FROM top to bottom in eight months. Darlington's descent in less than a year is complete and Alun Armstrong has paid the price.

A manager will always stand or fall by his results. No matter what mitigating circumstances are at play, such as losing key players or poor refereeing decisions, they’re the only accurate gauge by which a boss can be judged. Lose too many matches and you’re out.

And given Darlington’s dire run in 2023, it became increasingly inevitable that Alun Armstrong's tenure would come to a close.

They finished last season by dropping to ninth, with two wins in the last 17 matches, nose-diving out of promotion and play-off contention. It is surely not inaccurate to suggest that a manager overseeing the same sort of run elsewhere would've faced the chop sooner.

Quakers showed faith and patience in a man who had delivered in the past, who had previously turned around an ailing team.

January 2022. Bottom-of-the-table Telford 5 Darlington 0. Clearly emotional in his post-match interview, it looked like the end for Armstrong.

One month later he looked emotional again, this time as he saluted the Tin Shed after Darlington got back on track with a win against Chester. They ended the campaign 13th, marginally higher than the lowly 16th that led to Tommy Wright being sacked and replaced by Armstrong in May 2019.

Nonetheless, Armstrong was given time and Quakers’ patience was rewarded in the first half of last season, after rebuilding in the summer of 2022, they were among the division’s pace-setters with Mark Beck, playmaker Jack Lambert and attack-minded defender Dan Dodds, on loan from Middlesbrough, all pivotal in Darlington’s good form.

For the first time since 2017, Quakers were able to realistically dream of promotion with the high point being the 5-2 demolition of Scarborough in early January.

But it quickly unravelled. Dodds had gone back to Boro, Lambert was hampered by a knee injury and went off the boil, and Solihull triggered a release clause in Beck’s contract.

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Losing Beck was the biggest blow - his aerial threat meant he could turn a team-mate's average cross into a dangerous delivery, he offered a physical presence since sorely lacking in Quakers’ forward line and the failure to adequately replace him has been costly.

Darlington finished last season in ninth position, and a section of supporters ramped up their calls for a managerial change, whereas others stood by Armstrong hoping he could turn it around again.

But eight games in and Quakers are rock-bottom and with few signs of improvement it is difficult to argue they do not need a change of approach.

Armstrong will be remembered as someone who gave Quakers a lift after Wright’s tenure, who steered the club through cup runs, took them to the top of the table and signed some talented players.

The highlight was the draw at League One Walsall in the FA Cup first round in 2019-20, when Joe Wheatley dramatically equalised seven minutes into injury time, a moment of sheer drama, one of Darlington’s best since 2012.

The following season Armstrong’s team went even further by beating League One Swindon Town. It was a great shame Quakers’ best FA Cup win in recent years was behind closed doors during Covid.

Similarly, they reached the FA Trophy quarter-finals in 2020-21, beaten by eventual winners Hornchurch, but getting close to Wembley has become a footnote due to fans not being present.

Quakers’ cup adventures under Armstrong are particularly notable given the club’s usual abject record in knockout football – until 2019-20, Darlington had not won three FA Cup ties in a season since the period Brian Little was the club’s manager.

His recruitment was mixed but he did bring some quality to Quakers. Successes included last season’s trio of Beck, Lambert and Dodds, plus Will Hatfield, Luke Charman, Erico Sousa, Justin Donawa and Adam Campbell. Had Darlington, somehow, been able to hang onto those forwards – who moved on to full-time football - they would have arguably the best attack in non-league football.

But there were also some stinkers through the doors. Chris Elliott, Lexus Beeden, Levi Amantchi, Theo Hudson, Daniel Barbosa and Jacob Blyth will not be on anyone’s all-time greatest XI.

Nonetheless, in Armstrong Darlington had a respectful manager, a likeable guy who bought into the fan-owned ethos, who understood the supporters’ frustrations and respected that they annually bolstered his transfer budget - an incredible £160,000 pledged in May this year.

But having chipped in so much, supporters of the fan-owned club have every right to expect better than being 24th in the table and being battered by Buxton.

Saturday 5-0 defeat in Derbyshire was the nadir of the Armstrong era, and that he was not present – due to “personal reasons” – hardly helped the cause of a manager already on thin ice.

It is understood a board meeting on Monday evening spelled the end no matter what the result on Tuesday against Boston United, which finished 0-0.

It is not without irony that the trigger was pulled the morning after Darlington’s first clean sheet of the season.

Conceding too many goals has been a problem throughout Armstrong's reign. In his 167 games, Quakers conceded 232 times (scoring 235). It was a weakness never dealt with in his four-and-a-half years in charge.

But that grim statistic doesn't paint the full picture of a tenure that had some fine moments and promised much, but ends in disappointment and ultimately in football the manager carries the can.