DARLINGTON stalwart Andrew Thompson is leaving the club after accepting a job offer in the Football League.

Quakers’ long-serving kitman is to leave his hometown club in order to take up a position with Stevenage in League Two.

He said: “I have left my role as kitman at DFC to take up the kit managers’ position at Stevenage.

“It wasn’t an easy decision, Darlington are the club I supported as a kid and still do now.

“But I could not let the chance to go back into full-time football, and more importantly back into the Football League pass me by. Teddy Sheringham is the manager at Stevenage and that was a factor as well.

"I would like to place on record my sincere thanks to a few people, Dave and Joanne Mills and Martin and Karen Jesper for all their help and support, obviously to all the lads and also the fans who made me so welcome when I returned 18 months ago.

"I wish Darlo all the success in the world and hopefully one day reclaim our rightful place back in the Football League."

His exit marks the end of an era. Aside from a year away from the club following the financial problems which engulfed Quakers in 2012, Tommo has been a part of the fabric of the club for decades.

He has been kitman officially for 12 years, replacing Peter Darke when he joined Hartlepool United, though he had combined the role with his duties as a groundsman in years previous to that.

He was groundsman from the age of 16, initially on a youth training scheme when the club were at Feethams, before becoming full-time.

Popular with players supporters alike and universally known as Tommo, in 2011 he was asked by assistant manager Richard Dryden climb the steps at Wembley to lift the FA Trophy.

Over the years Tommo has often appeared in the Echo when battling against various pitch problems at Feethams, most notably when thousands of worms were used in an attempt to combat persistent flooding in the late 1990s.