Darlington

Last Season at a glance

11th in League Two

Last year was a pretty typical Darlington season. Plenty of promise, plenty of indications that it might be the season, and then plenty of disappointment as it all went tits up.

There were internal issues early on as David Hodgson left Darlington for the 79th time, and then we managed to reap the rewards for that with a 5-0 hammering. They even made Sako look good that night.

But then isn't always some sort of issue going on with Darlington? They never do things the easy way.

If you're judging Dave Penney on the job that he did with Doncaster, then perhaps there's no finer manager at this level than Penney. He took Doncaster from the depths of the Conference, and led them back into the Football League, followed by the title in the first season back. Not only that, he had them playing at the top end of League One.

Now he had a bit of cash to play with during that time, but nothing of a Jack Walker style, and certainly no more funds that he's had access to at Darlo this Summer.

He took on the Darlington job at the end of October last season, and perhaps its fair to say that he's not as yet had the impact that you might have expected him to have had, given his past records.

But he's clearly had a large turnover of players this Summer, suggesting he knows what he wants to achieve at Darlo and who he wants to do that achieving for him.

I think they'll do better because they have a better manager and better players than twelve months ago.

Penney as we mentioned above is tried and tested at this level, and with the opportunity to bring in own players and prepare the squad for the full season rather than just picking up the pieces halfway through should make a significant difference to Darlington's success this time round.

He's strengthened two main areas. He's got a forward line which will score goals, by the purchase of Pawel Abbott who should be the top scorer in this division this season.

He's strengthened at the back too. Stephen Foster has come from Scunthorpe. I seem to remember us nearly signing Foster a couple of years ago when he turned up asking for a trial only to head to Scunny a couple of days later. He's been a main player at Scunthorpe during their League One winning season, and whilst the Championship would be a step too far for him, he'll be a rock at the back for Darlington too.

They've also brought in a lad that I don't know a right lot about from Hereford called Rob Purdie. What I do know about him is that he's an attacking midfielder and was their Player of the Season last year, suggesting that he has more than ability for this level.

We've been here before with Darlington, haven't we?

So they've got themselves a top class centre forward? Oh yes, just like Julian Joachim. He was last year's "top class centre forward who will lead Darlo to promotion". And he finished the season with a magnificent seven League goals to his name.

They've got a great manager? Well we kept on hearing that they had that with David Hodgson (even though no one outside of Darlington actually believed that).

And other than historical reasons for failing, there are still weak areas within their squad. Though I think he'll do alright, they've drafted in a keeper who has spent the last twelve months sitting on the bench doing nothing. Andy Oakes made just six appearances for Swansea last season. With the best will in the world, that will take a bit of getting used to playing again.

And the midfield seems a touch weak. They've got Ravenhill as someone who'll get stuck in, as his five red cards throughout his career, but the rest all seem like the sort of players who'll do well when things are going well. They're the sort who might go missing when the pitches get a bit muddy and its time to start grafting.

Quite possibly, Abbott is the signing of the Summer.

He comes to Darlington after a spell at Swansea which for whatever reason didn't quite work out for him, but you can't write a player off on the basis of one eighteen game spell with the wrong side.

This is a striker who is a proven goal scorer in League One. He scored goals for fun for Huddersfield, averaging just short of one goal every other game for the Terriers, despite plenty of competition for the strikers position.

And if there was ever a doubt about his quality, he even made Jon Newby look a useful player. During a loan spell with Bury, he played alongside Newby, and it was at that time when Newby knew where the back of the net was, with plenty of help from Abbott.

And a top goalscorer is something Darlington have missed since the days of the facially cursed Gabbiadini. Abbott will be that scorer and lead them all the way.

We almost decided against having Darlington down for one of the automatic promotion places on the simple reason that its Darlington. There are many simple rules about this Division. Rule number one being that Rochdale will never ever leave the division. And the second rule is that you can pretty much guarantee that Darlington will mess things up at some stage.

Something will happen. It always does. The manager will walk out. The Chairman will be arrested. The kit man's wife will be sounding off on local radio that the players are betting against Darlington each game. The ball boys will be involved in a conspiracy involving the mafia and Al Qaeda. It's Darlington remember.

But we can see things changing this season up there, and finally that stadium of theirs will start seeing the sort of football that it deserves. The main ingredients are all there. They've got a top drawer manager and they've got someone who can bang the goals in for fun.

And the defence has been strengthened too, so we're not going to be heading up to their place and shipping five goals past them this time round, no matter how many ace strikers we play.