£750,000 by April 30 to save the Quakers (From The Northern Echo)
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£750,000 by April 30 to save the Quakers
2:41pm Wednesday 15th February 2012 in Sport
DARLINGTON FC administrator Harvey Madden has announced that the club needs to raise £750,000 by April 30 to come out of administration.
Mr Madden has been given an undisclosed sum of money from supporters to enable a stay of execution.
He told a press conference at The Northern Echo Arena that £600,000 would make the club viable.
Under a plan drawn up by members of Darlington FC Rescue Group, the £750,000 would be raised in three phases of £250,000 through the sale of shares.
The shares will be available priced at £100 each and will be released in blocks of 2,500. They will initially be available on a two-for-one basis.
Money spent in the first phase would be protected, so that if the initial £250,000 is not raised, buyers would get their money back.
Members of the rescue group, which has been negotiating with Mr Madden for some time, have formed a new company, Darlington FC 1883 Ltd in order to issue the shares.
If the full sum is raised, a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) would have to be voted on by creditors before the club can be formally taken out of administration.
The players will be paid on a match by match basis, and Mr Madden said he will try to enhance this if at all possible.
Describing the community plan as a "viable way forward", he added: "We have been here (in administration) three times before - I am the third guy sat here and I hope I am the last."
Darlington MP Jenny Chapman said: "What we now need to see are sustained good attendances at matches and a really strong showing of support through the purchase of shares.
"The administrator has asked the question, "does Darlington want a football club?" and the answer has to be "yes"."
Follow the story via the feed below as reporter Joe Willis and editor Peter Barron tweet live from the press conference.
Latest Quakers Tweets
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Comments(22)
DarloJon
says...
6:36pm Wed 15 Feb 12
£100 for shares is more than most people can easily afford, why is it this much? Explanations please!
swissball
says...
6:42pm Wed 15 Feb 12
taffydav
says...
7:28pm Wed 15 Feb 12
taffydav
says...
7:28pm Wed 15 Feb 12
woodles2
says...
7:40pm Wed 15 Feb 12
robbiejay
says...
8:26pm Wed 15 Feb 12
randy mcflabb
says...
8:35pm Wed 15 Feb 12
"The administrator has asked the question, "does Darlington want a football club?" and the answer has to be "yes"."
The question is " can Darlington afford a football team ? " why has the term "undisclosed sums of money" being used? is Raj Sihng still having an influence on the running of the club? will the arena be developed into a tesco? is there minutes of meetings that can be made public?, why is the Blackwell Grange used for all secret meetings? will i ever be this bored again?
harry2
says...
8:54pm Wed 15 Feb 12
bishop1
says...
9:30pm Wed 15 Feb 12
Peg Powler
says...
9:49pm Wed 15 Feb 12
woodles2 wrote:Football is a minority interest in Darlington, as evidenced by the pitiful number of fans who go to home games. The fact is, most people really don't care about it one way or another otherwise the club wouldn't be in this predicament.
if all people were like you lot then darlo has no chance just as well some people care abouit the club
Peg Powler
says...
9:51pm Wed 15 Feb 12
woodles2 wrote:Football is a minority interest in Darlington, as evidenced by the pitiful number of fans who go to home games. The fact is, most people really don't care about it one way or another otherwise the club wouldn't be in this predicament.
if all people were like you lot then darlo has no chance just as well some people care abouit the club
Butterknowle Boy
says...
8:05am Thu 16 Feb 12
IonlySpeaktheTruth
says...
2:27pm Thu 16 Feb 12
rudge1
says...
3:15pm Thu 16 Feb 12
charlie74
says...
3:21pm Thu 16 Feb 12
MrMorden
says...
7:47pm Thu 16 Feb 12
They want to support successful teams not Div 4 also rans or now even worse Conference clubs.
Man C and Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool or local premiership sides like Newcastle or Sunderland will have more pulling power than DFC.
Clubs in the lower leagues have lower gates, once they become successful then they will attract more fans.
DFC have never been successful, they have never got into the 2nd tier of the league.
Sad for the club but the debts have mounted up on DFC due to moving into the Arena.
How long will 600,000 last, they need to move out and also how much will Singh want?
HolmfirthHatchet
says...
8:57pm Thu 16 Feb 12
pandorica
says...
12:30am Fri 17 Feb 12
HolmfirthHatchet wrote:lucky that you can afford to waste one grand. if the club was viable do you not think they would of found a buyer for it and in fact not gone into adminerstration twice. Facts are noone wants it so they thought they would blackmail the town into buying it. Well we will never get anywhere so long as the idiots known as the council have a say in it. On a more serious issue, earlier this week featured in this paper was a lady dying of cancer with 4 small children. Her house caught fire and they lost everything. So who gives a sh*t about DFC when you hear about this?
Just added 1 grand to the fund with the likely total tonight standing at £110k. £50k from the supporters trust will give £160k within 12 hours. Muppets who constantly knock DFC are typically negative people who want to watch their town die.
MrMorden
says...
1:16pm Fri 17 Feb 12
n..they owe 2m to their former owner. They are just above the relegation zone of the conference. They have lost most of their players and now rely on the youth players. They have about 2,500 fans. NO OTHER BUYERS have come in to buy the club.
Are you going to say Darlo residents dont deserve a football team?
Good for you that you had a thousand pounds to give them. Doesn't mean the rest of us have. Or even want to.
What happens if my team gets into financial difficulty, can I knock on your door for a thousand pounds?
andygib263
says...
3:53pm Sun 19 Feb 12
How do the club continue to be funded once the £750k raised you ask? Selling tickets to the matches, club shirts, cavery, corporate facilities, drinks, programmes and season tickets to name just a few ways.
The reason previous chairman have failed as they have committed there own money on expensive players and there contracts. A community elected board has a duty to run the club on a sustainable footing
pandorica
says...
12:09am Tue 21 Feb 12
andygib263 wrote:so basically what you are doing is no differnet to what was being done before. and what part does darlington borough council play in the club? because as long as they have anything to do with the club DFC will never be sustainable when their putting their gredy hands in and taking a massive cut of the clubs finances every week. also once the 750k has been raised it you can bet your life on it they will want you to put more and more money in. quit whilst you can and treat yourselves and family to something worth buying
If your not interested in supporting darlington fc then stop moaning about it on here. Ive donated some money into the club as I believe in the community run idea behind the club. How do the club continue to be funded once the £750k raised you ask? Selling tickets to the matches, club shirts, cavery, corporate facilities, drinks, programmes and season tickets to name just a few ways. The reason previous chairman have failed as they have committed there own money on expensive players and there contracts. A community elected board has a duty to run the club on a sustainable footing
click2find
taffydav says...
6:04pm Wed 15 Feb 12