A QUAKERS legend last night hailed the fundraising drive to save the club as “phenomenal and amazing”, and urged townspeople to dig deep.

To mark the end of the first month of fundraising, three-times Darlington FC manager David Hodgson told how he helped bring the indoor snow centre developers to the negotiating table and how he believes the club needs to leave the stadium within a couple of years.

He also says it is “disgraceful” that a supporters group has not donated the tens of thousands of pounds raised during an earlier period of financial turmoil to the fund.

Returning from a scouting trip to South America, Mr Hodgson said: “The amount that has been raised is fantastic, and the way the fans came in to stop the club being closed down at the last moment, the ultimate second, was just phenomenal.

“The passion is being recognised outside the town. Local people are creating the saving of this football club. People in the town who haven’t invested really should do so.”

He praised the work of Steve Weeks, who is leading the fans’ efforts, and of current manager Craig Liddle, and commended the role The Northern Echo is playing.

Mr Hodgson, who took Darlington to the Wembley playoff final in 2000, said he was initially sceptical of fans owning a club, and said: “You could end up with a lot of people who believe they have a right to have a say. They will disagree on team selection, on your signings...

“It could have been a disaster, but as time has gone on, my views have evolved. We have had too many individual owners in my 16 years here – Reg Brealey, Mike Peden, George Reynolds, George Houghton, Raj Singh. Now the club needs a new direction and I think it is the best thing that could have happened.”

Mr Hodgson, who is soon off scouting in Ghana, Nigeria and Mozambique, was at the helm in 2004 when Mr Reynolds placed the club into administration.

He arranged a charity match in which some of the biggest names of their generation – Paul Gascoigne, Kenny Dalglish, Bryan Robson, Peter Beardsley, Chris Waddle, Tony Mowbray – played before a 14,000 crowd.

“For all the good that Mr Reynolds did, he soured the relationship between club and town by some of his actions.

The charity match was about getting the fans back in, getting the town involved,” said Mr Hodgson, a European Cup winner who first managed the Quakers in 1995.

“But what is happening now far exceeds that.

“I even sang in the Cornmill to raise money, but they have taken it to another level.”

When the Quakers went into administration in January, Mr Hodgson sought assistance from a group led by Mike Lukic, brother of former Arsenal goalkeeper John.

He said: “The strategy was to develop the arena, bring in a snowdome and some ecohousing, and my advice was do this for two or three years and then relocate the football club. It cannot survive there.

It cannot stay there. If the council allows relocation, it should build a small stadium – 5,000 or 6,000, no more – and get them out of there.”

Mr Hodgson praised the stadium owners, Graham Scott and Philip Sizer, for backing the club’s efforts to stay afloat, and urged Darlington Supporters Trust to add the estimated £40,000 raised during the 2004 administration.

He said: “I played a part in raising those funds, packing bags in M&S and Sainsbury’s, and it is a disgrace that money hasn’t been released.

“I’m not angry at individuals, but it was raised under the name of Darlington Football Club; it should be released to Darlington Football Club.”