LET'S LOOK AT: Darlington

DARLINGTON

Darlington were formed in July 1883 and came about though the desire to have a football club that represented the town. Their first ground was Feethams. In 1885, Darlington competed in the FA Cup for the first time, but lost 8-0 to Grimsby Town.

Darlington joined the Northern League in 1889, being one of the original members of that league. They lifted the Northern League title in 1896 and 1900 and in 1908, they turned professional and they joined the newly formed, North Eastern League and won the league title in 1913 and 1921.

The Quakers, a reference to that religious society's historic affiliation to the town, reached the last sixteen of the FA Cup in 1911 before losing out to Swindon Town, having played 11 matches after starting in the 1^st qualifying round.

Darlington were elected to the new, Division Three North of the Football League in 1921 and finished runners up in their first season. In 1925, they went one better and finished the season as champions and were promoted to the Second Division. However, their stay in the second tier of English football only lasted two years and in 1927 they were back in the third Division North, where they were to remain until the outbreak of WW2. They did, however, win the Third Division North Cup in 1934, beating Stockport County 4-3 at Old Trafford.

The Football League resumed in 1946 and in the first post war season, Darlington finished 17^th. In 1949, the Quakers finished 4^th. In 1952, Darlington finished 2^nd from bottom as the club went through a very poor period, finishing 21^st in the next two seasons. Things improved slightly over the next few years, but in 1957/58, Darlington finished 20^th and so became founder members of the Football League Division Four, the clubs in the top half of the North and South sections of Division Three, making up a new Division Three. In their first season in Division four, Darlington finished 16^th.

In 1966, Darlington finished runners up to Doncaster, only missing out on the title because of an inferior goal average, and were promoted to Division Three. Unfortunately, they could only manage 23^rd place the following season and were relegated straight back to the Fourth Division. Two seasons later, the Quakers just missed out on promotion, finishing 5^th but by 1973 the club's fortunes had slumped as they finished bottom of the league. Between 1970 and 1980, Darlington had to apply for re-election to the Football League five times. This was before the days of automatic relegation to the Conference and applied to the bottom four clubs in Division Four.

In 1985, having rarely finished out of the bottom half for nearly 20 years, the club finished 3^rd and were promoted again to Division Three. This time the club survived their initial season, finishing a comfortable 13^th. However, the following season they finished 23^rd and were relegated back to Division Four. Worse was to come in 1989 when they finished bottom of Division Four. By now, automatic promotion and relegation had been brought in; the bottom side in Division Four being relegated, while the Conference champions were promoted to the League. Darlington were now non-league.

Happily for the Quakers, they won the Conference at the first time of asking, pipping Barnet by two points to return to Division Four. In their first season back in the league, the Quakers won the Division Four title for the first time and were promoted back to Division Three having won two championship titles in successive seasons. Sadly, they again failed to adjust to a higher level and finished bottom of Division Three the following season and were relegated.

Darlington struggled on their return to the 4^th tier of the Football League, now renamed Division 3 following the establishment of the Premiership, and in 1994 finished 2^nd from bottom. The following season they finished 3^rd from bottom, but in 1996 they made the play-offs after finishing 5^th. After defeating Hereford in the play-offs they lost the final, played at Wembley, 1-0 to Plymouth Argyle.

After a few disappointing seasons, the Quakers reached the play-offs again in 2000, again reaching Wembley. In the semi-final, they defeated near neighbours, Hartlepool but they again lost in the final, this time to Peterborough, 1-0. Since then, Darlington have moved to a new ground, the Reynolds Arena, named after former chairman, George Reynolds who saved the club in 1999.

In 2008, the Quakers reached the play-offs, but were defeated by Rochdale in the semi-finals. Last season, the club suffered a 10 point deduction after going into administration and released most of their first team squad in order to cut costs.