THIRTY-FIVE years ago, in December 1988, Darlington Football Club were in big trouble, just before the visit of Hereford United on New Year's Eve. With the halfway stage of the 1988-89 season fast approaching, they were second bottom in the Barclays League Division Four, with only 14 points from 19 games and without a win at home where they had lost seven of their 10 games, scoring 12 goals and conceding 19.
Darlington had experienced an uninterrupted stay in the Football League since they became founder members of the Football League Division Three North in the 1921-22, but that run was in jeopardy.
The 1988 Christmas period had got off to a bad start when they were beaten 2-0 at home by Halifax Town on Boxing Day with Terry McPhillips, the Halifax striker scoring twice. "Quakers Nightmare" was the headline in The Northern Echo and match reporter Ian Murtagh added: "The Feethams nightmare goes on for Darlington who look set for a grim struggle for Football League survival in the New Year."
New Year's Eve visitors Hereford United were not a great team, and before the game, were only four places above the Quakers. It was the tenth meeting of the two clubs at Feethams, with all the meetings in Division 4. They had first met in March 1973 at Feethams when a brace of goals from Colin Sinclair gave Darlo a much needed point in a 2-2 draw. Just seven days later, the Quakers made their first visit to Edgar Street only to lose to a single Billy Tucker goal before a 10,150 crowd. Darlington finished that season in bottom position while Hereford gained promotion in their first ever season in the Football League, losing only four times in their last thirty two games, (after winning only two of their first fourteen)
Success followed success for Hereford and in 1976 they were promoted to Division Two. This was to be the pinnacle of their achievements however, as two seasons later they were back in Division 4 and visiting Darlington again. Since then, Darlington had won on four occasions at home with only one defeat in March 1982, which included a January 1988 home game when two goals from David Currie and one from Alan Roberts sent the Feethams faithful home happy with a 3-1 win. The Darlington team that day was Granger, Outterside, Morgan, Hine, Robinson, Bonnyman, Roberts, Ward (sub O'Dell), Macdonald (sub Worthington), Currie, Stonehouse.
Darlo's trips to Edgar Street had resulted in two wins, two draws and five defeats.
But the Hereford home game 35 years ago, in front of a crowd of 1,755, ended goalless. Reporter Murtagh wrote that Darlington had put in a "much improved performance, and now manager Dave Booth is calling on his team, strengthened by the inclusion of £10,000 new boy David Shearer, to start putting away the chances that a new tactical system is promising to create".
The new look line-up had Tony McAndrew playing as a sweeper behind, and sometimes in front of, Alan Smith and Jim Willis, leaving the full backs Gary Morgan and on loan Les McJannet the freedom to go forward.
Manager Booth said: "I thought it worked well, both full backs went forward, and it was something else for us."
The Darlington team with the Echo's ratings was: Batch 7, McJannet 7, Willis 7, McAndrew 8, Smith 6, Morgan 7, Hine 6, Robinson 5, Hyde 6 (sub Emson 79 mins), Macdonald 5 (sub Stonehouse 79 mins), Worthington 6.
But it didn't happen for Booth and the Quakers. New signing Dave Shearer, from Scunthorpe and formerly of Middlesbrough striker where he'd scored 32 goals in 97 appearances, played six games at centre forward for Darlo with one other appearance as a substitute and failed to score. That was his contribution for the season.
Brian Little came in as manager in February, but the damage was too much to repair, and for the first time, Darlington slumped into the Conference.
At the other end of the Division Four table, 38-year-old Neil Warnock resigned as the manager of third placed Scarborough, complaining about boardroom interference in the running of the team.
Midfielder Neil Robinson who was almost ever present in the 1988-89 relegation season. He’d joined the club from Grimsby on August 1, 1988, as his career, which had started at Everton and Swansea neared its end - his goal for Swansea against West Brom in September 1981 was one of the BBC’s Goal of the Month contenders. He is said to have been the first vegan professional footballer, and he made his debut in the first fixture of the season, at home to Stockport. Quakers lost 4-1 in front of a 1,794 crowd, which set the season off to a poor start. Kevin Caizley scored the only goal of his short Quakers career in that game. Robinson retired the following season after failing to command a first team place in the Conference. He died a year ago, aged 65
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