The Stadium that Bankrupted a Football Club

are you D fan yeah yeah come every weeks about 10 years now has it got better over those 10 years no not really P pull the gr [Music] got this isn't the stadium of today's match this is the stadium that destroyed a football club It's 1999 brookney Spears is about to have the most popular song of the year and businessman George Reynolds will become chairman of Darlington FC he paid off the mortgages of seven employees and bought the Mercedes cars by 2001 Reynolds tried to sign Paul gascoin Paul said no but the intention was there darlo had played at their ground fum since 1883 their average home attendance was around 4,000 but in 2003 Reynolds moved Darlington out Reynolds built darlo a new stadium costing around 20 million he named The Stadium the Reynolds Arena [Music] creative this is a man that had a huge mansion with his first wife then his second wife Susan complained it brought too many memories of his first wife so he demolished the whole thing and bought a whole new mansion for £7 million the Reynolds Arena was opened with a capacity of 25,000 George Reynolds said this is one of Europe's best stadiums 11,600 people bought tickets for the first match played here in 2003 Darlington were in the third division of English football and averaged 5,000 fans for the rest of the season that's 20% capacity in 2003 rennolds had to liquidate his own business and he was in millions of pounds of debt to creditors he also took a £4 million loan from a Consortium to finish building the huge Reynolds Arena Stadium he took this loan on behalf of Darlington FC it all got very messy very quickly and journalists that were reporting on the downfall of Darlington would also say that he turned up to their houses at 2 in the morning threatening them he even said himself in press conferences that if fans badmouthed him he'd also turn up to their house he's no longer with us so he won't be turning up to my house not happy about that he's no longer with us it's not a joke just a fact just just putting it out there otherwise I would be Shing myself a little bit within 6 months of Darlington moving into the Reynolds Arena George Reynolds put the club into Administration George Reynolds resigned as chairman and director of Darlington and left them with4 million of debt so when he took over Darlington they were in debt he paid off the debt and then he gave them millions of pounds of debt out of The Frying Pan into the fire this hurts and has continued to hurt Darlington for years they spent the next 10 years suffering points deductions relegations they went into Administration another two times Darlington were expelled from the football Association and a Phoenix Club was founded called Darlington 1883 they started in the ninth tier of English football here's my favorite part of the story The Club became 100% fan-owned And the fans paid off all the debts and money owed to hmrc by 2013 they sold the Reynolds later known as Darlington Arena to the local Rugby Union club and achieved three promotions from Division 9 in Four Seasons in 2017 they were given permission to change the name from Darlington 18 83 back to Darlington FC meanwhile George Reynolds was arrested on suspicion of money laundering and £500,000 cash was found in his car he also pleaded guilty to tax evasion and was given a three-year prison sentence he lost everything he died in [Music] 2021 we're only 5 minutes here and everyone's come back because the linesman's pulled his car I think that's why give it here I'll do it P pull the gr they got something there supposed to be four official yeah to the he literally isn't he just said that they need to find someone don't think they have a backup for official after all I think they're looking for someone I no I can't do it I can't tell if they found someone and they're just getting changed and taking a long time or if they still haven't found someone but if they still haven't found someone when are you going to find someone do you know what I mean it's not like this far to go [Music] [Applause] we're back underway they found someone and I'm trying to predict who it is cuz I didn't I wasn't analyzing the linesmen before the game I think it could be him it might not be [Music] [Music] for the level that D at at the moment I think this is the perfect size of a ground because there's people packed into every corner it's a good turn isn't it about, 1600 I think wow are you D fan yeah yeah come every week spot for about 10 years now has it got better over those 10 years no not so you guys are all Darlington fans yeah Cardiff ciff City is your main team so how come daros your second team oh well cuz my mom lives here and my dad's from like Wales and how about you so you're bur I'm bur yeah like I come to the do games cuz I don't have a season ticket for Bora but I'm getting one like next season why do you come here then cuz uh it's like I don't know football I like football coming to see the football every opportunity you can get it's the best thing you can do really my first team's United but I just come to the D games for to do with my mat and just watch the foot I like that a lot that's why like both Liverpool and dar are like equally I'd say so would you rather Darlington got back into the football league and became a League 2 club or Liverpool won the Champions League I mean it'd be good if D got back into like League too so I probably got that that's very selfless I mean Liverpool have already won like Champions League so might as well have D back up [Music] there this fascinating story on so many levels we've got people like George Reynolds at lots of clubs in England and we have done for over 100 years it's just ridiculous that owners are not vetted properly to keep the memories and the names of these clubs alive how come one man come in and nearly destroy a club and if it isn't for that commitment of the fans and the community Darlington would be gone and everything they've done to be a part of football and be one of the institutions in this country in the sport is just ridiculous that one man could literally destroy that but he couldn't though and that's the whole point all right see you later guys Happy New Year

Channel: StuntPegg

Views: 468,819

Keywords: football stadium, darlington fc, george reynolds, stadium, english stadium, stadium bankrupts club, non league, what on earth, english football, football league

Id: LIzEFnd_dYM

Length: 8min 31sec (511 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 04 2024