Darlington chairman, millionaire property developer Raj Singh, has issued an ultimatum to his former manager and players demanding they accept a 25 per cut in wages, otherwise the club could go into oblivion.
Darlington chairman, millionaire property developer Raj Singh, has issued an ultimatum to his former manager and players demanding they accept a 25 per cut in wages, otherwise the club could go into oblivion.
Not surprisingly, this has not gone down well with the Professional Footballers’ Association and it is doubtful whether players can be compelled to accept a cut in their contracted wages. On the other hand, many fans would like to see under performing players hit in their pocket and Darlo’s caretaker manager understands where the chairman is coming from, although interestingly he does not want the permanent job having done three stints as stand in.
Darlo are mid-table in the Conference, but it all kicked off after they lost 3-0 in a FA Cup fourth qualifying round replay to Blue Square Bet North Hinckley United. It was a bit humiliating, but we all know that the FA Cup can produce banana skins: indeed, the real shock is when a club higher up the league system manages to defeat one lower down.
However, for a non-league club a cup run can make a real difference to income, particularly if they get a televised fixture once they get into the first round. The sums involved are tiny by the standards of Premiership clubs, but they can be make or break in the non-league system.
As well as telling the players to take a wage cut, Singh has told sacked manager Mark Cooper and his assistant Mark Dryden that they will get less than half what they are owed. This is also of questionable legality. The sacked management team have no intention of accepting these terms and the League Managers’ Association is backing them.
The difficulty is that Darlington only came out of administration just over two years ago and Singh has threatened to put them into administration again. This time, he warned, ‘there’ll be no coming back.’
Singh commented, ‘I am pumping money in week in, week out and getting nothing back.’ Well, I can let him into a secret: you often don’t get anything back from investing in a football club, not just financially, but on the pitch as well.
Singh is also upset with the local authority where he complains he has ‘hit a dead end’. However, in current circumstances, local councils have to be careful how they spend their money. Plymouth City Council did buy Home Park, but they can argue to any upset council taxpayers that they acquired an asset on which a market rent is being charged.
It’s an old story: successful businessman thinks that he can easily apply his skills to football and is then disappointed when results don’t come quickly enough.