BEFORE the start of the 2012-13 season Darlington Football Club were put into administration for the third time in nine seasons and then subsequently relegated by the FA from the Conference North (Step 2 ) to the Northern League (Step 5), meaning the Quakers had disappeared off the national football map.
Darlo looked well and truly cooked because they had no ground, having moved away from the Darlington Arena, no manager, as manager Craig Liddle had left to join the academy at Sunderland, and just one player.
Former player Martin Gray was appointed manager, and with two former players, Brian Atkinson and Sean Gregan, plus chief scout Harry Dunn, managed to build a team in time for the first game of the season, ironically against their landlords Bishop Auckland, who they had agreed a groundshare with. Darlington won that first game, which was an all-ticket match on Saturday, August 18, 2012, in front of 2004 spectators, 3-1 with Arjun Purewal, Shaun Reay and David Dowson their scorers
Eight months later, in April 2013, Darlington, now known as Darlington 1883, were firmly back in the land of the living after winning two games in the space of eight days to win the Northern League championship and take promotion to the Northern Premier League Division 1 North.
The Quakers beat Shildon 2-0 at Dean Street on April 20 with Stephen Thompson and Steve Johnson, a former Shildon, player their scorers.
Darlington's championship bid was further strengthened on April 25 when their main rivals for the title, Spennymoor, were held to a 0-0 draw at home by Ashington. This meant that Darlington needed one win from their final two home games against Team Northumbria and Guisborough.
Darlington FC director Ian Wilkinson (centre) and club secretary Colin Galloway clear a waterlogged pitch at Heritage Park ahead of Darlington's Northern League clash with Team Northumbria.
Gary Brown leads the Quakers out
The win came against Team Northumbria at Heritage Park on April 27 even though the visitors took the lead just before half time. Stephen Thompson levelled almost immediately.
Darlington celebrate Amar Purewal's first goal
In the second half Amar Purewal headed in a Stephen Harrison cross to put Darlo ahead, and the celebrations really began in the final seconds when Jonny Davis sent Purewal through and he slotted the ball into the bottom corner for a 3-1 win. That prompted a pitch invasion to celebrate promotion on the final whistle.
Manager Gray, who indulged in some crowd surfing in the celebrations, said: "We started this journey on May 5 last year when we didn't have a club. It was gone. But now we've won a really high-standard league. To put a team together from nothing to where we are today is outstanding."
Craig Stoddart, The Northern Echo's sportswriter who has covered and followed Darlington for decades, wrote: "A whole generation is is too young to remember Brian Little leading Quakers to the Division Four title. Wembley two years ago being a glorious exception, over the past decade fans have endured relegation from the Football League, three administrations, a four-division demotion and becoming homeless. The turmoil and stress of last season remains fresh in the memory, which is why this success, while it may be at the ninth level of football, means so much."
The league championship trophy was presented to the Quakers the following Wednesday, May 1, after a 3-0 home win over Guisborough in front of a capacity 2,001 crowd. The scorers were Terry Galbraith (pen), sub Steve Johnson and Amar Purewal in stoppage time.
Quakers finished the season with a league record 122 points, having won 40 out of 46 games, scoring 145 goals, with a goal difference of 110, the most impressive promotion record in the club's history. It was a triple century of goals, points and goal difference. Quakers beat every club in the league at least once.
FA Vase and League Cup winners Spennymoor were runners up with 109 points – their season did not finish until May 19. Whitley Bay were third on 88 points.
Craig Stoddart added: "The champagne corks popped at the culmination of Darlington's fantastic season as they celebrated promotion with the perfect party. When skipper Gary Brown lifted the silverware it was to huge roars from ecstatic fans, as it was almost a year, on May 3, 2012, that the community company formed by the fans bought the club following tireless fundraising efforts.
"The fans chanted 'Darlo will never die', which was also heard at Barrow in January 2012 when supporters feared it would be the club's final ever match."
Darlington are currently 13th in the National League North. Their play-off hopes disappeared when they were beaten by league leaders King's Lynn at home last Saturday. They are basically back where they were before they were relegated to the Northern League for the 2012-13 season.
They need two promotions to return to the Football League. C'mon the Quakers!
READ MORE: QUAKERS ON THE UP 10 YEARS AGO
READ EVEN MORE: DARLO UNBEATEN: QUAKERS GREAT RUN FROM 30 YEARS AGO
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