Norman Stephens says that Horden wouldn’t have been in existence at Christmas if it hadn’t changed its name to Darlington 1883 Reserves and moved to Eastbourne.

Norman has lived, eaten and breathed Horden for 18 years, but even his hard work and devotion couldn’t save the club in its previous precarious state.

Horden were one of the most famous names in the North Eastern League and then the Northern League, but they have declined in recent years, and were forced to leave their Welfare Park home near the end of last season.

“I’m very happy that the club has changed its name,” said Norman, who was chairman for 18 years and did virtually all of the jobs around the club. “It just wasn’t sustainable any more. If we’d continued as Horden, then it would have folded by Christmas, no doubt about it.

“After we were forced to leave Horden, we hired a pitch at Hartlepool Greyfields and played our games there. By the time we paid the match officials and our laundry bills, we were probably losing at least £100 per home game. Our gate receipts were only £30, and we maybe got £20 from a raffle or a football card.

“For away games, lads were paying for petrol out of their own pockets. Some of them didn’t turn up for games at the start of the season.

“No business could survive like that, it would have been stupidity to carry on in that state.”

Norman has known Darlington manager Martin Gray for several years, and the pair held talks during the summer.

“I had a good chat with Martin. Darlington had missed out on their application to join the Wearside League two seasons ago, and I told Martin that Horden just couldn’t survive.  Martin then said that Darlington FC wanted to come on board, and I agreed.

“I’m ambitious and I love my football. I would love to get back to the Northern League, and I want to be successful, but Horden have had their time. We’ve had some right batterings, and that would never have happened a few years ago.”