MP urges fans to back one Quakers plan (From The Northern Echo)

MP urges fans to back one Quakers plan

8:00am Thursday 9th February 2012 in News By Joe Willis, Regional chief reporter

AN MP last night called for fans to come together to back a single plan to save a North-East football club.

Members of Darlington Football Club Rescue Group (DFCRG) yesterday met administrator Harvey Madden to seek his support for their plans to form a community group to take over the Quakers.

The group is hoping to reveal further details of its proposal today.

In a separate development, a new group, Darlington Supporters’ United, which is backed by Darlington Supporters’ Trust, announced an alternative proposal to save the club.

However, Darlington MP Jenny Chapman last night urged all supporters’ groups and fans to support the rescue group bid.

She said: “As far as I’m concerned the rescue group is the organisation which has been highly active throughout this process.

“It has worked closely with the administrator and with Raj Singh, whose position is significant.

“They were actively engaged with all interested parties and they are the reason we still have a club to save.

“I’m confident this plan is worth pursuing and it’s now vital that other groups come together under one united plan.”

Mark Meynell, from DFCRG, said: “It’s important that we are not in competition with other groups.

“We are all trying to achieve the same objective and that is to save Darlington Football Club.

“We believe we have a plan to potentially deliver a result as quickly as possible, but, because of the likely postponement of the fixture on Saturday, time is of the essence.

“We would be delighted for the supporters’ trust to be involved with us, but it would have to be on the basis that we are going for a broad ownership scheme with no majority shareholder.”

The formation of Darlington Supporters’ United (DSU) was announced late on Tuesday night.

The group stated that it was made up of Darlington supporters’ organisations and individual supporters, who were investigating the viability of moving the club into community ownership.

It is understood to be led by Tony Taylor, former chairman of Darlington Supporters’ Trust, and has the backing of experts in community ownership, Supporters’ Direct.

Members of the Darlington Supporters’ United met last night to consider the best way forward.

A statement, issued after the meeting, said: “Darlington Supporters’ United is a collective of all supporters associated with Darlington Football Club. The group is composed of Darlington Supporters’ Group, Darlington Supporters’ Trust, the Darlington Rescue Group, Darlo Tykes, Darlo Uncovered and Daft.

“We are working together to investigate whether a community-led bid can provide a sustainable future.

“We need the whole community of Darlington, including business, to work together to see if this vision can become a reality. All we need for now are pledges to go to darlosupportersunited.com”

It is thought that Saturday’s moneyspinning home game against Wrexham is likely to be called off due to the weather, meaning Darlington may now not have a home game until next month.