Farewell
to Feethams: A Collection of Darlington FC Memories, by Ray Simpson and
Andrew Wilkinson (2002)
AHEAD of the club's (eventual) move to a new stadium in 2003, journalists and self-confessed Darlington fans Ray Simpson and Andrew Wilkinson compiled this rich collection of memories from former players and fans of past matches and life languishing in the lower leagues.
This book is a "labour of love" - you don’t have to have set foot inside the old stadium at Feethams to appreciate the universal appeal of such football folklore as a trainer following the players on his bike and asking them not to run too fast as he can’t keep up.
You wonder how many of today’s pampered Premiership stars might cope as well as Darlington striker Ron Harbertson on the day in 1958 he scored in a 4-1 FA Cup replay win over Chelsea: "I worked a shift down the pit from midnight until eight in the morning,” he remembers. “I travelled 40 miles down the A1 to play for Darlington, got home at 9.30pm and then went back down the pit for another shift at midnight."
Roy Keane is a big girl’s blouse next to Darlo “hard men”. The book is littered with tales from the trenches, like the player told to take a shower by the manager after breaking his neck; another warrior Brian Henderson played on for six weeks with a broken ankle, with cotton wool inside the bandages to lessen the pain. The same player’s career was ended with a badly broken leg – his final Feethams exit was lying on an unrolled joiner’s bag, because another injured player was on the only stretcher. Then they finished him off by catching his leg on the tunnel wall on the way to the dressing room.
The book, with numerous black and white archive photos, is presented in a simple A-Z format dividing potted-biographies and memories of former managers, players and supporters. Covering half a century, they include occasional cup exploits, promotion and relegation to routine life behind the scenes, recalling days when dogs routinely ran onto pitches and trainers’ false teeth fell out at the drop of a hat. It’s typified by the recollections of the haunted young goalkeeper making his debut, letting in seven at home to Southport in 1973, while the fan on the terrace recalls missing all the goals due to the thick fog at Feethams.
However low some of the lows or how badly players were short-changed by penny-pinching chairmen in successive regimes, reading their recollections it’s still easy to understand the great affection most maintain for the club. It produces a wealth of anecdotes. Like Clive Nattress, who tells of the surprise appearance of legendary former Liverpool manager Bill Shankly in the Darlo dressing room before a Cup tie at Goodison in 1978 for an impromptu team talk: "Shanks told us we could win the game and we very nearly did. Everton had beaten Wimbledon 9-0 in the previous round and they could only beat us 1-0. Shanks was an inspiration.”
Review by Steve Duffy, of DAFTS
- Alternatively, copies of this hard-to-find title may be found on eBay or the club shop on Darlington's official website