Joint Administrators Release Statement

The statement on the Official Darlington FC website, reads:

Further to previous releases, we exchanged contracts for a sale of the business and assets of the club to Sterling Consortium on Friday 19 March. This was conditional upon the football league approving the transfer to the new company.

The Football League require, among other things, that the creditors of the old company have been settled. Mr Reynolds advised the administrators on Sunday 21 March that he would not agree the proposal to deal with his claim. As a result, the Football League would not approve the transfer, so the sale to Sterling could not proceed.

The joint administrators had a meeting with the Football League on Monday 22 March at which the league were advised of the problems surrounding the administration of the club. The League were advised that the club was losing money on a daily basis, and could not continue to trade if a sale of the business was not going to proceed. The League were asked by the administrators to confirm their policy on clubs in administration.

The administrators had a further meeting with the League on Thursday 25 March at which the League confirmed that the club's share in the League would only be transferred to a new owner if the old company reached a settlement with its creditors. The administrators advised the League that a compromise solution had been proposed which would ensure the club complete its fixtures to the end of the season, giving the purchasers time to negotiate with creditors.

This proposal is still being investigated, to ensure it meets with League approval. The administrators, their solicitors and the League are still in discussions regarding finding a solution to the current impase.

We intend continuing to trade for the foreseeable future to continue to explore all the possibilities open to the club.

It has been reported that David Hodgson is a creditor of the club. He has submitted a substantial claim which is currently being investigated. Mr Hodgson has been very supportive to the administrators during the period of the administration to date, and without his help and support we would probably not still be in business. We understand that the purpose of Mr Hodgson submitting his claim at this stage is to enable him to assist in anyway possible with the negotiations with the prospective purchasers and the existing creditors.

We will issue a further statement as soon as there have been any developments.

The Joint Administrators

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