Businessman outlines plans to save club

Paul Wildes, 35, a Sheffield venture capitalist, plans to invest £300,000 in the club with fans contributing a further £200,000 in return for a 40 per cent share.

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He told members of the Darlington Football Club Rescue Group: “I enjoy a business challenge and I do not see a bigger challenge than making the football club successful.”

Under Mr Wildes, the Quakers would continue to rent their 25,000-seater stadium from landlords Philip Scott and Graham Sizer, although there is the option to buy it for £2.1m.

Mr Wildes agreed that the stadium was too large, and that he would never have built it, but he told the meeting at the Blackwell Grange Hotel: “The stadium should not be seen as a liability but as the club’s biggest asset. Used properly, managed properly, it can be very profitable.

“Grand redevelopment plans are all pie in the sky.

Full planning permission doesn’t exist and there are covenants all over the land, so anything else is just a dream.

The key thing is the football club and not the ability to build on the land.

“If the economy recovers, it might be that we look to do something, but we already have a fantastic building and we have to make it work.”

His starting point appears to be to make the club sustainable by making the stadium work harder, and he told the rescue group about concerts, restaurants and training academies – one of his professional specialties – in the Neasham Road ground.

The rescue group comprises businesspeople and fans.

When the club was liquidated by administrator Harvey Madden last Wednesday, the group produced £50,000 to allow it to continue to function until the end of the month. That money runs out on Monday, which is why supporters are being urged to buy tickets for Saturday’s match against York City, as additional funds may yet be needed.

One of the key aspects of Mr Wildes’ plan is for the supporters to own 40 per cent of the club – which will probably mean them selecting two members to sit on a five-man board of directors. The legal footing and practicalities of the fans’ shareholding has yet to be worked out.

“It is not a gimmick,” he said. “What has really struck me over the last week has been the swell of support for the football club by the people of Darlington, and that needs to continue for the club to survive.

“We want the people of the town to feel that the club belongs to them, and I believe that if they feel that, gate receipts will increase and fundraising will increase. Unless you have community involvement, the football club cannot be successful.

“It’s about making sure that people are actively involved.

It’s giving the club back to the people of Darlington – that’s not meant to sound like a cliché, but the involvement will enhance the value of the club as a business.”

Mr Wildes sees fundraising by supporters continuing with the money adding to the stadium’s revenue and being invested in the team. “I want people to feel that they have contributed to the team, to the signing of the new winger who scored on Saturday – that’d be a great feeling,” he said.

Mr Wildes has been seriously interested in the club for a week. He has had conversations with members of the rescue group, Darlington MP Jenny Chapman, as well as the landlords, and he met manager Craig Liddle yesterday afternoon.

It was, though, a surprise when he arrived at Blackwell Grange with Mrs Chapman last night for the rescue group meeting.

The high level of fans’ involvement in Mr Wildes’ plan is in line with the community interest company that Mrs Chapman has floated as one possible method of rescuing the 128-year-old Quakers.

The Northern Echo understands that at least one other bidder, who has an ecohomes/ indoor snow centre plan for the site, remains interested.

Mr Wildes told the rescue group that he was worth “millions rather than thousands”.

“I have done very well under the radar,” said the Sheffield Wednesday supporter.

“I would never have to work again if I didn’t want to.

I like and enjoy football and this is a business that can work.”

Mr Wildes, who is engaged and lives in Chester, was asked if he was mad to be investing in a Conference football club that has been in administration three times in the past decade and is now in a relegation battle.

“It is absolutely sensible to invest in a community, which is what I am doing,” he said.

“I enjoy solving business problems and I think this one is going to be fun to solve.”