Darlo Uncovered

is that we have been over paying for players (on wages and of course travel) and paying above the market rate.
Alun seems more savvy and knows what a player should be paid in this league - all these players that have moved from Blyth have presumed moved to be on similar money at Darlo.
I am wondering if Tommy was left free reign with the budget and left to it - hopefully with the new finance bod we have in Alun needs to be accountable to him.
It further highlights how poor we were last year as Blyth managed to get into the playoffs with a tight budget full of local players.

You give the manager a budget and he spends it as he sees fit. As soon as you start telling him who he can and can’t sign it has the potential to go south. You should have enough faith that the manager will spend the budget appropriately otherwise why hire him?

The lengths of contracts offered obviously need to be agreed as this impacts future seasons budgets

PierremontQuaker03 wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 14, 2019 12:06 pm

is that we have been over paying for players (on wages and of course travel) and paying above the market rate.
Alun seems more savvy and knows what a player should be paid in this league - all these players that have moved from Blyth have presumed moved to be on similar money at Darlo.
I am wondering if Tommy was left free reign with the budget and left to it - hopefully with the new finance bod we have in Alun needs to be accountable to him.
It further highlights how poor we were last year as Blyth managed to get into the playoffs with a tight budget full of local players.

I don’t think travel was a huge thing as those from the South car shared. Tommy did as Alan is doing now that is assembling his own squad albeit all signings are from Blyth to date although the new forward to be announced once paper work is done is not.

Yeah, but if it's Hopson he used to play for Blyth (and he's not a forward)

Hobson has a good record of putting the ball in the net from midfield so I would be happy to see him back.

I’d be disappointed if it was Hopson. Don’t think it is

May have to wait till AA gets back from hols before we know who is still to come in, unless someone just ready to sign.

I'm not disappointed at all at wholesale reconstruction of a squad that finished just above the relegation spots and which was embarrassed by Guiseley. I was there that day and we were just dreadful. I'm sure Ainge will be off because he was just going through the motions that day and ignored TW and AW's instructions. As for Nicholson, like Ben O' Hanlon before him, there comes a time when travelling long distance just becomes unsustainable and he had probably reached that stage. Good player, but with his departure I'm looking at the bigger picture.

One matter of note is that none of the departing players have so far ended up at a club at the same level or higher, including Elliott. Nicholson might, but we haven't found a taker so far.

I think trotman will probably go, based on little more than a hunch, and that we tied him to a new contract to guarantee we get a fee for him.

I'm pleased with things so far. The only players from last season I would have liked to keep were Thompson, galbraith, trotman if we didn't get a decent offer, and omar holness who I liked a lot. None of the rest justified either big wages or making exceptions for training because of travelling distances. We didn't seem to have much team spirit, and nobody's departure will unbalance the squad in any way.

Let's start from scratch and build a team that actually wants to compete.

tdk1 wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 14, 2019 6:15 pm

One matter of note is that none of the departing players have so far ended up at a club at the same level or higher, including Elliott. Nicholson might, but we haven't found a taker so far.

I think trotman will probably go, based on little more than a hunch, and that we tied him to a new contract to guarantee we get a fee for him.

I'm pleased with things so far. The only players from last season I would have liked to keep were Thompson, galbraith, trotman if we didn't get a decent offer, and omar holness who I liked a lot. None of the rest justified either big wages or making exceptions for training because of travelling distances. We didn't seem to have much team spirit, and nobody's departure will unbalance the squad in any way.

Let's start from scratch and build a team that actually wants to compete.

Sure I read somewhere that Holness may be looking for a move up the leagues but if unable may come back to us.

Think that would be a great move all round, no better place to be in the shop window than a club like Darlo.

Looks like we’ll have to wait till AA gets back from his holidays to hear about anymore signings.

ill be there in the bar before the game watching the lads going for promotion this year

i see no mention that the manager has closed down his football business in shildon

Seventynine wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 16, 2019 8:23 pm

i see no mention that the manager has closed down his football business in shildon

This story is on the Echo website, the business is closing on 30 June.

Closed due to increasing rents at the george reynolds industrial estate

shildonlad wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 17, 2019 4:31 am

Closed due to increasing rents at the george reynolds industrial estate

Or a conflict of interest with his new employers?
If the rent goes up then put the prices up to help cover the difference would have been a more straightforward option than closure, if thats all the issue was.

loan_star wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 17, 2019 11:34 am

shildonlad wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 17, 2019 4:31 am

Closed due to increasing rents at the george reynolds industrial estate

Or a conflict of interest with his new employers?
If the rent goes up then put the prices up to help cover the difference would have been a more straightforward option than closure, if thats all the issue was.

Where would a conflict of interest be? Really don't see that - it was an indoor football complex used by kids, clubs, adult teams and the whole shooting match. Assuming you mean a conflict of interest with DFC's academy or holiday clubs? Really don't see how this would be.

m62exile wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 17, 2019 12:58 pm

Where would a conflict of interest be? Really don't see that - it was an indoor football complex used by kids, clubs, adult teams and the whole shooting match. Assuming you mean a conflict of interest with DFC's academy or holiday clubs? Really don't see how this would be.

He runs an academy, its known as the Alun Armstrong Football Academy.
That is a conflict with the DFC academy. Our manager should be encouraging kids to attend our academy, not his own.
People had mixed feelings about MGFA being our feeder academy so its only right, if this is the reason behind it, that there is no conflict of interest this time round.

The soccer centre was about much more than an academy

loan_star wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 17, 2019 11:34 am

shildonlad wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 17, 2019 4:31 am

Closed due to increasing rents at the george reynolds industrial estate

Or a conflict of interest with his new employers?
If the rent goes up then put the prices up to help cover the difference would have been a more straightforward option than closure, if thats all the issue was.

Running a business isn’t as simple as that. The rent might have doubled, or more than doubled. There might not have been scope for a price rise - I’m only speculating here, the same as you.

divas wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 17, 2019 4:33 pm

The soccer centre was about much more than an academy

I don't doubt that but the fact that some of its funding would have been from the academy side of it could have made the difference between being viable or not.

There was no conflict between AA soccer centre & DFC academy.

This was a business decision by AA & nothing to do with DFC.

loan_star wrote:

divas wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 17, 2019 4:33 pm

The soccer centre was about much more than an academy

I don't doubt that but the fact that some of its funding would have been from the academy side of it could have made the difference between being viable or not.

Other than the word “academy” being used in the title it was really nothing like either MGFA or DFCs academy. It didn’t offer any qualifications or post 16 courses. I say that as someone who has had a kid going there over the years. It’s a bit mischievous to try and insinuate or imply there’s a conflict of interest IMO.


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m62exile wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 17, 2019 9:14 pm

It’s a bit mischievous to try and insinuate or imply there’s a conflict of interest IMO.

So asking a question is being mischievous?

I get the feeling things are being sorted out now (and by God they needed to be by the sound of it) when you read this in today's Echo.....

EXCESSIVE wage demands are a factor in Darlington’s summer recruitment drive stalling, admits Alun Armstrong.

He wasted little time in making five additions to his squad when he was appointed as Quakers’ manager last month, with his new signings all coming from former club Blyth Spartans.

However, Armstrong has since not been able to complete a sixth signing, but has been working on several targets, and in the meantime has seen Jordan Nicholson and Tom Elliott move on.

“Some of the players I’m speaking to are a lot more expensive than they should be,” said the manager, who had hoped to have made a sixth signing before beginning a holiday last Friday. “Because it’s us they think they can get more money.

“I’ve got players into the club that are on a lot less than then eight that were here when I started. I am working on rectifying that which is why it has slowed the process of people coming in.

“I understand that they get paid well, but I wish I was playing now - I might get my boots back on!

“Some lads are on more than I was getting when I was playing for Stockport. There’s lads getting more money for training twice a week and playing on a Saturday than I was getting playing in the Championship.

“There’s some clubs in this division pay more than some clubs in League 2, I know that for a fact.”

His five from Blyth are: Michael Liddle, David Atkinson, Jarrett Rivers, Jamie Holmes and Louis Laing.

The lure of full-time football at York City proved persuasive for both Peter Jameson and Dan Maguire, who chose Bootham Crescent after leaving Spartans.

“You’ve got to get the right balance,” added Armstrong, who returns from a family holiday tomorrow. “You need players in, but you want the ones who want to play for Darlington, not for the money.

“The way I’ve worked it with the ones I’ve brought in, it’s incentivised, it’s win bonuses, appearances based.

“It’s not a case of ‘here’s your money, now go and sit on the bench and do nothing', you’ve got to earn your money by being on the pitch and that’s the way it has got to be.

“That’s the way it has got to be so that we’re getting value for money.”

Darlington’s first pre-season friendly is on July 6 at home to Motherwell (2pm), while among their schedule is a game at Eastbourne Sports Complex on July 9 against Wearside League club Darlington Town (7pm).


It really backs up the OP.

But have we been paying above the market rate? Our market isn’t league 2 so what players are paid at that level is irrelevant. Our market is part-time north east based players and if, as AA, has stated, we’re struggling to get players ahead of others teams in our market due to them wanting more money because they know what the can earn at similar teams, then that is market rate. We’ve know this for years and was why we started to cast the net wider even in the MG days.

I can’t help but feel that with so many local clubs now at our level we’ll struggle to put together a local set of lads who can compete on the budget we have. Look at what Blyth are bringing in at the moment - i’m sure there will be a few rough diamonds amongst them but ultimately there are a lot of gambles. If you want players who are less of a gamble you need to pay more as they’ll have other suitors, simple as that.

Any player that wants to go FT has the lure of Gateshead or York. The better PT players will end up at Spennymoor. AA certainly needs to get creative to build a squad with what he has.

I’d quite happily play the long game and wait for players who don’t get fixed up full time during trials over the summer. It worked in our favour with Beck. Whilst it’s not ideal that you don’t have your squad for the whole of pre-season this season was always going to be a transitional rebuilding job and I’d rather we managed to pick a few better players up later on when they’re desperate for a club than overpay on mediocrity now and have nothing left in the budget if a better player does become available.

That reads like AA is getting very frustrated in his efforts to sign a team. I hope his propensity to vent his frustrations, and criticise players at this level, doesn't come back to bite him. It's not a great approach to recruitment.

As Divas says,the market is the market.As overblown and bloated as it is ,it’s where we have to operate and while there is a lot to be said for value for money,if you pay peanuts we know what you get.
I do like the bit about pay being incentivized though,it should prevent the likes of Henshal taking money under false pretenses.

If we push the boat out a little bit to get that all important goal scorer and get a young keeper on a season long loan then wait and fill out the squad with players released from academies and a couple more loanees we should be ok. Maybe even pick up one or two from the Northern League.