term future? That is the really big question which so far remains unanswerable.