CIC Resignations

by Scott Thornberry - 26th July 2013

The current board of Darlington FC CIC today announce plans to tender their resignations, paving the way for DFC fan groups to unite behind the CIC and hold nominations for fans to be directly elected onto the CIC board and for one CIC member to be elected to take up a seat on the football club board alongside Martin Jesper and Laura Drew.

Paul Colman Director of the DFC CIC said “we are delighted that the CIC is now moving towards its ultimate aim of having elected fans on the board of the CIC. It has been a very tough 6 months getting us into this position working on various strategies whilst trying to provide help and support to the Football Club.  I am meeting with Supporters Direct in the coming weeks to put the finishing touches to the new proposals. As a lifelong fan of Darlington FC, this is an unprecedented and exciting time for the fans who should now step forward and take control following last season’s title winning exploits. I'm very proud to be part of a group absolutely committed to being a fan owned community club"

The next step for the CIC is to get membership packs out to all the fans who have renewed their membership and renewals out to the remaining members, anyone who is not currently a member is invited to join the CIC at an annual cost of £20 alternatively Founder Memberships are still available at £100. It is important to remember that the opportunity to elect board representatives is the exclusive right of CIC members.

The current board are planning on continuing to support the CIC's transition through the next few months whilst the fans gather themselves to put forward the nominations that CIC members will then vote on to join the board. At the appropriate time following a handover the current board will step aside and enable fans to have the opportunity to run the CIC side of the football club.

Ian Wilkinson Director of the CIC said” We have had some real pockets of success so far in the CIC with the Fundraising group, the schools programme and the Trophy Tour, but we have not yet had a significant uptake of engagement from the majority of fans. We feel that they are waiting for the opportunity to vote on the board members themselves before fully committing to the CIC and it is right that they should now do so. We will be entering into dialogue with Supporters Direct and the Darlington Supporters Trust to enable those organisations to work to unite the various fan groups together and align them as one"