Trust AGM

Members will have received notification of the Trust AGM this coming Wendesday night at the Coachman Hotel and we look forward to welcoming any fully paid up members to the meeting.

The Agenda will be as per that issued to the members in the Calling Notice which invited nominations and items for the agenda - since no other items for the Agenda have been received, no other business, other than that on the Calling Notice will be conducted on the night.

This is in accordance with the legislative requirements under which we operate as an Industrial and Provident Society.

Only fully paid up members will be admitted to the meeting and membership applications can not be processed on the night. Members should have their membership cards with them, along with appropriate verification of ID and membership will be checked where appropriate.

Prediction League - They think it's all over...

. . . it is now!!!

And while it’s not been anywhere near a good season for Darlo, it has been for our winner:

1st – Andrew Hodgson - 173 points
2nd – Carl Hankin - 169 points
3rd – The Duke (alias . . . me!) - 167 points

First-timer Andrew Hodgson has hit the big time by winning the ultimate Darlo competition – The Come On Darlo Prediction League 2009-10. Well done to Andrew, who has been there or thereabouts all season – as has second-placed Carl Hankin, who only just misses out on top spot. Commiserations Carl. (Extra points on the league table are for Leeds Utd finishing second, not 21st . . . as I put in the spreadsheet).

It’s been a really low-scoring competition, with Darlo’s results being anything from good, to average, to pathetic, to diabolical . . . and beyond!!! Cheques and certificates will be winging their way to you in the very near future.

And The Spoon? It can only be – Lance Ireland – who timed his run to perfection, took bottom spot fairly late in the season and clung on for dear life, fighting off all-comers. Lance, the naff spoon will be on its way very soon – take pride in it and hang it somewhere to remind you every day of your “achievement”.

What about other top dogs in the different sections?

DARLINGTON SCORES (top three):
111 – Andrew Hodgson
111 – Carl Hankin
111 – Robert Mitchum (though Rob could only manage 16th place)
DARLINGTON SCORES (bottom three):
23 – Malcolm Cundick 2
23 – Richard Collin 2
21 – Lance Ireland

LEAGUE AND CUP (top three):
64 – Martyn Cripps 2
62 – Damian Dickson
61 – Sue Oldham
LEAGUE AND CUP (bottom three):
11 – Gillian Percival
11 – John Berry 3
08 – Ian Butler

LOCAL FOOTBALL (top three):
38 – Martyn Walton
34 – Peter White
30 – Paul Johnson 2
LOCAL FOOTBALL (bottom three):
04 – Jayne Hathaway
04 – Nick Walters
02 – Gary Woods

Top Gal is Sue Oldham on 151 points in eighth place. Not sure if her team name of “Not So Good This Year?” was a prediction on herself or The Quakers. Whichever way, it brought her within 22 points of league glory.

And, finally, a big THANK YOU to all of you who entered this season’s challenge – to those who’ve been with us through all six competitions (we must be doing something right) and to all you newcomers, let’s hope we haven’t put you off!!!

The BIG challenge for you all next season is – The Blue Square Premier!!! If you thought you knew nothing about lower league football, then this surely must be the ultimate challenge. And the competition WILL go on, so why not ask that mate, colleague, family member if they’re up for it?

And let’s hope for better things for Darlo, too.

Pete





Darlington Results

Aldershot Town 3 1 DARLINGTON
DARLINGTON 0 1 Bury
DARLINGTON 0 1 Crewe Alexandra
Port Vale 1 0 DARLINGTON
DARLINGTON 1 1 Cheltenham Town
Lincoln City 3 0 DARLINGTON
Accrington Stanley 2 1 DARLINGTON
DARLINGTON 0 2 AFC Bournemouth
Grimsby Town 1 1 DARLINGTON
DARLINGTON 0 2 Rochdale
DARLINGTON 0 1 Macclesfield Town
Dagenham & Redbridge 2 0 DARLINGTON
DARLINGTON 2 1 Shrewsbury Town
Barnet 3 0 DARLINGTON
Hereford United 2 1 DARLINGTON
DARLINGTON 1 0 Burton Albion
Chesterfield 5 2 DARLINGTON
DARLINGTON 0 4 Morecambe
Notts County 4 0 DARLINGTON
DARLINGTON 0 1 Bradford City
Torquay United 5 0 DARLINGTON
DARLINGTON 1 2 Northampton Town
Rotherham United 1 2 DARLINGTON
DARLINGTON 1 1 Lincoln City
DARLINGTON 1 3 Port Vale
Bury 1 1 DARLINGTON
DARLINGTON 1 2 Aldershot Town
Crewe Alexandra 3 0 DARLINGTON
Cheltenham Town 3 3 DARLINGTON
DARLINGTON 2 0 Rotherham United
Morecambe 2 0 DARLINGTON
DARLINGTON 2 3 Chesterfield
DARLINGTON 0 5 Notts County
Bradford City 1 0 DARLINGTON
DARLINGTON 1 3 Torquay United
Northampton Town 2 0 DARLINGTON
DARLINGTON 1 2 Barnet
Shrewsbury Town 0 2 DARLINGTON
Burton Albion 1 2 DARLINGTON
DARLINGTON 0 1 Hereford United
DARLINGTON 0 0 Accrington Stanley
Rochdale 0 1 DARLINGTON
AFC Bournemouth 2 0 DARLINGTON
DARLINGTON 0 2 Grimsby Town
Macclesfield Town 0 2 DARLINGTON
DARLINGTON 0 2 Dagenham & Redbridge


League and Cup

Chelsea Premier League: 1st Place
Manchester United Premier League: 2nd Place
Arsenal Premier League: 3rd Place
Tottenham Hotspur Premier League: 4th Place

Burnley Premier League: 18th Place
Hull City Premier League: 19th Place
Portsmouth Premier League: 20th Place

Newcastle United Championship: 1st Place
West Bromwich Albion Championship: 2nd Place
Blackpool Championship: Playoff Winners
Cardiff City Championship: Playoff Losers

Sheffield Wednesday Championship: 22nd Place
Plymouth Argyle Championship: 23rd Place
Peterborough United Championship: 24th Place

Norwich City Division 1: 1st Place
Leeds United Division 1: 2nd Place
Millwall Division 1: Playoff Winners
Swindon Town Division 1: Playoff Losers

Gillingham Division 1: 21st Place
Wycombe Wanderers Division 1: 22nd Place
Southend United Division 1: 23rd Place
Stockport County Division 1: 24th Place

Notts County Division 2: 1st Place
AFC Bournemouth Division 2: 2nd Place
Rochdale Division 2: 3rd Place
Dagenham & Redbridge Division 2: Playoff Winners
Rotherham United Division 2: Playoff Losers

Grimsby Town Division 2: 23rd Place
Darlington Division 2: 24th Place

Stevenage Borough Conference: 1st Place
Luton Town Conference: 2nd Place
Oxford United Conference: Playoff Winners
York City Conference: Playoff Losers

Chelsea FA Cup: Winners
Portsmouth FA Cup: Losers

Manchester United League Cup: Winners
Aston Villa League Cup: Losers



Local Football

6 How many clean sheet will Darlington keep in the league
23 How many clean sheet will opponents keep in the league
18 How many Darlington players will score a league goal (not own goals)
8 How many league points will Darlington achieve by Nov 25, 2009
15 How many league points will Darlington achieve by Feb 28, 2010
30 How many league points will Darlington achieve in total
33 How many league goals will Darlington score
87 How many league goals will Darlington concede
1 How many sendings-off will Darlington have in the league
2 How many penalties will Darlington score in the league?
2 How many (scored) penalties will Darlington concede in the league
24 Darlington's final league position
4 How many cup games will Darlington play (inc. replays)?
5 Highest aggregate goals in one home match (ie, 5-3 = 8)
7 Highest aggregate goals in one away match (ie, 1-4 = 5)
9 Total league goals scored by Darlington's top scorer

1 Newcastle's final league position
11 Middlesbrough's final league position
13 Sunderland's final league position
20 Hartlepool's final league position
14 Carlisle's final league position
5 York's final league position
2 Leeds Utd's final league position

Darlo Trust Leading the way on Disability Issues

Members from the Darlington Supporters Trust attended the Conference and Annual General Meeting of the National Association of Disabled Supporters (NADS) at Wembley Stadium yesterday.

The registered charity, which represents 30,000 disabled supporters in the UK,is leading the way in representing Disability issues to the football authorities and the Trust in Darlington is held in high regard for its own work in this area. Trust Chair, Tony Taylor, was elected as a Trustee of the Charity.

The Conference was addressed by leading members of the 2018 World Cup Bid and the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, as well as other disabled supporter organisations, at what was described by Wembley Chief Executive David Bernstein, as the best turnout yet for a NADS AGM. Bernstein, a former Chair of Manchester City, is President of NADS organisation. Meanwhile, Lord Rosser of Ickenham, Vice President of NADS, said that the organisation was vital and representations it had made to the All Party Parliamentary Committee had made quite an impact on developments across all sports, not just football.

Resignations of Peter Plant and Ralph Naden

Resignations of Peter Plant, secretary, and Ralph Naden, co-opted board member

We acknowledge the resignations of Peter Plant and Ralph Naden, but entirely refute the comments made in their very public resignations. We wish them every success in the future and hope that they, like us, will continue to support Darlington Football Club.

The Trust board

Darlo hero Craig Liddle salutes the Trust

Craig Liddle has written the following message of thanks to the Trust:

"Just a short note to once again say thank you for your support for the Youth section. Your sponsorship of the Youth team and youth page in the match day programme is greatly appreciated.

You can see in the past two years how many players have successfully made the step-up to first team level and with your continued support the future for Youth development looks bright".

Tony Taylor and Paul Hodgson from the Trust explained that the Trust remained committed to supporting the Youth development activities at the Club along with its work with Football in the Community.

Prediction League Match 46

For you Darlo fans, the war (and season) is over!!! And again another home defeat really brought home how difficult the past couple of years have been – with various owners ensuring that all things on-pitch wouldn’t run smoothly.

The 2-0 scoreline was only predicted by four managers - Andy Fairweather-Low, Carl Hankin, Paul Johnson and Peter White. But the real points-scoring has happened with the end of season for all four leagues – allowing all league positions for the local teams, Darlo’s questions and the rest of the promotion / relegation places to be settled.

And for our league leaders, what’s happened? Well Andrew Hodgson has returned to top spot with 163 points and Carl Hankin is in second with 159 – but that huge gap to the rest of us has now been closed. The Duke has shot up the table with good predictions from both the league and local sections and is now on 155 points in third place.

Brian Main (long-time challenger) and Martyn Walton (new kid on the block) have 151 points in joint fourth place. Robert Mitchum has 145 points in sixth, Anthony Leigh in seventh on 144, Stephen Nicholson in eighth on 143, David Alderson in ninth on 142 and Sue Oldham in tenth on 141.

The whole league is still wide open – with only the play-off finals and the FA Cup to be decided.

Meanwhile, the engraver’s pen is out for Lance Ireland, who simply refuses to surrender the spoon to anyone. Lance has 46 points, with Richard Collin on 50 and Margaret White on 52. Jenny Maughan still has a chance for glory on 53.

There will be a full results round-up with the final league table of the season, with special mentions for those who finish top and bottom in the various sections.

Pete

Prediction League Match 45

A fine day out in sunny Macclesfield saw a well deserved 2-0 win for Darlo – with goals from Ian Miller and the much-improved Andrew Smith playing up front on his own – his first goal for the club. And in truth, it could have been more as several further chances were spurned, including a missed penalty by Mark Convery.

A couple of final league positions are added to today’s league table – Sheffield Wednesday have been relegated from the Championship in 22nd place; Luton Town finished second in the Blue Square Premier.

With the points added from the Darlo game, not much has changed at the top of the league – Carl Hankin on 137, Andrew Hodgson on 132 and Robert Mitchum with 125. But now it’s Susan Weston challenging for one of the medal places – 111 points in fourth place – with David Alderson and Brian Main a point behind on 110.

This week’s eight-pointers: Chris Vallis, Dave Wilson, Edward Cundick, Frank Mann, Ian Butler, Jean Pepper, Jonny Simpson, Karen Cardwell, Lance A lot, Lance England, Luke Hewitson, Martyn Cripps 2, Matthew Ashmore, Mick Spencer, Richard Widmark, Trevor Gretton, Wayne Gibson

Only Ian Davidson correctly predicted Sheffield Wednesday’s demise in 22nd place – well done Ian

Luton in second place in the Blue Square Premier: Adrian Lynch, Alex Wilson, Chris Mackenzie 3, Dan Duryea, Ian Bonsall, James Houghton, John Shuttleworth, Kareem Marzouk, Lance Alot, Lance England, Lisa Fletcher, Martyn Cripps 2, Neil Danby, Peter White, Raymond Percival, Stephen James, Steve Duffy 2, Susan Weston

It’s back to square one for Lance Ireland at the foot of the table, now on 27 points. Raymond Percival has 31, Richard Collin on 32, Malcolm Cundick on 35 and Jenny Maughan on 37.

Pete