View from the opposition - Darlington
Tuesday, 5th Aug 2008 15:58

We talk 2008-9 with another opposition supporter. This time we sit down (via email) with Darlo fan Karl Buckle, asking what he thinks his side will be up to this year.

How was last season for you?

Our achievement last season split our supporters. The majority seems to view last season as a failure. We had high expectations of our squad which was the highest paid squad ever assembled by Darlington. Our failure to push on and get an automatic promotion spot in the final 1/4 of the season didn't go down well.

On the other hand we hadn't reached the play-offs since the 1999/2000 season and have been in the basement division since 1992, so finishing 6th was a success, just not to the level that we expected.

We were hugely hampered by injuries last season. The play-off games against Rochdale highlighted this. We played the 1st leg with only 1 recognised striker and during the game a further 3 players went off injured, including our top scorer Tommy Wright and our left back Parker and neither of them recovered in time for the 2nd leg.

In the 2nd leg we played with a single striker who is actually a midfielder (as we had little other option, we even had to have a 15 year old on the bench!!) and then he went off injured too!! Personally I think last season was a small success, unfortunately it appears that the cost of that success is a much smaller budget for the season ahead...

Has your club's Summer activities lived up to expectations?

We released 9 players, none were surprises, although I thought we should have kept Wiseman on for another year as he played his best games of the season in the play-offs. We also sold our keeper to Fulham for £350k and Tommy Wright is on the verge of signing for Aberdeen for £100k.

We have signed Kennedy (who we had on loan at the end of last season), Adam Griffin, David Poole & Adam Proudlock (all from Stockport) and Clayton Fortune (from Leyton Orient). All on paper seem to be solid signings, but nothing to get us too excited.

We need to sign another midfielder and another forward before we have a squad ready to compete. More worrying for us is the rumour that our playing budget has been slashed by a third, so we don't expect any big name signings.

Where do you think you will finish next season and why?

Dave Penney is a good manager and if we can remain relatively injury free (or at least the same as everyone else) then I would hope to be in the play-offs again. If Pawel Abbott can play 40+ games this season then maybe we can aim higher.

Where do you think Dale will finish next season and why?

I would expect you to be in the play-offs again. I think Perkins will be hard to replace (especially as you have our very own Clark Keltie as his possible replacement). I was impressed with your forwards last season (Dagnall and Le Fondre) but your defence needs a bit of an overhaul to get to the next level.

Let hope both of us finally climb out of this league!

Photo: Action Images via Reuters

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