Having been based at Bishop Auckland’s ground since 2012, Darlington are on the verge of returning to the town and will be playing at Blackwell Meadows, home to Darlington Rugby Club. Deputy Sports Editor Craig Stoddart speaks to Quakers directors John Tempest and Richard Cook about the homecoming

FOR four and a half years they have been exiled in St Helen Auckland, a village just outside Bishop Auckland, but later this month Darlington will be making their much anticipated return to town.

They severed ties with The Northern Echo Arena in 2012, ridding themselves of a millstone partly responsible for the parlous state of their finances, but after 109 games as tenants at Heritage Park, Darlington are heading home.

It will be a new home – Feethams now being a housing estate – at Darlington Rugby Club’s Blackwell Meadows, where construction work has been underway for three months and will be complete, Quakers say, in time for the first game to take place on Boxing Day against Halifax Town.

The time based at Heritage Park has been a huge success, with three promotions the highlights, Quakers quickly climbing back up the leagues faster than most observers felt possible when the FA demoted them four divisions for failing to exit administration by the proper procedures.

But there has always been an intention to return to the town as soon as possible and after years of talk and fundraising that time has finally come. Directors John Tempest and Richard Cook both talk of their pride.

“Of course it’s a proud time, probably the proudest thing I’ve been involved in. It’s my hometown team and we’re finally coming home,” says Cook.

We meet on a sunny winter morning at Blackwell Meadows, Tempest and Cook are relaxed and jovial. Darlington’s recent on-pitch struggles aside – no wins in six games – a mood of optimism envelops the club.

Darlington born and bred, they first crossed paths around ten years ago. Tempest owns recruitment company Tempest Jones, and Cook runs a property business, with previous projects including overseeing the construction of the Olympic Village at London 2012.

Like so many Quakers supporters, they both watched matches as teenagers from the Tin Shed, the iconic terrace at the north end of Feethams which has made its way to Blackwell, or at least the steel framework has.

It had been kept in storage at Wards Bros’ scrapyard since Feethams was demolished ten years ago, while it’s 13 years since Darlington last played at their original home.

“I was probably 14 for my first match,” recalls Tempest. “I used to stand in the Tin Shed with my mates and I still like to stand with them if I can. We’re all mid-50s and all still going to the match.

“My kids are 13 and 11 and they’ll be coming to Blackwell with their mates and I love that. It’s in your blood.”

Cook’s first game was a League Cup tie with Watford in 1987, a 3-0 defeat.

He said: “I started watching Newcastle first with my family, but once I was old enough, about 13, I started going with my mates from school to Darlington and that was great. We’d go in the Tin Shed, making noise and bantering with the away fans.

“My son, Alexander, is at that age now. For me, bringing the club back to Darlington gives him that chance. I take him to Newcastle games sometimes when we’re not playing, but to be able to go to your town’s club and watch them do well is amazing.

“His first game was the FA Trophy final at Wembley and when we scored I went mental. He still talks about it now, ‘my dad went mad’ he says.

“The highlight of his day was going to the Lego shop afterwards, but I watch him at games now and he’s well into it and that’s what I love about it. Football’s in your blood and if it wasn’t why would you be involved at this level?

“Me and my mates, as we got older we’d meet in the Pennyweight before the match, leave at five to three, see the match and then I’d be in the Hole In The Wall in time for Final Score.”

Darlington fans will form new pre-match routines, or perhaps revive old ones. You can still get a pint at the Pennyweight and the Hole in the Wall, for instance, although the walk will take a little longer from town centre to Blackwell (1.4 miles) than it did Feethams.

Being back in town, though, is crucial to Quakers.

“One of the reasons for wanting to get back to Darlington is to bring younger fans back to the club,” says Tempest. “We’re trying to keep the kids’ prices cheap.

“We had a mini season ticket deal recently and a big percentage of them went to kids, which is great.”

Cook added: “We’ve had so many people tell us ‘when you move back to the town we’ll support you’. That time is now, we need businesses in the town to rally behind us. We’d love a few businesses to pick up the phone and contact us instead of us going after them. Especially some of the bigger companies in the town. Come and back us. We’re not asking for hundreds of thousands, but we’ll have it if they offer it!

“We’re back, please come and support us. That’s the message to anybody, whether you’re a kid wanting to see your local team, or a business in the town – we need you.”

Finances are seemingly always a factor when discussing Darlington, whose fans have contributed hugely to the homecoming, investing financially as well emotionally.

Two stands have been erected and of the £750,000 spent at Blackwell, Quakers have covered £500,000, with £300,000 of that money coming from fans digging deep.

Around £140,000 has come from the Darlington FC Supporters Group, who own 77 per cent of the club, a sum that includes a community share scheme, bucket collections and the purchase of the dugouts.

Furthermore, website Darlo Uncovered paid for the goalposts, costing £2,000, while grants from the Football Stadium Improvement Fund added £208,000.

The rugby club and council have footed the bill for new changing rooms and a car park, totalling £250,000.

“We’re a community club,” says Cook. “We’re not owned by some person or other, we’re a fan-owned club, we don’t owe anybody but we are not cash-flush.

“Newcastle were relegated and got a £52m parachute payment. At our level you get £14,000, that’s what every club is given at the start of the season. To be honest it was nice because we didn’t know we were getting it and you need every penny you can get at this level.

“We very much wanted to be here for the start of the season, but the legals dragged on and it hurts financially. We don’t lose money as such, it’s what we would’ve gained – maybe £5,000 a game?”

Tempest admits that a return to the Arena was a possibility until earlier this year, a move that would not have been universally popular among fans.

He explains: “We had to investigate other opportunities. To survive as a club, when things were uncertain, ultimately the club needs to be back in Darlington.

“We could survive in Bishop, but not at the level that we’re at.”

Talks with Mowden Park Rugby Club, who own the Arena, reached an impasse and ultimately a deal with Darlington Rugby Club was brokered.

Cook said: “Michael Wilkinson, the rugby club chairman – out of everybody involved, we could not have done it without him. It’s beneficial for both parties and Michael can see that.”

Talks between the parties began in late 2013, but they too proved problematic. Relations became so frosty that Quakers relocated their club shop to the Dolphin Centre.

“There was a clash of personalities,” admits Tempest.

Martin Jesper was at the helm when negotiations began, but stepped down as chief executive in October last year. His successor, Dave Mills, departed four months later due to ill health, leading to Tempest becoming an unpaid director and among his first moves was to recruit Cook on a voluntary basis.

He added: “Dave leaving was a bolt out of the blue, so it was very much a case of who is going to take over now?

“Conversations with the rugby club were going forward, but it was slow and I knew straight away that we needed help and we had to have some board members. I put a plea out on the website.”

Cook takes up the story: “I sent John an email. I knew him through his recruitment company. Within five seconds I get a reply saying ‘yeah, let’s meet’, so that told me something about the truth of the situation!

“If I’d thought about it long and hard like you would in business, I wouldn’t have got involved. But, of course, being a fan you think differently. It’s been a rollercoaster few months.”

Tempest: “Fans tend not to walk away. They don’t want to. With Richard’s background in construction, project development, he was the perfect person to drive this forward, and he has.”

“Taking this on has been a huge task,” admits Cook. “There’s half a million pounds worth of investment here.

“When I came in February the budget was set at £300,000. I looked at it and thought you don’t get much for £300,000. I started doing some costing and we’re up to £500,000.”

A far cry from the Arena, nor does it match Feethams for size, Blackwell could be described as functional. It will meet criteria for the level Darlington are playing at, and there are plans in place to double the amount of seating from the current total of 250, while there is an intention to improve the playing surface next summer.

The rugby club will share the pitch, but will play elsewhere on the site should a fixture clash arise.

“We’ll be doing a fundraiser to upgrade the pitch,” said Cook. “It will be similar to what Bishop did, they spent £85,000 in the summer, but they had more to do than us. The pitch is priority number one, and then the stand.”

Now that Darlington’s return to town is imminent, surely the hard work is done and it is time to enjoy the moment?

“I don’t think you can ever properly enjoy it,” says Tempest.

“Speaking to directors at other clubs, what we have in common is that everything will be going well and then something bad will come along.

“But we haven’t heard sack the board yet! That’s football though, when you’re winning everybody is happy.

“On the pitch we’ve progressed quicker than anybody imagined, but we’re only at the start of a long journey.”