Darlington's administrators have terminated the
contracts of the club's interim manager Craig Liddle and the remaining
playing staff.
The move puts Saturday's home game with Fleetwood in doubt,
with the Football Conference setting a deadline of Wednesday to decide
if it goes ahead.
In a statement, administrator Harvey Madden said there was "no alternative" given the club's financial position.
He also said that, despite interest, no formal takeover bids had been received.
The statement read: "Given the current financial position of
the club and, as a consequence of my legal obligations, I have had no
alternative but to terminate the contracts of all playing staff and the
retained administration staff.
"Notwithstanding this, there remain parties interested in
either injecting funds into the club to enable it to continue operating
or acquiring the club.
"Every effort is being made to progress this to try to save the
club. However, at this stage I have still not received any formal
offers and unless a deal is concluded as a matter of urgency, time will
have run out for Darlington Football Club."
Players
Ian Miller,
Sam Russell,
Liam Hatch and Jamie Chandler all left the club prior to the announcement, although several senior professionals have been affected.
"To say I feel sick is an understatement,"
said Marc Bridge-Wilkinson on his Twitter account, while team-mate
Paul Arnison told of his frustrations at being made redundant and defender
Aaron Brown expressed surprise at being asked to train for the Fleetwood game.
Adam Rundle, who was one of the players to have accepted
reduced payments to ensure the club fulfilled the fixture at Barrow
earlier this month, was equally disappointed.
"Not a good day if you're a player - even got taxed on the
£200 we were offered for the Barrow game, [I am] hoping Darlo survive
though, looks promising,"
Rundle said on his social networking account.
Former chairman
Raj Singh placed the club in administration earlier this month, but
as the major creditor said he would not demand his investment back if a buyer could be found.
Since that time the club has cut costs by initially reducing
the off-field staff, while players who had not been paid handed in their
notice and left the club.
Administrators then handed Darlington a stay of execution on Friday when their future looked bleak, although negotiations now appear to have stalled.
Meanwhile Liddle has revealed he will continue to work with
the youth team for free with the funding for the side guaranteed by the
Football League until the end of the season.
The 40-year-old has represented the club as both player and
coach, and had previously combined running first-team affairs with a
head of youth development role.
2012-01-16, 20:47
