A FOOTBALL club's wall of fame has been saved and will today begin its journey to a new home.

It was feared that the wall, erected in 1998 by Darlington club supporters who paid £25 each to have their names written on the bricks, had been lost as the demolition of the Feethams stadium got under way this week.

But last night, it emerged that the 270 bricks had been saved - and a further 50 bricks with names on that were discovered beneath a tarpaulin.

"These bricks appear never to have made it into the wall of fame," said Tony Ward, whose company, TM Ward, is demolishing the stadium.

"We very carefully demolished the wall and took the bricks down for safe-keeping.

"We had a chap on there for three days chiselling them out - and we've found some more behind the West stand."

Brian Johnson, chairman of the Darlington Cricket Field Trust, which owns the site, said: "We are accused of insensitivity. I realise that some poor, misguided people contributed to this wall.

"It may be of interest to them and that is why I thought ahead and was careful to preserve these bricks."

All of the bricks are due to be transported today to the club's new stadium in Neasham Road, where they will be rebuilt in a new wall of fame next to the Corner Bar.

A club spokesman said: "The news that the bricks have been saved comes as a very welcome surprise and we are very grateful to Wards for having rescued this piece of the club's heritage.

"When we heard that the wall had been demolished, we believed that our hopes of re-locating the bricks to the new stadium had been lost and were obviously very disappointed.

"Now, thanks to the efforts of Wards, we can get on with relocating the wall as planned and preserving these bricks for the fans who put their money into the original wall at Feethams."