It seems every other day we wake up to news that a potential investor has pulled out but there are bids on the table. One of the bids that has never left this much discussed piece of furniture is one proposing a community based club with the fans taking control. This is not only an attractive option to many people, but one that becomes increasingly likely as time moves on. However, is everything in place to really make a fist of it?
What I mean when I say this is, are we all pulling in the same direction in order to save the club? It’s vitally important that we are because in all likelihood it is going to be up to us and we will only get one shot at doing it right.
However, alarm bells started to ring for me during the week. The birth of another group to save the club, whilst heartwarming, added to the somewhat sketch show proceedings that now seem to be taking place. If the rate in growth of these supporters groups continues we will almost have one supporters group per fan by the end of the month.
We now have the largely ironically named Darlington Supporters United which appear to be aligned to the Supporters’ Trust which falls under the umbrella of Supporters Direct, we also have the DFC Rescue Group, the supporters’ club and the Darlo online community on Uncovered.
Whilst crunching the actual numbers and figures of what will be required to keep the club floating will never be my strong point, I do take pride in thinking that I am quite in tune with what the majority of supporters of this football club are thinking. (Disclaimer – not all.)
And, as such, I believe the good will that has been built up so far is on borrowed time with the current carry on. I think fans are sick of all the uncertainty and I don’t mean the uncertainty over the club’s future, that’s inevitable. I mean the uncertainty over what the next step is or where to go with their donations.
I think the level of good will amongst fans at present is such that they don’t even need hard figures to donate. What they want is a sense of unity that stretches beyond the common objective of saving Darlington Football Club.
They want to know that everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet and as such render the puzzle of where to safely donate their hard earned obsolete.
This is potentially a community based club, there should be one objective, one plan, one money pot, one community.
Now is the time to check egos at the door, it’s not about recognition of who is doing what to save the club. Nor is it the time for wondering which group will lead the way. We are all in this together, so together we should be in planning our route out.
It’s time for Darlington supporters to actually be united.
Forza Darlo
Dan
Twitter – @Dan_List
