In the latest of a series of articles counting down to Darlington’s return to the town on Boxing Day against FC Halifax Town, Deputy Sports Editor Craig Stoddart looks back on the club’s final season at The Northern Echo Arena

IT started with Kidderminster Harriers, ended with Kettering and there was a kaleidoscope of chaos in between; Darlington’s time at The Northern Echo Arena was never less than eventful, particularly during the traumatic 2011-12 season.

It featured the club’s third bout of administration, fans’ paying the players’ wages, a 20-match winless run and a four-division demotion.

They were all among lowlights seared into the memories of those who lived through the Arena Armageddon, which ultimately resulted in decamping to Bishop Auckland’s Heritage Park.

Aside from a couple of pre-season friendlies last summer, a period when Quakers held talks with the Arena’s current owners Mowden Park Rugby Club over a potential return, the first half of a festive double with Halifax on Boxing Day will represent Darlington’s first game on home soil since the end of the 2011-12 season.

In the previous campaign Quakers won the FA Trophy at Wembley, but by the end of 2011 owner and chairman Raj Singh put the wheels in motion that led to the worst season in Darlington’s history and the downfall of the club. Now a regular at Middlesbrough matches, a penny for Mr Singh’s thoughts about how Quakers have fought back.

Soon after sacking Mark Cooper as manager in the October, Singh triggered a player exodus when he put the club into administration.

John Campbell, Greg Taylor and Exodus Geohaghon were first to go. “I feel like I’ve jumped ship in a way,” admitted Taylor.

Captain Ian Miller escaped in December and then came what was feared to be the club’s final ever game, at Barrow on January 7, when a thousand fans travelled to Cumbria for the momentous occasion.

Darlington’s shirt sponsor, a company owned by Singh, was taped over and in a show of solidarity Barrow supporters displayed a banner reading: “Our football clubs are for life, not just for business.”

The administrator chose not to liquidate the club, but the game proved to be the final fling for Sam Russell (Forest Green), Liam Hatch and Jamie Chandler (both Gateshead), all sold to keep Quakers alive.

“I’m devastated with what’s happened with Darlington, I don’t think any of us expected it after Wembley,” said Chandler. “But I had to be ruthless and look after myself. I’ll still be keeping an eye on things at Darlington.”

Youth team manager Craig Liddle, left to pick up the pieces after replacing Cooper, said: “Liam rang me and he’s devastated to have gone because he didn’t really want to leave and it was the same with Sam. I might have done the same if I was in their position, but the administrations we had when I was playing were never as bad as this.”

Then came the day when the remaining players were told the club no longer existed.

The news was broken to them at the Arena, moments before Doug Embleton and Shaun Campbell, members of the Darlington Rescue Group, careered into the car park clutching a suitcase containing £50,000. They handed it over and the administrator tore up the liquidation forms.

It was all too much for left-back Aaron Brown. He decided to quit...only to have a change of heart: “It felt the right decision to make at the time, but when I got back to Bristol it didn’t feel right. I had a missed call from Paul Arnison, he’d left me a message saying get your arse back up here!”

But Liddle was left to put together a patched-up team, delving into his teenage ranks as well as bringing back a couple of his former team-mates, Clark Keltie and Neil Wainwright, to help out.

Journeyman striker Drew Broughton came out of retirement, to little effect, while Liddle also made some loan signings, among them Sunderland’s Jordan Pickford. Expected to soon make his England debut, his second game in senior football was as an 18-year-old in a 3-2 defeat at Hayes & Yeading in front of 550 fans.

Teenagers Danny Lambert, Rob Ramshaw and Scott Harrison, now at Hartlepool United, were blooded too.

Youth and exuberance can take you only so far however, especially in such circumstances, and by the final league fixture Darlington had not won since December – a club record run of 20 games.

Game 21 was Kettering’s visit on the final day, relegation already assured, yet Quakers salvaged some pride with a 3-1 win.

Ryan Bowman, now at Motherwell, having since scored regularly for York and Gateshead, among others, was twice on target, the other being an own goal by Ben Ford.

Liddle, now a youth coach at Middlesbrough, said: “I needed a win for my own peace of mind because I began to think it was never going to happen for me. You begin to question yourself, despite the circumstances that you’re working under.

“So it was huge for me and hopefully it’s huge for the club because now that record is behind us and it can look to the future.”

And so, nine years after starting life at the Arena against Kidderminster in front of 11,600 fans, they left the place on the back of a 1,792 attendance – smaller than the club’s last two gates at Heritage Park.

The Arena became associated with generally disappointing seasons, major financial issues and pneumonia-inducing nights. Supporters would arrive dressed for an expedition to the North Pole.

Intended as a springboard to previously unknown success, it proved to be a white elephant and now Mowden Park Rugby Club has the onerous task of attempting to make it work.

Meanwhile, Darlington begin life in a new home on Boxing Day looking forward to a bright future.

Darlington v Kettering: Nixon, Brown, Arnison, Hollis, Johnson, Rundle, Keltie, Taylor, Wainwright (Lambert 60), McReady, Bowman. Subs (not used): Barton, Ferguson