The Board of Directors of the football club and the DFCSG , club officials, management and players, would like to wish all our volunteers and fans, wherever you may be in the world, a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We would like to thank you for your fantastic support throughout a very trying year for all of us. Together, we will get through this.

Above all in the current circumstances, stay safe and healthy,  and hopefully see you early in the New Year.

Also, the Darlington FC chaplain, John Barker, is a mad keen fan who has been following the club for many years, and here, sends us his Christmas message:

I am writing this message in the final days before Christmas. This is traditionally an incredibly busy time for vicars with carol services, school nativity plays and other services almost every day. Until this year, as soon as the final Christmas morning service was over my wife and I jumped into the car and headed home to Darlington. Two things made the five-hour journey worthwhile. One, of course, was being with family for a very late Christmas lunch, the other was being able to watch Darlo on Boxing Day!

Recent matches that come to mind include the first match at Blackwell Meadows when we beat Halifax, and Thommo’s 100^th goal as we smacked Spennymoor last year. Going back to school days I remember arriving late for the match at Ayresome Park after waiting an hour for a bus from Great Burdon (the year that we were both in the old 3^rd Division) and the only gate that was still open was the Boys End. Gary Hill and I were silent for the whole match, otherwise I think we would not have emerged alive! Another year, with other guys from Grangefield Grammar, we went by train to Hartlepool and ran the traditional gauntlet after the match to get back into Hartlepool station. Both matches we lost, so from these memories that makes two won and two lost; I guess just about on par for Darlo over the years.

This year, of course, everything is different as we approach Christmas. All of my services are live streamed. My parish is in Tier 4 so we cannot travel anywhere, and even if we had made it home, we are not allowed spectators for our matches. I’ve written before about whether our glasses are half full or half empty. Among the reasons why I still think mine is half full, the excellence of QuakerTV is among the most important. Well done guys! Zoom also makes life easier, I know it’s not the same as physically being with family and friends but surely, it’s better than nothing.

And so, I wish you all the best possible Christmas; the icing on the cake would be a good result on Boxing Day! Let us hope, and I will pray, that 2021 will be a better year for us all-including our beloved Darlo! Finally, if over Christmas you find life a bit hard to handle, for whatever reason, and you would like to chat, please don’t hesitate to send a message to me at  chaplain@darlingtonfc.org