You don't need reminding of this, but we will do anyway. :) Darlo were the top end of the table for pretty much the entire season, and for long periods it looked like they were set to be automatically promoted. But just two wins from their final twelve games - one of which was pretty much a dead rubber anyway - and they slipped down to sixth. They went into the Play Offs with a crippling injury crisis, won the first leg 2-1, lost the second by the same scoreline, step forward Ben Muirhead......

If we were to judge Dave Penney purely from his time at Doncaster, then we'd happily have him down as the best manager in the division. He done a fantastic job with Rovers, leading them to the Conference title, and and then promotion from Division Three or League Two or whatever the Dale division was called that particular season. And he did so with a side playing fantastic football, launching one or two careers in the game along the way.

He's not quite had the same successes with Darlington. Operating on a budget far in excess of what we had last season, it'd be easy to dismiss the season as a failure, but that fails to take into account that they suffered a huge injury crisis at precisely the time they needed a fully fit squad, and it also ignores just how many other people have tried and failed up there. Managing Darlington seems to far from being the walk in the park that the big stadium and budget would suggest that it should be.

But Penney is a shrewd operator, and the lengthy and surprising released list following that Play Off defeat to Dale would suggest that he knows exactly what went wrong last time, and what is required to ensure that last season's mistakes and problems are not repeated this time round.

Add to that, whilst we've recruited a couple of signings from a losing Play Off team, Darlo have got a step better have brought in three players from a winning Play Off team by signing Griffin, Poole and Proudlock from Stockport. None of them may have featured at Wembley, but they all contributed to Stockport reaching the Play Offs in the first place.

From the outset, it doesn't look good for Darlington this time round. The defeat to Dale in the Play Offs prompted a large number of players on the released list, and it was publically aired that Dave Penney's budget was to be reduced following the record budget he was given last season.

There's also talk that striker Tommy Wright is the next one out of the door at the Darlington Arena, with Aberdeen a likely destination for the forward with the sum of £100,000 coming Darlo's way in response.

And all this for a squad which was deemed to be not enough to cope with the injury crisis from last season. How are they going to cope next time they have a similar problem when they have significantly fewer players at their disposal?

4th - Play Offs

Players like Joachim had proved to be nothing more than an expensive luxury, rarely justifying his fee or high wages during his time with Darlo which brought just thirteen goals in two seasons. Wainwright has shown his class by being snapped up by Morecambe, and whilst we are happy to have Keltie at Spotland, he only featured in around half of their games last season, so he's not the key player that some have made him out to be.

Penney clearly knows what he's doing (except for when he's posing for the camera), and I'd suggest that he'll have seen that every departure this Summer was a necessary one, and whilst others may have talked about budgets being stripped, Id' be surprised if any of the departed would have remained even if he had a few extra thousands per week to play with.

The signing of Proudlock is an odd one. He's clearly an individual with bags and bags of talent, but like with so many others at this level, he's slipped down the divisions having been given chance after chance, and you have to ask why Darlington will be able to succeed with him when the likes of Stockport and Sheffield Wednesday have failed?

Wright might well be on his way, but comments about setting a deadline for the deal suggests that a replacement is on the way, and those who discount Darlington should do so at their peril. They will still go into the season with the best defender in the division in the form of Stephen Foster, one of the best midfielders in Jason Kennedy and potentially one of the best forwards in Pawel Abbott. As we said, don't go writing Darlo off just yet.