ECHOSPORT talks to Darlington fan David Steel ahead of Saturday's FA Trophy tie with Southend United.

It’s been an eventful few years for Darlington since they last played Southend back in 2005. What led to the club being wound up and the new one forming and how tough was that time?

"It was a very tough time, but it needed to happen given the years and events that preceded it.

"Following moving from the club’s original home of Feethams in 2003 to the Arena (a hastily-built 25,000 all-seater stadium by then-owner George Reynolds), the club entered administration three times across a 12-year period, the final time being in early-2012.

"We had been relegated from the Football League to the National League in 2010 and, despite a decent season (we won the FA Trophy at Wembley in 2011), the writing was on the wall come the start of the 2011/12 season, both on and off-the-pitch.

"Fans' money effectively kept the club from being liquidated in the first few months of 2012 following that third administration, but we couldn’t stop the club from being wound up in the High Court.

"We were expelled from the FA, demoted from the National League to the Northern League, had no home and no playing staff.

"We literally had to start again, at the very bottom of the footballing pyramid, build a squad from scratch and groundshare with Bishop Auckland.

"The club had been acquired by our fans across this time and that was the saving grace.

"We haven’t looked back, to be honest."

The club seem to be back in a good place now. How is it being run?

"I’ve enjoyed the last 10/11 years as a Darlo fan since that last administration as much as any other period since I first started going to games in late-1989.

"We are fan-owned, with around 1,225 fan owners holding a 87 per cent majority stake in the club.

"I sit as Vice Chair on the Darlington Football Club Supporter’s Group (DFCSG) board that acts as the vehicle between the fan owners and the club.

"We are a sustainable, democratic and forward-thinking football club.

"The fans have raised just shy of £2million since 2012 and, every summer, raise between £100,000 and £140,000 specifically towards the manager’s playing budget for the coming season.

"We are all so, so proud of the fact that this is *our* club; by the fans, for the fans.

"On the pitch, we achieved three promotions in the first four seasons as a fan-owned club.

"We finished in the play-off positions of the National League North in 2016/17, but a ground grading technicality prevented us from being able to compete in them.

"Since then, we have consolidated our place in that league.

"We are currently well and truly in the promotion hunt for the National League, sat atop the National League North, just two promotions from the Football League."

You’re top of the league right now. How confident are you of promotion?

"At the start of the season the collective aim was to finish in the play-off positions and go from there.

"As mentioned, we’re currently top of the table, have only suffered three defeats in our last 14 games and we’ve won seven away games in a row, albeit some teams just below us (Kings Lynn and AFC Fylde in particular) have a number of games in hand on us, so that will be a challenge.

"That said, we are still nine points clear of seventh place and 11 points clear of eighth place, so without jinxing anything it would take an almighty reversal for us not to finish inside the play-off spots at the very least this season, I think.

"Then we’ll see what happens."

How important is the FA Trophy for Darlington?

"Very. We’ve won it before in 2011, beating Mansfield 1-0 at Wembley in the very last minute of extra time, thanks to a Chris Senior header.

"Because every penny counts, cup runs are just as much a vital source of income as they are fun to watch as a fan.

"We made the FA Cup rounds one and two in seasons 2019/20 and 2020/21 respectively and both were great ‘money-spinners’ for the club thanks to competition prize money, TV money and attendances.

"In the last round of the FA Trophy, we beat local rivals Spennymoor 3-1 away and the first half was as good as we’ve played all season.

"Saturday will be interesting as we’re excellent away from home this season and we do like a cup upset."

Who is the danger man?

"We are a very strong unit from front-to-back, to be honest, but I’d suggest that Southend fans should worry about our front four.

"Playmaker Jack Lambert has ridiculous ability and is currently being scouted by FL clubs.

"A recent Tik-Tok video of him hitting the bar away at Hereford from around 70/75 yards went viral.

"Winger Kaine Felix has pace to burn and a great cross on him, target man Mark Beck is the NLN’s top scorer with 15 league goals this season (18 in total) and his strike partner Jacob Hazel is a real thorn in defender’s sides and lethal inside the box.

"Between them Lambert, Felix, Beck and Hazel have scored 47 goals for us this season. Watch out!"

What’s the team news?

"Ahh, now that would be telling!"