Following Tuesday's defeat to Dale, Darlington have entered administration which has resulted in them being deducted ten points, effectively ruling them out of this season's promotion hunt.
The decision for Darlo to enter administration certainly came out of the blue, despite rumours circulating on this site's messageboard just a couple of weeks ago.
With Darlington very much in the thick of the promotion hunt (they'd be just two points behind leaders Brentford should they win their games in hand), their season has been all but finished with this points deduction in a very similar way to how Rotherham did last season.
Darlo owner George Houghton (different George) has blamed the decision on the inability to exploit the area around their Northern Echo Arena and the Credit Crunch. It had been hoped that leisure and retail outlets could be built around the ground but traffic difficulties have ruled them out even to the extent of having the stadium's capacity cut to around 10,000 at one point despite it having 25,000 seats.
But despite these difficulties, Darlington have still been able to compete in the transfer market, recently paying £25,000 to Peterborough for the services of Liam Hatch between now and the end of the season.
This will be the second time that Darlington have entered administration, having previously done so back in 2004 following the George Reynolds era.
The ten point deduction will reduce their total to 41 points, meaning that based on previous season's totals, they'll need another thirty points from their remaining sixteen games to make the Play Offs.
Darlington are the second team to enter administration following a game against Dale, after Cambridge United did something similar in 2005.