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Post by Budleigh on Feb 25, 2009 19:51:53 GMT
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Dave
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Post by Dave on Feb 25, 2009 19:55:51 GMT
Great pictures Leigh, do you know what happened to the new stand? seems strange it was removed and just some parts still left standing. Funny how a pitch that would have been looked after well, turns into just scubland.
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merse
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Post by merse on Feb 25, 2009 20:29:20 GMT
 My former wife and I were entertained by George Reynolds up at Feethams several years ago as we waited after a game for Wes Saunders his family and Brian Healy and his family. Mr Reynolds was a charming host and proudly showed me round the main stand which had no less than fourteen different configurations that could be used for commercial activities. He explained to me that it had been built by the previous ownership as a self contained commercial construction that would be financially self supporting with seating bolted onto the front of it for the purposes of spectator accommodation. He then expounded on how they had intended to run the football club into the ground so that they could be rid of it and be left with the building, the profitable side of the business; without the burden of running the football club. If he hadn't taken on Darlington Football club a the time he did they would have been wound up there and then and lost to the community........................as he said - "I only popped into Darlington to look at a couple of Suzuki Jeeps for my daughters and came home with a football club!"He also showed us the model and plans for the new "Reynolds Arena" that was eventually built out of town. Feethams and the town of Darlington had always held a special place in my heart after the match I saw there in 1966 when with 18,000 packed in there we fought out a goal less draw and BOTH sides won promotion. Let's get something right about George Reynolds here and now........................he got a conviction for blowing a safe containing overnight money at the quarry he worked at as a seventeen year old (he was a "dynamiter") and he didn't receive another conviction until he was in his seventies which was for financially defrauding the Inland Revenue.....................hardly Ronnie Biggs or Ronnie Kray I would suggest. In the interim period he dragged himself up from being unemployed on a Sunderland Council Estate to being a major industrialist providing employment for many people in the North East. What he went down for second time round, I would suggest; that but for the grace of God go most of us who are either self employed or run our own businesses......................who doesn't hide a "bit of cash work" to keep tax bills to a minimum?
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Post by yorkgull on Feb 25, 2009 21:00:03 GMT
A bit of cash? Legend up here has it there was £1,000,000 in the boot of his car when he was pinched...
He used to drink in a boozer in Skeeby, which is a couple of miles outside Richmond - where my missus grew up. Always happy to have a drink and a chat - had some great stories about being asked to crack safes for local vicars who'd forgotten the combination/lost the keys only to be told by the rozzers after he'd finished - "Now don't do that again George".
The guys who were regulars in that pub never paid for a ticket at Feethams...
One of the problems with the new stadium was the consistent denial of an entertainment license from the local council. Part of the business case was built around it becoming a mini Wembley for the North - the Metro Arena in Newcastle being the only competition and that has all the sound quality of a car park with a sheet of corrugated iron held over it! Well that and the fact that he genuinely believed he could poach fans from disillusioned (and priced off) North East clubs.
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jerry
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Post by jerry on Feb 25, 2009 21:00:58 GMT
What he went down for second time round, I would suggest; that but for the grace of God go most of us who are either self employed or run our own businesses......................who doesn't hide a "bit of cash work" to keep tax bills to a minimum? Those of us who are honest?  |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2009 23:54:28 GMT
Budleigh, thanks for the pictures of Feethams - a fine old town centre ground in a very under-rated town of some considerable character (with plenty of good eating and drinking establishments). The new stadium - what's it called this season? - is one of those places you can't really fault nor, equally, feel warm towards. Going there is a bizarre experience - I still can't get that wonderful array of pies out of my mind - and an intriguing day out for the away fan. But what must it be like watching games there on a regular basis?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 28, 2009 9:03:19 GMT
Here's a picture of the Feethams - thanks to one of those Aerofilms books - that was taken shortly before Merse's first visit there in the mid 1960s. Regular visitors to the away section - along the side of the pitch rather than behind one of the goals - will recognise the circuitous route you needed to take to gain entry.  The cricket ground is also known as Feethams and was the venue for some of Durham's first-class games before the club moved to the Riverside. It also hosted Minor Counties games against the tourists and I was surprised to discover that Brian Lara and Viv Richards played together in the same West Indies team at Darlington in 1991. Details at acscricket.com/Archive/Scorecards/97/97610.html |
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Post by chrish on Feb 28, 2009 22:08:34 GMT
I guess that would have been during his last ever test series. He's still the only West Indies Captain never to lose a Test Series. Cricket doesn't seem right with a weak West Indies test side does it?
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