Darlington chairman Raj Singh last night spoke of his delight at landing former Barnsley boss Simon Davey as Quakers’ new manager.

The 40-year-old will today be named as the club’s new manager, ending a two-week search to replace Steve Staunton at The Northern Echo Arena.


Staunton’s exit created a vacancy that attracted the interest from a string of high profile names including former Championship managers Mark Cooper, Russell Slade and Gary Johnson.

Davey was interviewed last week along with former Peterborough manager Cooper, and Singh believes the standard of applicants was encouraging.

“We’re delighted to have agreed a deal with Simon and we’re looking forward to getting him signed up so he can get to work straight away,”

said Singh.

“This signals the end of a hectic fortnight for us and we’re naturally very pleased to now have who we think is the right man for the job.

“Simon has had a thorough grounding in coaching with Preston and Barnsley, followed by a very encouraging three years in charge of Barnsley, and he’s extremely hungry to succeed as a manager.

“He’s bought into what we’re trying to achieve here and he’s excited by the opportunity.

“A lot of people seem to have been surprised by the calibre of the names which were being linked with the vacant job. That tells me that we’re running this club properly, people in football are taking us seriously and that’s credit to everyone involved in the club.

“Speaking to all the candidates, it was also encouraging to hear them all tell me that the budget we have put together for next season is good enough and big enough to enable us to challenge for promotion.

As I’ve said before, the budget we set for the current season isn’t the worst in League Two by a long way.”

Davey’s assistant will be Ryan Kidd who was alongside him at Oakwell.

The pair arrive with ten games to play this season and are likely to be in charge for the first time when Darlington travel to Burton Albion on Saturday.

Swansea-born Davey will certainly be in the dug-out for the Easter Monday visit to the Arena of Hereford United, a club who are hoping to appoint Cooper.

Craig Liddle and Neil Maddison have been in charge for Darlington’s last two matches, juggling first-team affairs with their duties within the club’s youth section.

Liddle and Maddison will be in Ireland next week for a youth tournament, and the pair have done well during their short period in caretaker charge.

The win at Shrewsbury was only Quakers’ fifth of the season – and their first clean sheet away from home – while there were promising signs in the second half against Aldershot when Davey was in the stands.

Davey publicly revealed his interest in taking over from Staunton for the first time in last Saturday’s Northern Echo when he explained that he had sought the advice of former Darlington manager David Hodgson before applying for the post.

He has been out of work since being sacked at the beginning of the season by Barnsley where he had been in charge for almost three years in the Championship.

Having previously worked in the youth section at Barnsley, Davey was appointed boss in November 2006 and on a comparatively small budget successfully steered the club to safety in three consecutive seasons.

However, it was in the FA Cup where his most notable achievements came during the 2007-08 season when Barnsley reached an FA Cup semi-final at Wembley.

They lost to Cardiff City but Davey and his team basked in the international spotlight having recorded shock wins earlier in the competition against Liverpool and Chelsea.

Davey’s playing career came to a premature end due to a back injury at the age of 27.

He played in midfield for his hometown club as well as Preston and Carlisle, twice winning the Division Three title, while he also had a short spell with Darlington.

That came at the beginning of the 1997-98 season when Hodgson brought him in on loan for two months during which he played 11 games.