Darlington - Time to fill the empty seats!

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Phil7717

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My first story, so be gentle :)

Darlington appoint Dean as manager!

Simon Davey resigns after just under 2 months to due 'personal reasons', but he has stated he wishes the new Darlington boss the best of luck!

Dean will be given a transfer budget of £0 and a wage budget of £14.5k.

In his first press conference he said how he is "delighted to have the chance to work at such a club" and with a media prediction of 15th fans were either shocked or excited at the prospect of Dean promising a promotion battle.

With a outstanding 25,000 capacity at the Darlington Arena, the new boss is hoping for seats to fill up once the squad start playing attractive football.


Straight to work with new signings!

July

Players in:

Josh Payne - Loan - An exciting, young West Ham midfielder who will fit straight into the starting lineup.

Lauri Dalla Valle - Loan - Liverpool striker expresses his delight at the oppurtunity of first team football, which has already been approved by the Darlington boss.

Elliot Parish - Loan - Nineteen year old Aston Villa goalkeeper, I needed a Goalkeeper and this kid is perfect!

Nick Blackman - Loan - A final loanee capture for Darlington, I needed a deep-lying forward and the nineteen year old looks to fit the role.

***** Topp - Free - A £0 bid accepted for the Chilean, this 23 year old has good stats for a league two squad as is the new number 9!

Players out:

Ian Miller - £20,000 - York - A fairly decent defender, who was sold for funding more than anything.


Pre-Season Friendlies

Only two pre-season games here -

Darlington 1 - 3 Middlesborough

Not to disapointed with this, we were very much the underdogs and had no 'new signings' playing.

Altringham 1 - 2 Darlington

Again, not to disapointed though I would have liked a bigger win, still its only pre-season!


August updates soon; constructive criticism is welcome! :)
​
 
Good luck, this is going to be hard, they are almost impossible to get promoted first season
 
Thanks for all the support guys, much appreciated :)

August update within the next hour or two.
 
The perfect start for Darlington!

August

"I'm really enjoying managing Darlington, the team has great potential"

Players In:

Buba - Free - A strong defensive midfielder, which is excatly what I needed to bring into the club. The cameroon born midfielder can play either in defence or midfield.

Justin Thompson - Free - Delighted with this bargain, a Canadian centre back with great stats for a league 2 team and at a decent age of 28.

First game of the season - Aldershot.

"I'm ecstatic to start the new campaign" Dean stated in his first pre-match Press Conference. "The players are up for it and they all want to start the season with a win"



Coca-Cola League 2

View attachment 65123

Aldershot 1 - 3 Darlington
(Lauri Dalla Valle x2, Nick Blackman)

A great start to the season, the lads played well and I am delighted that two new signings netted for the side.

View attachment 65112

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Carling Cup

View attachment 65122

Round One - Sheffield Wednesday

Darlington 3 - 2 Sheffield Wednesday (AET)
(Lauri Dalla Valle, Tadgh Purcell, ***** Topp)

Unbelieveable! I couldn't believe this result, we played magnificently against a team we were expected to loose to heavily. An magnificent goal from the Liverpool loanee Dalla Valle in the 5th minute got us off to a flyer, however, in the 13th minute a miss-timed challenge from Justin Thompson gave away a penalty which Darren Purse slotted in on the 13th minute mark. We were then infront again after 25minutes when a bursting run past the defenders after collecting a pass from Dalla Valle to place it into the net. O'Connor then equalised on the hour mark with a header from Soares cross. The game then went into extra time, with the game deadlocked after 29 minutes of extra time played the game was destined for penalties until the Chilian striker ***** Topp left his defender for dead and smashed it into the top corner in the 120th minute, the crowd went wild!

http://www.fansfc.com/UploadedImages/Players/*****%20Topp_633592505597187500.jpg

View attachment 65113

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Coca-Cola League 2

View attachment 65123

Darlington 1 - 0 Bury
(Nick Blackman)

A decent result off the back of a tough win, the players were tired, which forced me to make some initial changes to the starting line up. Dalla Valle's defence-cutting through ball into Blackman's path allowed him to bury his chance at the 34 minute mark.

View attachment 65114

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Darlington 3 - 1 Crewe
(Dalla Valle, Giddings, Smith)

Again, good win for the lads, Dalla Valle getting on the scoresheet again and first goals of the season for right-back Giddings and midfielder Jeff Smith.

View attachment 65115

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Port Vale 1 - 2 Darlington
(Purcell, Smith)

Last minute mayhem again for Darlington! Purcell opened the scoreline with a placed finish from Topp's pass. The fourth official holds up the board, 4 minutes of injury time to be played, I felt we had this win in the bag until the 91st minute, Port Vale midfielder David Howland latched onto a dreadful error from Darlington's young goalkeeper Parish. With the game destined for a draw, Jeff Smith scores a belter in the 95th minute after taking control of a Lumsdon through ball, what a game!

View attachment 65116

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Carling Cup

View attachment 65122

Round Two - West Ham

West Ham 3 - 0 Darlington

Nothing we could do about this, the media predicted it would be "almost impossible" for us to get a result here, I believe the team still performed well and we atleast deserved a goal. In a press conference Dean admitted his was "disapointed to be knocked out, though he was proud of the effort put in by the lads at Upton Park" Time to focus on the league!

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Coca-Cola League 2

View attachment 65123



Darlington 2 - 0 Cheltenham
(Foster, Topp)

Great result off the back of our first defeat of the season, a leaping header from our captain Steve Foster gave us the lead just before half time and ***** Topp got his first goal in the league on the 70th minute to round off a comfortable win.

View attachment 65134

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Manager of the month award for Dean!
Five in Five wins for the new manager.

Darlington Player of the month.
Buba (Avr Rating 7.4)

Dean stated "This player has been a great midfielder for us, after just 6 games he looks to be the perfect anchor man for the team".

View attachment 65143


​
 
Last edited:
Who said it would be impossible up the top?!

This kid is a critic raper!!

well done mate, consistency is the hardest thing to master... good luck for the rest of the season
 
'Consistency' - the word on everyones lips!

September

"We realise the pressure put on the team due to the 'over achieving' results. Managers and the press expect us to slip up. We are determined to prove them wrong".

Coca-Cola League 2

L2.png


After an 'almost' perfect month for Darlington, the team has promised more of the same, but have they delivered?

Lincoln 1 - 2 Darlington
(***** Topp x2)

Decent result for us, a great performance from Topp grabbing himself two goals. Concerns for Josh Payne however, who picked up an injury in the 89th minute. "It is a blow for the team, Payne is a big player in our squad but we will do our best without him". Dean later added "Thankfully, the injury isn't as bad as first thourght, he should be back within 1-2 weeks".

View attachment 65232

0,,12562%7E5420047,00.jpg


Sidelined for the next game against Accrington Stanley

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Accrington Stanley 1 - 1 Darlington
(Dempsey)

0,,10339%7E8263215,00.jpg

Dempsey celebrates his equalising goal.

"Darlington's winning streak ends at The Crown Ground!"

Our first draw of the season after consecutive wins, not the best performance this season, we missed Payne in the centre of midfield and missed a few golden chances. Hopefully we can bounce back with a win!


View attachment 65233

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Darlington 5 - 2 Bournemouth
(Topp, Valle, Blackman x3)

C_71_article_1090331_image_list_image_list_item_0_image.jpg

Blackman answers critics with a hatrick!

What a response! From a dull draw away at Accrington to a 5-2 thrashing of Bournemouth, and after being criticised from his own fans, Nick Blackman has made an instant impact.

View attachment 65234

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Grimsby 1 - 4 Darlington
(Dalla Valle, Payne, Topp, Blackman)

"Winning mentality has returned!"

dallev450.jpg

Lauri Dalla Valle celebrates his 5th goal in 7 league games.

What can I say - brilliant. Back to back wins since the draw at Accrington, our players are clearly focused on winning. Four goals scored for us by new signings too.

View attachment 65235

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Darlington 3 - 1 Rochdale
(Foster x2, Dalla Valle)

0,,10442%7E3199106,00.jpg

Captain leads by example with two headered goals

Great performance from Steve Foster with two almost identical corner - header situations. Dalla Valle then netted in the 89th minute to take his goal tally up to 6.

View attachment 65237

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Dean is runner up for Manager of the month award!

Buba is runner up for Player of the month award for the league!

View attachment 65242

Nick Blackman is awarded "Young player of the month" for league 2! As well as Darlington player of the month selected by the manager!
He said it is a honour to win the award.He also added that his boss was the main reason for winning the award.

View attachment 65240

League Table

View attachment 65244

Excellent start to the season for us, Notts County and Rotheram are hot on our tails. An exciting League 2 season is dawning for the Darlington faithful.

​
 
Buba is a tank, had him with Bristol Rovers and Notts County, keep it up
 
Again, thanks for the support guys :)

September update later on tonight, stay tuned!
 
Good start mate... You seem to score a lot of goals which I like ;)

What is the tactic which you are playing with? Can you post a screenshot maybe?!

Dalla Valle, a classy player for Darlington :)
 
saiTz said:
Good start mate... You seem to score a lot of goals which I like ;)

What is the tactic which you are playing with? Can you post a screenshot maybe?!

Dalla Valle, a classy player for Darlington :)
Click to expand...

Can't access FM at the mo, but its a 4-1-2-3 formation, a bit like the Mr Hough(?) tactic on the forum except I played around with it and did a bit of altering :)
 
Great story ive tryed them finished 15th i think... good luck ;)
 
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