Darlo Uncovered

George Reynolds is on Talk Sport this morning, to talk about Darlo trying to sign Tino Asprilla. Jeez can’t they just ignore him.

He must be pushing 90 now?! Always look back on that era with huge frustration. If the stadium hadn’t been built and instead the squad of 99/00 had been added to with maybe an extra striker and a right winger I think we could have made the Championship

Nimrod wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 17, 2020 10:15 am

He must be pushing 90 now?! Always look back on that era with huge frustration. If the stadium hadn’t been built and instead the squad of 99/00 had been added to with maybe an extra striker and a right winger I think we could have made the Championship

Also wasn't just our luck the day we were lumbered with Reynolds Hartlepool were taken over by a multi billion pounds offshore oil company ?

Nimrod wrote:He must be pushing 90 now?! Always look back on that era with huge frustration. If the stadium hadn’t been built and instead the squad of 99/00 had been added to with maybe an extra striker and a right winger I think we could have made the Championship

In fairness, Reynolds was such a buffoon and an incompetent moron, he’d still have pissed off players, wasted money and it would have all imploded regardless.

We’d never have got to the Championship with Reynolds in charge. He wanted it all to be about him (hence the publicity seeking over Gascogne and Asprilla).

It would have all gone wrong at some point with Reynolds. Ghastly man who needs to be consigned to the dustbin of history.

That Talksport are digging up (metaphorically) someone who ran a League Two club into administration 17 years ago shows how desperately they’re struggling for content.

I wonder if G.R gets a payment for this?

The whole thing made me want to throw up. Jim’s condescending way of talking about ‘little darlington’ then the way he seemed to praise him for his criminal past. I must have been bored today at work because I really shouldn’t have tuned in.

Reynolds, saved the club initially i was there the evening Reynolds turned up in his green roller ,
The administrators were actually taking property from the Worthing stand as he pulls up .
He told them to put the stuff taken back where it came from and proceeded to do a deal,
A meeting was arranged at which he out lined his plans for the club ,he also paid mr lowery and mr lavery the monies that they had mortgaged their home for to help keep the club going, without that intervention we would have gone that day,instead we got another 4 year before his shenanigans imploded, i remember how most people were singing richer than you at visiting supporters and thinking how the new setup was going to be a new leaf in the clubs history ,oh how wrong we all were.
Saving to destruction in 4 year..

What I can’t understand is if we were in that much debt at that point in 1999, why didn’t the club cash in on Gabbiadini, Preece, Liddle at that point. That could have brought in nearly £1m in transfer revenue. And we would have still had a side that would have been capable of mid table so not a total disaster. Surely they were the main assets and not furnishings in the Worthington stand?

I remember going to the fans forum that was organised I think in the July after he had taken over. There was less than 50 of us in the bar under the East Stand. Reynolds was bragging about what he would do & how he would build a new ground. He even produced a roll of notes that he claimed contained £10k. It all seemed to be too good to be true & of course it was!!

He did build a new ground, that was true.

theoriginalfatcat wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 18, 2020 5:25 pm

He did build a new ground, that was true.

I agree but not sure he paid for all of it.

Darlo_Pete wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 18, 2020 5:49 pm

theoriginalfatcat wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 18, 2020 5:25 pm

He did build a new ground, that was true.

I agree but not sure he paid for all of it.

Haha did he ever say he would just said he'd build it.

It seems a good deal of our players would like to play in it!

theoriginalfatcat wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 18, 2020 6:40 pm

It seems a good deal of our players would like to play in it!

Take them on a tour of it, so hey can see the dilapitated state of the place. Pretty sure they would change their minds.

Darlo_Pete wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 18, 2020 5:49 pm

theoriginalfatcat wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 18, 2020 5:25 pm

He did build a new ground, that was true.

I agree but not sure he paid for all of it.

Of course he did not pay for it. (All at any rate). That is why Stewart Davies wound up running the club.

joejaques wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 18, 2020 6:54 pm

theoriginalfatcat wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 18, 2020 6:40 pm

It seems a good deal of our players would like to play in it!

Take them on a tour of it, so hey can see the dilapitated state of the place. Pretty sure they would change their minds.

Indeed I am amazed it can get a safety certificate, the arena is a rusting deathtrap. All of this sporting village rubbish is complete fantasy.
I would be amazed if the arena is not demolished in the next decade or so

Was the club genuinely debt free after Reynolds came in - ie did he buy it from Peden/Brealey and pay off everything that was owed? I find it hard not to get riled by the man, for me from the Summer of 2000 onwards the club was never the same, and it’s sad that despite the positive moves made since 2012, the club will never have a ground like Feethams that felt like a true home

Never say never!

Nimrod wrote:What I can’t understand is if we were in that much debt at that point in 1999, why didn’t the club cash in on Gabbiadini, Preece, Liddle at that point. That could have brought in nearly £1m in transfer revenue. And we would have still had a side that would have been capable of mid table so not a total disaster. Surely they were the main assets and not furnishings in the Worthington stand?

The club did cash in on Preece in 99 and got £300k for him.

Not sure we'd have received the same for an ageing Gabbiadini or for Liddle who was probably not quite at the peak of his powers yet.

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Fat josh wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 19, 2020 7:31 am

joejaques wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 18, 2020 6:54 pm

theoriginalfatcat wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 18, 2020 6:40 pm

It seems a good deal of our players would like to play in it!

Take them on a tour of it, so hey can see the dilapitated state of the place. Pretty sure they would change their minds.

Indeed I am amazed it can get a safety certificate, the arena is a rusting deathtrap. All of this sporting village rubbish is complete fantasy.
I would be amazed if the arena is not demolished in the next decade or so

You are clearly a Structural Engineer who knows what he's talking about. On the other hand if you were to go into the Arena main stand, see all the hospitality boxes and offices that are there and watch a game from seats which are perfectly adequate and then enjoy a drink in the Corner bar afterwards you might form a slightly different opinion. True a lot of the ground is mothballed but I don't think it's true to say the whole place is dilapidated.

Anyone any idea how much the club was in debt when Reynolds first stepped in?


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I think it was 4.5 million. I remember an article which appeared in When Saturday Comes giving those figures. Steve Harland may have written it, not fully sure. I still blame Brealey more for our demise than Reynolds, although it would be interesting to speculate what would have happened if we'd have gone into Admin and had to start again without Reynolds' intervention. Would probably still be at Feethams.

EDJOHNS wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 19, 2020 7:10 am

Darlo_Pete wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 18, 2020 5:49 pm

theoriginalfatcat wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 18, 2020 5:25 pm

He did build a new ground, that was true.

I agree but not sure he paid for all of it.

Of course he did not pay for it. (All at any rate). That is why Stewart Davies wound up running the club.

I thought HMRC paid for some of it unwittingly i.e. George's unpaid taxes?

Vodka_Vic wrote:I think it was 4.5 million. I remember an article which appeared in When Saturday Comes giving those figures. Steve Harland may have written it, not fully sure. I still blame Brealey more for our demise than Reynolds, although it would be interesting to speculate what would have happened if we'd have gone into Admin and had to start again without Reynolds' intervention. Would probably still be at Feethams.

Who were the main creditors for that kind of sum?


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Unfortunately I can't remember. I think a lot of it may have been the new East stand which was remortgaged to add to the debt. I remember reading an article in a paper where Reynolds was writing cheque after cheque to clear our debts.

Fat josh wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 19, 2020 7:31 am

Indeed I am amazed it can get a safety certificate, the arena is a rusting deathtrap. All of this sporting village rubbish is complete fantasy.
I would be amazed if the arena is not demolished in the next decade or so[/b]

The fact that it's still standing after 17 years is nothing short of miraculous, had we gone down in 2004 it would probably have been long gone already.

I'll be fairly appalled if the council *do* throw money at it, especially with everything going on in the world right now. This absolutely should not be a priority for public money.

It's in a shocking state for a stadium so young, and even updating it isn't sustainable in its current state, because upkeep is required and it was obviously built with the cheapest, mankiest materials going, which you might be able to put a sticking plaster over for a few years... but then what? Beg the council for another, potentially bigger bailout?

Built with cheap steel which needs regular upkeep, something that doesn't look like its happening especially round the back. It needs levelling.

The structure was not galvanised as such structures should be it was a new type of paint which supposedly did the same job, and a hell of a lot cheaper. Says it all as to why it's rusting around the anchor points you see as you pass the hulking great thing. Top interiors to impress crap cheep exterior ..