MARTIN GRAY last night spoke of his frustration at being sacked by Darlington only three days after the club staged a fundraising game that he had played a significant part in organising.

Next week he is due to become assistant manager at Oldham Athletic, with goalkeeping coach Andy Collett also moving to Boundary Park where they will team up with former Quakers boss Dave Penney.

But Gray and Collett were yesterday among ten members of staff axed by the administrators who made the decision yesterday following Raj Singh’s second failed bid for the club.

Having made an offer last month which he later withdrew, Singh made a second bid yesterday but administrator Dave Clark, following a lengthy meeting with former chairman George Houghton at The Northern Echo Darlington Arena, described it as “not acceptable”.

But Gray does not blame the administrators, Brackenbury Clark and Co, for the dismissals but is frustrated with the timing of the decision “This is not the fault of the administrators, they’ve done this to try and keep the club alive. They are here to do a job and they’ve had to make some decisions,” said Gray.

“They phoned me on Tuesday asking me when I’m going to Oldham. I said I wasn’t going to go until next week, the reason being that Dave Penney is out of the country until Monday.

“He said he might have to terminate my contract straight away. I said, after what I’ve done for the club over ten years could they have not waited until next week and let me go to Oldham as planned.

“I then got a phone call off him this afternoon. He said he’d had various meetings at the club, he hadn’t come to an agreement to take the club any further forward so he had to make a decision to mothball the club.

“He thanked me for everything I’ve done, for the charity game and the way I’ve conducted myself, and said he’s going to have to sack me.

“This isn’t about me, what’s important is Darlington Football Club and the people who lost jobs today.

“I feel for the people who paid to see that game on Sunday. We had people come from all over the region, and all those players who went out of their way to help the club out.

“But three days later the money raised wasn’t sufficient and we lose ten members of staff.”

Sunday’s fundraising match attracted 3,400 to the Arena and Gray added: “I spent eight to ten weeks sorting that that game out.

When I wasn’t working with the team I put all my time and effort into it.

“Ok, it didn’t get a fantastic crowd but we made some money for the staff and the players. The aim was just to keep them in employment, that was the whole point.”

Craig Liddle’s position as head of youth and Neil Maddison’s as the centre of excellence manager remain unaffected.