Consortium battles to buy Darlington FC

A consortium of businessmen in Darlington are hoping to buy the town's football club before its current owner places it into administration.

Mark Meynell has formed the Darlington Football Club Rescue Group (DFCRG) with former chairman, Steve Weeks, and former Darlington Supporters' Trust chairmen, Doug Embleton and Pete Ashmore, to try to save the club. Meynell led a previous bid to buy the club when it fell into administration in 2003-4.

The Northern Echo has reported that the group will meet with the club's current chairman, Raj Singh, today to discuss their plans. They are hoping that their bid will prevent the club from going into administration, and warned that their business plan would be "severely challenged" if Mr Singh did opt to call in administrators.

It is believed that he has been on the verge of taking such action, after not proving successful in his attempts to make the club financially viable. Despite Mr Singh investing some £80,000 every month to keep the club running, the players went unpaid in December, and the DFCRG said they would need him to sustain the payments until July in order for them to take over.

A statement issued by DFCRG said, "The concept will be entirely dependent upon the generosity of Mr Singh, and his willingness to maintain the club until July 1, 2012 (estimated date).

"At this point, Mr Singh would transfer the ownership of the club to a new company. The new company will be owned by a mixture of individuals, local businesses, the supporters' trust and the public."

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