A HISTORY LESSON - MIKE PEDEN, ET AL

[marskequaker]

Spot the familiar names - this was 12 years ago
http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/ ... _1_1286561

Just been reading about the all too familiar names of Reg Brearley, Steve Morgon, Tony Kenworthy & Mike Peden - these were the guys who brought Darlington FC to its knees financially whilst we were still at Feethams. Google their names and put in Darlington FC and read their sordid history.

Brearley went round the country 'saving lower division football clubs' - Darlington was his first club. His loyal henchman Steve Morgon, ex- Sheff Utd player Tony Kenworthy and Staffordshire businessman Mike Peden were all involved.

Grantham Town, Greenock Morton, St Mirren & Chester were just four more clubs who had skirmishes with the same group. Morgon once famously said in the Lincolnshire Echo: "One day Grantham Town will be the only professional club in Lincolnshire!". Yeah, right.


http://www.wsc.co.uk/content/view/4033/29/

http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/archiv ... he_border/

[Comfortably_numb]

Everyone....and I mean Everyone should take note of this post. Forget slagging off Reynolds...or Houghton. Our problems started a long long time ago.

[KCChiefs]

I've always said this - Darlos problems started with building the East stand at Feethams and the guys running the club then. If we had not got into difficulty then, George Reynolds would never ever have been involved with Darlo.

[roadrunner]

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[PierremontQuaker03]

I've always said this - Darlos problems started with building the East stand at Feethams and the guys running the club then. If we had not got into difficulty then, George Reynolds would never ever have been involved with Darlo.

And again the size of the stand was too big! Also reading an article on Tommo in the echo today Tommo said it affected the drainage hence the boggy pitch.

[princebishop]

The stand had a piled foundation so did affect the drainage to the Skerne. Also wasn't the pitch affected because they used some of the rubble from the old East Stand to level the playing surface, before putting soil and turf to it?

[MKDarlo]

some intresting stuff there - i am trying to write an article on this period in the clubs history at the moment

[princes town]

I went to Feethams midweek for some physio and I had a look out at the pitch. If you didn't know it was a football pitch you'd have thought it was a building site. The amount of heavy machines, pipes and sludge all over the place was unbelievable. I'll never forget that image. I guess the new stand brought in some revenue but at what cost?

[Mullet69]

I remeber Orient away, when a group of us were made aware of things going on behind the scenes under Peden. We nearly got lynched when we got vocal about it in the away end that day - s*** stirrers, not true fans, wankers etc etc.

To agree with the OP, that era is where the true cancer originated at DFC.

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[Darl-Zero]

And there were the problems with the cricket club too.
I do think that in a way all these people tried and failed.

The Arena is a brilliant stadium but just double the size it ever needed to be for us.

Maybe if we knocked out the East and West stands and the corners, putting small terraces in their place then we would have a workable solution, with a bit more daylight.

Oh, and don't ever climb to the premier league of course!

[Quakerz]

Maybe if we knocked out the East and West stands and the corners, putting small terraces in their place then we would have a workable solution, with a bit more daylight.

Are you fucking tapped?

How much would that cost and where would the money come from?

[Bizza]

Maybe if we knocked out the East and West stands and the corners, putting small terraces in their place then we would have a workable solution, with a bit more daylight.

That is the kind of thing Reynolds should've built in the first place, a small ground around 5000-10000 in size that could've been expanded as needed.

If we are to stay at The Arena then we should look into reducing the capacity somehow. We cannot keep playing in a 80% empty stadium.

[PierremontQuaker03]

Anyone know what happened to the Coppinger and Robinson money? We’re they sold when Peaden was the owner? If so I can guess where the money went

[biccynana]

Anyone know what happened to the Coppinger and Robinson money? We’re they sold when Peaden was the owner? If so I can guess where the money went

PQ03 wins the prize for longest gap between posts in a topic

[H1987]

Maybe if we knocked out the East and West stands and the corners, putting small terraces in their place then we would have a workable solution, with a bit more daylight.

Are you fucking tapped?

How much would that cost and where would the money come from?

Quite. It would cost more than actually just building something somewhere else.

I entirely disagree that the Arena is a brilliant stadium. Even discounting its inappropriate size, I've not seen a stadium of that age in such poor condition. It was built with the cheapest materials going, which is why it has aged dreadfully.

The problems did certainly start at Feethams and they pre-dated Reynolds, but Reynold's ridiculous arena was the death knell of the club as a football league entity. You can point at all the others, but no one else left behind something quite so damaging.

[PierremontQuaker03]

Anyone know what happened to the Coppinger and Robinson money? We’re they sold when Peaden was the owner? If so I can guess where the money went

PQ03 wins the prize for longest gap between posts in a topic

I thank you