Return to Feethams "non-starter", Quakers fans told

8:50am Wednesday 9th May 2012 in Sport Photograph of the Author By Joe Willis, Regional Chief Reporter

Return to Feethams "non-starter", Quakers fans told Return to Feethams "non-starter", Quakers fans told

A BID to bring the Quakers back to Feethams is a “nonstarter”, fans have been warned.

Brian Johnson, chairman of Darlington Cricket Club, which owns the land, said housing developers were due to start work at the site this summer.

The update came after Darlington FC fans Shaun Campbell and Doug Embleton stepped up their campaign to return the club to its former town centre home.

The pair said they had been “inundated” with requests from fans to push for a Feethams revival after the club was bought by community company Darlington FC 1883 Ltd (DFC 1883).

The two men – who were original members of Darlington FC Rescue Group, but are no longer involved in DFC 1883 – released a statement this week calling for a definitive answer on whether Feethams could be used as the club’s long-term home.

The statement said: “It is unquestionably the right time for the absolute and definitive answers to be provided on whether this is possible or whether it is not – not as an emotive issue but as a pragmatic, fact-based response which everyone and his dog can understand.”

“Realistically, I can’t see any possibility. We’ve got full planning consent for a residential development and we would hope that development will start towards late summer.”

Brian Johnson, chairman of Darlington Cricket Club

Feethams was the home of the Quakers from the club’s inception in 1883 to 2003, when the club moved to the Reynolds Arena.

County Durham-based Esh Group was given planning permission for 146 homes on the site in 2009, but work is yet to start.

Mr Johnson said: “The idea of the football club returning to Feethams is a total nonstarter – they couldn’t afford it, apart from anything else.

“There is the sale price of the land and then there would be the clearing of the site and the building of the stadium – where are they going to get the money from to do that?

“Realistically, I can’t see any possibility. We’ve got full planning consent for a residential development and we would hope that development will start towards late summer.”

Craig McKenna, from DFC 1883, said: “We will meet Shaun and Doug to hear what they have to say about Feethams.

“We don’t believe it’s possible, but we will be giving them the courtesy, as Darlington fans, of discussing it with them."

Comments(33)

Darlo Mother says...
9:45am Wed 9 May 12

How have they got full planning consent for a residential development? I thought the land was left to the people of Darlington for sporting purposes?

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Lawman3 says...
10:08am Wed 9 May 12

Good point, and one which has never been satisfactorily answered.

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doonhamer says...
10:29am Wed 9 May 12

Nine years away from Feethams, it lies derelict until the Football club mention a possible return, then work is about to start imminently. Question: Do the Council want a team, if so, who gives planning permission for houses, can the council waive rents and help with costs, yes if THEY WANT a team, does a return to Feethams make sense, yes a thousand times yes, to everyone with an ounce of nouse about them. Why not then, Skullduggery, Corruption, Backhanders, etc, surely none of these things occur in dealings with Councils, Builders, Cricket Clubs in Darlington of all places ?, then why not return. If everyone helped, waived fees, gave donations etc, it could become a reality......whoops, enough of these ramblings, must nip off now to report the space ship thats just landed in my back garden ....

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stevehutch says...
11:08am Wed 9 May 12

Work on this housing estate has been 'imminent' for years now. Where is the access to this housing? Will residents have to buy helicopters? Polam Lane is too narrow. A new bridge perhaps? The whole housing estate thing is a joke surely. This land is for sporting use only isn't it, can this issue be cleared up once and for all. Get DFC back to its home, then the fans will return.

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neilj_dafts says...
12:09pm Wed 9 May 12

When did the legalities get changed and how and who agreed planning permission on land that should still be held in trust? There is a history of disappearing documents from the Town Hall Planning Dept original files, so we may never get to know.

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holmesc1 says...
12:44pm Wed 9 May 12

IF it weren't for the auckward cricket club DArlington would never have left feethams. Reynolds could ahve rebuild the ground apart from the main stand which was decent enough. Cricket clubs have always hated football clubs and probably think because they have been there longest they dont give fooball club any leeway. A football ground would bring more into town as opposed to cricket

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lfp says...
12:47pm Wed 9 May 12

Will you quakers get over it, you have been shafted LOL.

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Hilly_2009 says...
1:16pm Wed 9 May 12

As fans I think we just want a definitive answer as to...

1. Is there any chance of a return? (All well and good BJ saying there isn't but his loyalties obviously lie towards the cricket club and the money it will get from said housing).

2. How it was allowed to be sold off for housing when it was left in trust to the town to be used for sporting purposes.

Once a definitive answer to those two questions have been answered it will put a lot of this to bed.

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ace38 says...
3:34pm Wed 9 May 12

Darlington Cricket Club always wanted the football club to be at Feethams. Brian Johnson said many years ago " We want the football to stay here and be successful." It was George Reynolds who insisted on moving away. The cricket club cooperated with him during his time as Chairman at Feethams.
The cricket club with the council explored options for sport at Feethams after The Quakers left, but there was no viable projects on the table.
I few years ago Brian Johnson said he would wecome a return to Feethams by Darlington FC, but nothing came of it.
Do not blame Darlington Cricket Club. They are still at Feethams even though they have received several generous offers to sell the cricket ground to developers. Unlike the football club they remain loyal to Feethams.

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swagger says...
4:35pm Wed 9 May 12

The land was held in trust for sporting purposes, how can it be sold for houses, this is the question that needs to be answered, untill it is the questions will keep comming.
I think we should ask our MP Jenny Chapman to look into this ,she should be able to get through any hurdels the council
put up, so tweet Jenny!

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judygone says...
4:43pm Wed 9 May 12

I remember padlocks being put on the gates to keep george out . Is this what you do if you want a football club to keep using your land ace38 ??

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stiv says...
5:38pm Wed 9 May 12

The council have a lot to answer too. alowing the new arena to be built, not supporting events there, taking a car park cut and last of all, allowing the cricket club to develop ground that was left to the citizens of darlington for sport and leisure. it is not too late to put a wrong right by halting this woefully wrong development.

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rewined says...
5:43pm Wed 9 May 12

the cricket club became custodians of the feethams arena ,sloely because they were playing there at the time pease's could not get the £1000,pounds he had asked the darlington community to pay for the land ,he then entrusted the land for sporting activity under the custodianship of the trust to the said cricket club,
custodain=one who has the custody or guardianship of anything.
how does that apertain to selling off of parts of the said land. simple answer is it do not ,so lets get it put back to what it was entrusted for and stop this building malarky once and for all.

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scott thornberry says...
5:53pm Wed 9 May 12

as has been mentioned on previous comments, whether darlo play there in future is doubtful. The main question we all want answering is how can land left in trust to the town for sporting purposes be sold for housing. We have never had a clear answer.

who has got the money from the land sale? where is it going to be spent? maybe the cricket club to join us all down at Blackwell Meadows at the Sports Hub? The money gained from the land sale, I guess which needs to be re-invested in sport for the town, can help fund the hub.

as they say on Crimewatch "answers please"

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dave3mrr says...
6:47pm Wed 9 May 12

I'd just like to second what Scott said at 5:53pm. There ARE lots of questions to be answered. Maybe the Echo could do some investigative journalism!

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MSG says...
8:26pm Wed 9 May 12

Would anyone be so daft as to buy a house on the Skerene@s flood plane?.
Hope the potential householders can not get home insurance to put potential buyers off.
I also hope as soon as any houses are built the Skerne bursts its banks into the plots!
Come on Mother Nature & god , you can do it, help us in our hour of need !!!!!

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gramps427 says...
8:42pm Wed 9 May 12

Its the Trust who has given permission to sell the land surely? The Trust was made up of members of the cricket club, the Mayor of Darlington and the Towns sitting MP; I'm not sure of its current membership. There may be others who are considered solid citizens. Jenny Chapman started looking into the sale of land some time ago; but I don't recall reading any results of her search.

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maclaren says...
9:12pm Wed 9 May 12

Every time I look at the echo website there is another story about darlo this the Quakers that at the end of the day they are a now a minnow of a football team in the cess pit of non league football supported by at the best just over 1% of Darlington's population for gods sake turn the bloody record over will yer the majority of people in Darlington couldn't care less and. It's time the echo stopped reporting this story every 5 mins to us DFC is dead rest in peace and before you all start slagging me of this is a comment forum and I am entitled to my opinion just like anybody else the point I suppose I am trying to make is that the DFC saga does not warrant such echo coverage there is more important news

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dave3mrr says...
10:01pm Wed 9 May 12

Well maclaren if you couldn't care less you don't have to read it. You sound like those people that winge on about TV programmes but still watch them every week. Oh yes and you took the time to comment on the story. Lets face it it isn't the top story on the Echo website so you've got your wish i.e. there are more important stories on the site so run along now and don't bother yourself about it anymore.

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monteforte says...
10:19pm Wed 9 May 12

How can a quality stadium like the Arena go to rack and ruin and likewise the heritage of Feethams be lost .It's wrong...Let's not forget this land was given to the town for sports..Now it's to used for housing.

Meanwhile, Darlington Football Club has no money, and nowhere to play.

Where were the council when all of this was allowed to happen? Where are they now? We know where the towns MP was, she was supporting Singh
DFC1883 need funds for our new ground.
If the Arena is sold and the council gets all the money through the covenants currently in place andit should reinvest them in a suitable ground for Darlo FC

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QuakerZone says...
11:09pm Wed 9 May 12

There was talk going around local cricket circles that the tin shed was to taken down in October last year but low and behold, to date, it is still standing!

It pretty much sums up the development fiasco, it wasn't so long ago the Cricket Club were said to be struggling financially and held a football match on the cricket field to raise funds!

The last time this brought up I believe Mr Johnson said that an agreement was about to be signed for a housing development!

Housing is a much more lucrative avenue and it is obvious why they are pursueing it. But as far as I'm concerned, realistically, unless the Cricket Club relocates it is virtually impossible to build houses on the site due for obvious reasons!

As monteforte has said above and I've said myself previously they should allow the stadium to be sold on for development and reinvest any proceeds made into a new community venue in the town.

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PaulMJohnson says...
11:22pm Wed 9 May 12

monteforte wrote:
How can a quality stadium like the Arena go to rack and ruin and likewise the heritage of Feethams be lost .It's wrong...Let's not forget this land was given to the town for sports..Now it's to used for housing.

Meanwhile, Darlington Football Club has no money, and nowhere to play.

Where were the council when all of this was allowed to happen? Where are they now? We know where the towns MP was, she was supporting Singh
DFC1883 need funds for our new ground.
If the Arena is sold and the council gets all the money through the covenants currently in place andit should reinvest them in a suitable ground for Darlo FC
Where were the council when all of this was allowed to happen? They were busy representing the majority of people in Darlington, and not the minority. The sad truth is, at best, 3% of Darlingtons population are actually interested in the football team. How much time do you think the council should spend on such a minority interest?

Let's not look upon the time at Feethams with rose tinted spectacles. There were all manner of fiascos there as well, including multiple threats to the existence of the club. For every season under Brian Little, I can remember ones under Ray Hankin (or God, Paul Futcher).

Starting afresh without a lot of the baggage is what Darlington need. It's sad that it has come to this, but it's also necessary. Of all the suggestions here so far, I love the idea of the rugby, football and cricket clubs all setting up in Blackwell.

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dosprops says...
11:25pm Wed 9 May 12

I would also like an answer to the question, "How does the cricket club have permission to sell Feethams for housing?" I thought land was left in trust to town for sporting purposes. Why not pay rent to cricket club of 25k per year.

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Friendoffeetham says...
11:41pm Wed 9 May 12

Feethams was supposed to be for sports! Not for someone to make profit on housing developments! Time for people of Darlington to demand that their 130 years old football club - the only thing Darlington is famous for, besides the railway - now can be able to return to the arena they used for 100 years! The council should do their outmost to see this happening. And so should local businessmen. This city and its residents deserves a football team minimum at the third or fourth level of English football. Only at Feethams enthusiasm, progress and decent numbers of spectators can be expected!

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Spy Boy says...
11:55pm Wed 9 May 12

dosprops wrote:
I would also like an answer to the question, "How does the cricket club have permission to sell Feethams for housing?" I thought land was left in trust to town for sporting purposes. Why not pay rent to cricket club of 25k per year.
I'd like an answer to this too and I would guess that a lot of other people would. I had heard that the land was given to the people of Darlington for sporting use, not more bloody flats. How has this changed ? I hope that someone will look at the legalities here. This can't be right.

It's right that people would go back to see the team there. If you re-build it, they will come.

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jewitt says...
12:21pm Thu 10 May 12

Spy Boy wrote:
dosprops wrote: I would also like an answer to the question, "How does the cricket club have permission to sell Feethams for housing?" I thought land was left in trust to town for sporting purposes. Why not pay rent to cricket club of 25k per year.
I'd like an answer to this too and I would guess that a lot of other people would. I had heard that the land was given to the people of Darlington for sporting use, not more bloody flats. How has this changed ? I hope that someone will look at the legalities here. This can't be right. It's right that people would go back to see the team there. If you re-build it, they will come.
Yes, an answer please. the slience is deafening. I have no vested interest in returning the DFC to Feethams but this issue bothers me enormously. It does not seem right under basic law.

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Darlogirl1 says...
1:13pm Thu 10 May 12

Think you need to get over this...most people are not the least bit bothered...and funny how people have got behind the team a couple of times since the club has gone down..where was all the support all these years the team has been going...and if the residents around the arena had not complained so much about were cars were going to be parked if it was to hold a concert it might still be going….. I wonder if the Supporters will get behind the team for the foreseeable future probley not….this has had more coverage than any other news story this year…Northern Echo you should be ashamed of yourself…..its old news…move on!!

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pxatkins says...
5:33pm Thu 10 May 12

Sentimentality aside, a single crop of houses will return more revenue than a thousand years of Darlo footie supporters. If the cricket club can improve its financial position by selling part of its assets in order to bolster the club (cricket constitues a sporting use, note) then they have a duty to do so. Otherwise they'd be following Darlo FC down the tubes. Cue cliches: spilt milk, horse bolted, sour grapes ...

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Spy Boy says...
6:05pm Fri 11 May 12

pxatkins wrote:
Sentimentality aside, a single crop of houses will return more revenue than a thousand years of Darlo footie supporters. If the cricket club can improve its financial position by selling part of its assets in order to bolster the club (cricket constitues a sporting use, note) then they have a duty to do so. Otherwise they'd be following Darlo FC down the tubes. Cue cliches: spilt milk, horse bolted, sour grapes ...
I somehow feel that you are missing the point. Either the land was gifted to the people of Darlington, or not. If land is gifted for a single use then it should not be just sold off for something else. This sort of overriding of our heritage for a fast buck is wrecking what used to be a nice town.

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slimbo says...
6:24pm Fri 11 May 12

Has anyone actually looked up the covenant on the land at Feethams to see whether it was actually gifted to the town for sporting purposes and more crucially there is an enforceable restriction on the title of the land. If not and it's an urban myth little can be done. It'll have planning because its deemed suitable as a housing site either via inclusion in the Local Development Framework or as a brownfield windfall site. If there's a restriction it may be possible to enforce it however it will mean the need for lawyers to enforce and who will pay for that?

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BTH says...
10:01am Sat 12 May 12

The issue of what the land should or not be used for has been an ongoing question for many years now. I dont live in Darlington & travel in from Durham to watch Darlo but I believe most people in Darlington(not just Darlo supporters) would like answers to what are quite reasonable questions raised by the people on this website about this subject. So how about this. Would it possible for a reporter from the Northern Echo to draw up a list of questions and go along to see the local MP at her regular surgery. The reporter wouldnt even have to make an appointment they could just attend hand over the questions which the MP would be obliged to get answers to from the Council. The Northern Echo then prints the response. It might help to clarify the position regarding the land once and for all. Over to you Northern Echo

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bornagaindave says...
8:49am Mon 14 May 12

I hear Darlington might be playing in the Evo Stick league next season, hope they don't get stuck in it..

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bornagaindave says...
8:57am Mon 14 May 12

Darlington are now are minor non league team who deserve no more space in the echo than Tindale workingman's club FC or Coundon Conservative Club FC. South shields, Gateshead, Durham City were all once members of the Football league, things change, deal with it.

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