Now fan-owned and operating as a Community Interest Company (CIC), Darlington have demonstrated that with the commitment and unity of a determined group of supporters, football clubs do not necessarily need to rely on the largesse of individual owners who may be more interested in figures than fixtures.Former Sunderland midfielder Martin Gray, who played for the Quakers in the latter stages of his career, was appointed manager, and he set about bringing in an entirely new playing staff, with the previous squad forced to look for careers elsewhere amid their financial woes.Portsmouth, in particular, are one club to have suffered a spectacular fall from grace, with the former Premier League outfit and 2008 FA Cup winners tumbling into League Two, but with new hope for the future after Pompey Supporters Trust took the club out of administration.It was Gray's first full-time job in management, after previous caretaker spells with Oldham and Darlington, and having started the season with an entirely blank canvas he deserves nothing but praise for his astonishing achievements at the helm.Darlington's exit from their third administration in nine years last summer was less straightforward, as they were unable to agree terms with all of their creditors, which was regarded as a significant breach of operational rules by the FA, leading to the hefty demotion and the requirement to start a new club, with the 130-year old side reborn as Darlington 1883.Paul Colman, a director of the CIC and one of the supporters who refused to allow their team to slide into extinction last summer, told Sky Tyne and Wear that it had been a roller-coaster time for everyone involved.A move away from the cavernous Darlington Arena, built under the misguided and foolhardy ambition of former chairman and owner George Reynolds in 2003, became a necessity with Darlington becoming tenants of Bishop Auckland at Heritage Park, some 13 miles away from the town.
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