Darlington supporters at Feethams on Saturday - and those who chose not to bother wasting their money - left chairman George Reynolds in no doubt as to their feelings.

Large parts of the crowd booed the efforts of the team well before the half-hour mark, while the Tin Shed's cries of "Reynolds what's the score?", "Where's your money gone?" and "What a load of rubbish" summed up the afternoon quite nicely.

Just as telling were the vast numbers who left with only an hour played.

Pre-match Reynolds said a striker would be bought only if the fans returned and regular 5,000 attendances were achieved. The fact that 2,000 people ignored his plea says a lot about their respect for a man who talks of Premiership football at the 25,00 all-seater new stadium.

Although by the end of Saturday's match some fans were having a pop at Tommy Taylor, it is difficult to criticise a man who is managing the club with his hands tied.

Reynolds was in the dug-out for five minutes before half-time to have his say.

Taylor picks the team, but how many of Saturday's squad would be in his preferred line-up?

Taking over at a club midway through a season is a tough task and one which sees the new manager bringing in his own players while he ships out those brought in by the previous boss.

Despite offloading Kirk Jackson, Frank van der Geest, Alex Jeannin and Graham Liddle, he's been allowed only one cash transfer, which has seen Ian Clark arrive and for just £15,000 the former Hartlepool man has delivered seven goals in 19 starts.

What's frustrating for Darlington supporters - and Taylor to boot - is Reynolds' reluctance to spend money on the playing staff, despite having made wild promises to take the club into the Premiership when he took over at the Feethams helm.

He claimed the Premiership dream would be achieved within five years, which means he has until 2004 to fulfil that goal. It doesn't take a genius, nor even a millionaire football chairman, to work out that the only Premiership action Quakers will be seeing is on television.

As attendances slide back down to the pre-Reynolds era, he has also said he wants the fans to help pay for a much-needed striker by returning to Feethams. Quite understandably, he doesn't want Quakers to spend beyond their means, which would eventually see Darlington go out of business.

And although it is nobody's place to tell a man how to spend his own money, it is frustrating for fans to be told to pay for a striker by a man who says he has around £250m - although The Mail on Sunday yesterday shot down those claims by stating his fortune is a mere £133m.

As much as the supporters are indebted to Reynolds for saving the club from bankruptcy, none of them ever asked for anything more than that.

It is he who is building the new stadium and promised the Premiership - not the fans.

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