So Steve Staunton has left Darlington, and FanZoner Daniel List is running out of people to blame
Quakers preparing for life out of the league
Well after 23 games, over 20 new players, a record of one win in six, and more touchline rants than a Neil Warnock and Ian Holloway lovechild, Steve Staunton's reign at Darlington is over.
Honesty dictates that I really didn't see this coming two weeks ago despite our form. Stan never really endeared himself to the Darlo fans but there hadn't been mass calls for him to go.
However during and after Saturday's defeat to Barnet, to which less than 1500 parked their posterior on a piece of red plastic, I felt completely separated from the club. Barnet went 2-0 up before half time and I didn't even care. We got one back and I couldn't even be bothered to get out of my seat and applaud.
It becomes increasingly simple to blame present failings on past regimes and it would have been easy to overlook the limitations of the Staunton reign due to the start we had with Colin Todd.
The fact remains that Staunton has been well backed by Raj Singh to the tune of over 20 new faces coming into the club. Nobody is saying that relegation should have been avoided but with such support in the market the manager should have got us a lot closer than 19 points from safety.
Couple the transfer failings with the man management skills of Steve Staunton and you have a recipe for disaster. Many of Todd's players have treated with a highly undeserved degree of distain and other have found themselves alienated by a man who in the end just didn't know what to do find that elusive improvement.
Start again
Staunton's tenure has been disastrous and now we find ourselves in need of ensuring we don't relive this calamity next season by appointing the right man for the job.
There is already debate among Darlington supporters as to the sort of character we need with the majority agreeing that a manager with proven lower league credentials is key to moving forward. I put my weight firmly behind this belief.
Others don't see the harm in being linked with Gary Pallister, Curtis Fleming, Craig Hignett and Kevan Smith. I would ask what senior coaching credentials any of those names have and for all they may want to get on the managerial ladder, they haven't wanted it enough to go into coaching or become an assistant and do the hard work first.
The names mentioned like Mark Cooper, Gary Brabin and Russell Slade are the names we need to be looking at. They are all out of work in managerial terms and if we could attract one of those three I would be penning a blog of delight. It is the route we should have gone down when we appointed Staunton but hindsight is a wonderful thing is it not.
It's a big decision Raj Singh finds himself having to make and I would urge him not to be looking at those from Darlington's past or those without experience. Give the fans something now to make us believe that next season will be better. Dial C for Cooper and see if he has the answer.
Who is the man to replace Staunton at Darlington? And who is really to blame for the chaos at the club? Join the FanZone debate by filling in the feedback form below
