News that Darlington will be playing in the Northern League next season stunned supporters. Chief Football Writer Paul Fraser spoke to four former Quakers

CRAIG LIDDLE:

I'm shocked and saddened. Above all I'm really disappointed that the Football Association have gone down this route. To have relegated a team four divisions is just heart-breaking and really annoying.

After all of the hard work that was put in by a number of people at the club - including myself - to get Darlington to fulfil our fixtures this season ... then the FA turn around and do this. It's so unfair.

We did everything we could to try to help Darlington survive and after doing all of that then this happens. It's a disgrace.

I can't help but feel the FA have just wanted to make an example out of Darlington but that's just not fair on all of the club's supporters. It's not their fault.

After three administrations in nine years, not paying the football creditors this time, I just think the FA have looked at it and thought they wanted to show everyone what can happen.

But how's that fair on the supporters? How's that fair on the players and all of us that have worked so hard to keep this club alive.

I honestly can't believe what has happened and I think it will be some time before I can really come to terms with it.

Obviously it is going to take some getting used to and I'm still going to get to as many Darlington matches as I possibly can.

Even when I start my new job (at Sunderland Football Club) I will try to make sure I get to the games like Newton Aycliffe, Chester-le-Street, all of those.

It's going to be so hard for them to get back up through the leagues. There have been teams like FC United or Wimbledon AFC that have had a good go, but there have also been teams like Rushden & Diamonds and Scarborough that have disappeared off the football map.

I just hope and pray Darlington will not become one of the those clubs to slip away and never to be heard of again. I hope they can turn things around, but it will be a slow process.

KEVAN SMITH:

Obviously I'm extremely deflated at the demise of Darlington Football Club. Darlington were the town's team and now they are not. The bottom line is that they are no longer a club playing out of their own town. They might as well be called something completely different now - Durham Rangers or something.

I'm obviously someone who has the club so close to my heart, but I also feel sorry for all of the people who have put their hard cash in to Darlington Football Club over the years. To see that money now go to rack and ruin is just really, really sad.

Fingers will be pointed, but in the cold light of day what has happened is that businessmen have ruined this club. That's what it boils down to.

For example I was fronting a Darlington born and bred businessman who wanted to save the club, get it on an even keel and then step aside to let someone else take over when it was stable.

The reality is that from the moment we started to look in to it, we were no closer to getting a deal done than when we started because of the obstacles that were continually put in our way.

Can they get back up to the Football League? Maybe they can. But it it took York City - a decent, family run club - eight years to get back to that level. Now Darlington have to start from further down and with noone really knowing what the new owners can do.

I got a call on Wednesday to go down to the Arena to collect the old photographs that were lying around of me playing.

That's when the reality hit me. This is a club with history effectively folding. What is happening is that there will be a new club using the Darlington name.

No matter how it is dressed up, that's what has happened and that's sad. It deeply saddens me as someone who loves the club.

PAUL ARNISON:

IT'S just so disappointing. To think it is just 12 months or so ago that we were all at Wembley winning the FA Trophy is just frightening really.

Even at the start of last season we had genuine hopes of following that Wembley win up with promotion back to the Football League. Now look.

It must have hurt the fans and the players to have suffered relegation from League Two a few seasons ago. It hurt us all this season to have dropped out of the Blue Square Bet Premier. I can only imagine how it must feel for the all of the fans and the town now to know that they are planning for the Northern League.

It's staggering. Awful. Growing up I remember all of the battles between Hartlepool and Darlington, the games with Carlisle.

It doesn't seem two minutes ago that they were aiming for the Championship. Look now.

What I can say, though, is that at least everyone can draw a line under it.

The people who have control of the club, the fans, can start all over again.

They will know what they want to do, they will have the ambition in place to take Darlington back up through the ranks and I really hope they can do it because the fans and town deserve better. It's a sad state of affairs that the club finds itself in.

I can see them moving back up through the divisions. When a new manager is brought in I'd still be open to the idea of going back there to help them. That's not down to me, though, and we will just see what happens in the next few weeks.

ANDY COLLETT:

When I saw that they had picked Shildon to play their home games next season I though they were either going to have to invest heavily or they must've known what division they were going in to.

It reminds me of the old days of football. I saw quite a few games there the season before last and it hadn't changed from the days I played there for Middlesbrough in pre-season friendlies.

I do think they need people there who have a football background. Look at Raj Singh, he's a very successful businessman, but he was proven to be out of his depth. There's a group of fans there who love the club and have the best interest of the club at heart, but there's more to running a club than what goes on on the field.

But I feel really sorry for the fans, going into the Northern League is a real kick in the teeth for them.