Hi Shaun, Thank you for giving your time to allow Over
the Line to Interview you.
1.
How did you become involved in the whole situation of
helping to save Darlington last year?
Being a local to the area I knew that
Darlington had been struggling over the past few seasons but the season just
gone really took the club by surprise. I thought it would be the right idea to
become involved with the DFCRG, so I set about helping Darlington FC Rescue Group (DFCRG) to raise the
£50,000 they needed to stop the club folding in. Now I see Darlington football
club a big part of my life, seeing the club still existing after 130 years is a
satisfying feeling knowing that I was part of the group that saved the club.
2.
With the vast history behind the club did you
feel that it would be wrong to let it all go down the drain?
After all the Darlington has been through
since 1883 it would of been a shame to let it all go to waste. One highlight of
the club was the first professional black footballer, Arthur Wharton, as the
trustee founder of the Arthur Wharton foundation it is important that people
know that in a day and age where rascal issue is a huge topic that Darlington
looked past skin colour to see a footballer with potential. Also with
Darlington they have had a tipsy turvy existence in and out of administration,
winning cup finals and reaching new heights for the club overall.
3.
In the time that you helped to save the club
what were the biggest frustrations you faced?
For me the whole situation was a lot to
handle at first because you had the whole of the club, players and fans
depending on you to make sure that we had what it took to save the club last
year. One of the biggest challenges that we did face was trying to find the
money when we first started out, luckily the fans were quick to come with large
donations such as the one from a oversee supporter who pledged £150,000 to the
club. When we knew that the club could play the next game against Fleetwood the
frustrations became reliefs.
4.
Overall what do you feel were the good points to
come out of the situation?
As you can guess the best point of the
whole situation was when we found out in May that the club had been saved and
was out of administration. Other points also made the experience enjoyable, as
a local business man it was great to be involved with the community as it was a
wholesome feeling getting people involved in all sorts of ways to help save the
club. Overall being involved with the project gave me self satisfaction knowing
that we will go down in history.
5.
In your opinion, what led the club to being in
the mess they were left in by Raj Singh?
My opinion of the matter is that the club
had been in trouble before Raj was chairmen. With the new ground being built
left a lot of debt also when George Reynolds was chairmen there was debt left
over for Singh to pick up. So I don’t think he is all to blame but he was
involved in dragging the club down.
6.
What do you think the future holds for
Darlington in the coming seasons?
At the moment Darlington are top of their
league which will hopefully lead to automatic promotion. As for the future I
can’t say much on where the club will end but I do not feel that the club won’t
be facing administration for a long time due to what has happened other the
past year with all the people involved, with a tight knit of fans and community
they will be able to get behind the club. In the future I would hope to see
more trophies in the cabinet and I’m going to be ambitious and I can’t see why
in a few years Darlington can’t return to League two.
