:00:24. > :00:30.One tonight's Late Kick Off, Leon Best on the right track. I did go
:00:30. > :00:36.down the wrong path at times, but I chose football the way. It has been
:00:36. > :00:46.a rough journey for Darlington. were getting thousands, I do not
:00:46. > :00:51.
:00:51. > :00:55.care. Carlisle did manage a game of golf on Saturday. Welcome to Late
:00:55. > :01:03.Kick Off. We will be bringing you all the big football stories and
:01:03. > :01:10.colourful characters. Danny Mills is back. For the first show of the
:01:10. > :01:16.new series, housewives favourite Michael Gray. Have you thought
:01:16. > :01:25.about cashing in on your popularity with the ladies? You could do and
:01:25. > :01:30.naked photo-shoot. I will be keeping my clothes on. That is very
:01:30. > :01:38.disappointing news. I did do it when I was playing at Blackburn
:01:38. > :01:43.Rovers. That is a collector's item. Danny, you could make a comeback
:01:43. > :01:51.like Paul Scholes. Nothing to 10 g off the so far? I certainly am
:01:51. > :01:54.going to stay here. It is far easier. -- nothing to get you off
:01:54. > :02:04.the coach? You have both played under Martin
:02:04. > :02:11.
:02:11. > :02:16.O'Neill. Our first story is about Darlington. Darlington fans had
:02:16. > :02:20.been facing the very real prospect of losing their football club.
:02:20. > :02:23.Three days into the new year, chairman Raj Singh left, and that
:02:24. > :02:28.meant administration for the third time in the last decade, crippling
:02:28. > :02:38.debts, and players going unpaid. It has been difficult for everyone
:02:38. > :02:54.
:02:54. > :02:57.Dear Chairman, I totally appreciate what you did for Darlington
:02:57. > :03:06.Football Club, but if you could keep us going until someone takes
:03:07. > :03:16.it over... There is a rumour that the club will go into
:03:17. > :03:21.
:03:21. > :03:24.administration. We did not get paid at the end of December. When the
:03:24. > :03:34.news came through that it was administration everybody was
:03:34. > :03:34.
:03:34. > :03:44.devastated. There is a sinking feeling in your stomach. There is
:03:44. > :03:47.
:03:47. > :03:54.just no stability. We have been through this before, we thought it
:03:54. > :04:01.might be different with Raj Singh. I was trying to make things happen.
:04:01. > :04:10.After the Grimsby game, I said to myself, I am delaying the
:04:10. > :04:15.inevitable. I need to get out. That is what made my mind up. Some lads
:04:15. > :04:19.might be saying he has not paid me, but he has been paying us every
:04:19. > :04:27.month for the last two years. We sold a couple of players for good
:04:27. > :04:37.money. We have back the chairman week-in and week-out. It is
:04:37. > :04:37.
:04:37. > :04:43.frustrating. Forest continue as a football club, the best option
:04:43. > :04:50.would be to get out of the ground. The money it drains out of the
:04:50. > :04:55.football club is incredible. The electricity and water rates.
:04:55. > :05:01.biggest overhead is the couple mistakes I made thinking I could
:05:01. > :05:05.work with the council. When the received a letter that there was no
:05:05. > :05:11.help coming from the council, I sat there thinking the land issue is
:05:11. > :05:18.still a million miles away. In the meantime, it costs me �10,000 per
:05:18. > :05:28.month. Do I just cut my losses or do I keep going and said there in
:05:28. > :05:30.
:05:30. > :05:35.years time thinking I wish I got out? That was what made my mind up.
:05:35. > :05:41.The thing about administration is it does not just affect the players,
:05:41. > :05:46.it affects the non-playing staff, the fans, people's livelihoods.
:05:46. > :05:51.That is the most disappointing thing. De Gaulle from earning a
:05:51. > :05:59.living one day to not being paid the next day, it is difficult. --
:05:59. > :06:08.to go. We are not on big money, we cannot afford to retire. I need to
:06:08. > :06:14.try and get a job. I may need to sell my car. I want a football club
:06:14. > :06:19.to survive, people are saying I just walked away, because I did not
:06:20. > :06:29.care. If caring means buying a season ticket, I do care. If caring
:06:30. > :06:30.
:06:31. > :06:36.means me putting �20,000 a week, I do not care that much. I want to
:06:36. > :06:46.have as long a career as possible and play as high as I can, but to
:06:46. > :06:47.
:06:47. > :06:51.think of life without football would be quite difficult.
:06:51. > :06:56.through all her we saw at the end of the piece, Jamie Chandler, has
:06:56. > :06:59.subsequently left the club. He joined Gateshead. The latest at the
:06:59. > :07:04.time of recording is that the Darlington Football Club rescue
:07:04. > :07:12.group will be meeting administrators today. There will be
:07:12. > :07:20.a meeting with potential investors on Wednesday, but the big news is
:07:20. > :07:27.that Paulinus and, he says all the players have been made redundant. -
:07:27. > :07:34.- Paul Arnesen. This is a sorry state of affairs. The writing is on
:07:35. > :07:41.the wall. In effect, the club are washing their hands of them.
:07:41. > :07:46.looks that way. I would like to see someone take over the football club
:07:46. > :07:49.and try it out one more time. They have a decent fan base, they will
:07:49. > :07:55.never fill that stadium, but it is a great club and we need some
:07:55. > :08:04.players to get out there and play the game. Bucket collections at the
:08:04. > :08:11.Riverside on Saturday. With the greatest of respect, �7,000, it is
:08:12. > :08:16.nothing. You will have doubled the administrators know what they are
:08:16. > :08:20.doing. They will have sack the players to re-employ them on short-
:08:20. > :08:27.term contracts, or as a pay-as-you- play basis. Hopefully they know
:08:27. > :08:33.what they are doing. The club has just been run badly again, and the
:08:33. > :08:40.last thing the town needs is the club to glide the business entirely.
:08:40. > :08:48.-- law out of business. Raj Singh was saying he cannot put any more
:08:48. > :08:53.money in. He has gone in and basically failed. He had big plans.
:08:53. > :09:00.The council have not helped him. He is not prepared to put any more
:09:00. > :09:05.money in. He is writing off the money he put in. At some point you
:09:05. > :09:12.have to cut your losses and run. There is a huge stadium there,
:09:12. > :09:16.massive land. Something has to work. This is all very well, I know you
:09:16. > :09:20.are a chain four seconds. Danny said something earlier. Maybe the
:09:20. > :09:24.Sunderland reserves or Newcastle reserves could play their games
:09:24. > :09:34.there. That would build something towards the football stadium itself.
:09:34. > :09:35.
:09:35. > :09:40.It would bring in income. Is it not better for the club to go bust, to
:09:40. > :09:45.relinquish its ties with that stadium? It will forever dragging
:09:46. > :09:51.down. Three administrations in the last decade is crazy. The club will
:09:51. > :10:00.never break even in that stadium. Is it not better to reform in the
:10:00. > :10:10.northern division, start again, smaller stadium. Brian Shea with
:10:10. > :10:10.
:10:10. > :10:16.Bishop Auckland, get the club going again. -- groundshare. I think
:10:16. > :10:20.there is somebody I there. It is a great stadium for someone to go in,
:10:20. > :10:30.given a massive boost, give it one more call. Through a bit of money
:10:30. > :10:31.
:10:31. > :10:34.at it. The fans will all come back. -- give it one more attempt. That
:10:34. > :10:39.was all the latest, you can keep up was all the latest, you can keep up
:10:39. > :10:49.with it on Look North. You can speak to us on Twitter, or on
:10:49. > :10:55.
:10:55. > :11:05.Still to come, he was on the scoresheet yesterday, his Leon Best
:11:05. > :11:09.
:11:09. > :11:14.the man to fill a Demba Ba's boots? We are turning to the Championship
:11:14. > :11:21.now, but before we see Middlesbrough rap, we will hear the
:11:21. > :11:25.thoughts of Danny Mills. This his last series. They will find it
:11:25. > :11:31.difficult next season, it will not be easy for Middlesbrough fans to
:11:31. > :11:36.it accept that they will not be pushing for promotion. For give me,
:11:36. > :11:40.but where do Middlesbrough seemed to be in the table? They are
:11:40. > :11:46.outside the automatic promotion. They have a pleasantly surprised
:11:46. > :11:50.all of us. It has been fantastic. Completely new set of players,
:11:50. > :11:55.young players coming through, punching above their weight. Tony
:11:55. > :12:02.Mowbray has done a fantastic job. I am delighted to be proved wrong.
:12:02. > :12:08.They lost at Blackpool, they now lost at home. Second home defeat of
:12:08. > :12:13.the season. This is the reaction of the young players losing two in a
:12:13. > :12:23.role. They are putting things right as soon as they can. That is what
:12:23. > :12:25.
:12:25. > :12:30.Tony Mowbray has to say to the players. The goalkeeper is the son
:12:30. > :12:39.of a Middlesbrough a legend. He is only 18 years old. That is quite
:12:39. > :12:42.young. Keepers rarely make the same mistake two games in a rope. If he
:12:42. > :12:52.can get through a couple of games and get one of his stronger keepers
:12:52. > :12:52.
:12:52. > :12:57.back, when you lose key players, it affects you. The threadbare squad
:12:57. > :13:04.was always a potential problem. Gary Robson is missing. Key players
:13:04. > :13:08.are missing, and also bought that the goalkeepers. That is the
:13:08. > :13:12.trouble with having a small squad. The cause of last season, the young
:13:12. > :13:17.lads coming into the side is probably why Danny Mills said they
:13:17. > :13:25.would not go for promotion. When you look at the way they reacted
:13:25. > :13:35.for the manager, fantastic. really is. Four Middlesbrough
:13:35. > :13:39.
:13:39. > :13:43.players could represent Team GB at With Demba Ba now at their Africa
:13:43. > :13:52.Cup of Nations Alan Pardew is looking for players to fill the
:13:52. > :14:02.void. Leon Best is one of those players.
:14:02. > :14:25.
:14:25. > :14:29.As he told our reporter life could It has taken you a while to get
:14:29. > :14:37.your Career going at Newcastle. Was there a stage we thought would not
:14:37. > :14:46.make it? Yes. That stage was Coventry for me. I had always had
:14:46. > :14:56.little injuries. I would be in the team and I would not be sharp and
:14:56. > :15:00.
:15:00. > :15:10.not fit. Then I came here. When I started scoring goals I was
:15:10. > :15:16.thankful to no one but myself. had a tough upbringing as a kid.
:15:16. > :15:25.Has that helped or hindered you? has helped me. It has made me who I
:15:25. > :15:30.am. There have been times where it might have been different.
:15:30. > :15:40.close were you to going down the wrong path? I did go down the wrong
:15:40. > :15:41.
:15:41. > :15:47.path at certain times. When I reached the 40 mark I was old
:15:47. > :15:57.enough to understand it was not the right path -- the 14th mark. I came
:15:57. > :15:58.
:15:58. > :16:03.away from it. Lots of your friends have been in prison. Do you have
:16:03. > :16:12.contact with them? They are still my friends no matter what they have
:16:12. > :16:18.done. They are good people. At the same time I can sit down and think
:16:18. > :16:23.about what could have happened. If it was not for the good guidance
:16:23. > :16:33.from my mother I do not know what would have happened? I can see what
:16:33. > :16:43.my mother was doing for me. I do not want to upset her. I am very
:16:43. > :16:45.
:16:45. > :16:55.proud of where I am from and my friends. Football all way. You said
:16:55. > :17:00.you were arrogant when you were young. Why did that change for you?
:17:00. > :17:06.I was told that I would have to go down the leagues to understand
:17:06. > :17:15.football in order to come back. That is what happened. I did not
:17:15. > :17:21.have a father figure in my upbringing. I make decisions myself.
:17:21. > :17:31.When people tell me what to do sometimes I find it hard. It took a
:17:31. > :17:35.
:17:35. > :17:45.while for that to cocaine. -- for that to kick in. I will always do
:17:45. > :17:46.
:17:46. > :17:56.what I have to do. Work like a slave, eat like a king. If you put
:17:56. > :18:08.
:18:08. > :18:14.Newcastle are up to 6th. This is an interesting time in the season.
:18:14. > :18:24.momentum is keeping them going. Whoever they put in the Saeed seems
:18:24. > :18:27.
:18:27. > :18:33.to perform. Leon Best has performed. At the start of the season Demba Ba
:18:33. > :18:38.did not score for five games. He has now gone away and the focus is
:18:38. > :18:42.back on the Leon Best. He has focused and scored a goal. If they
:18:42. > :18:52.can get through the next few games they have a chance of finishing in
:18:52. > :18:54.
:18:54. > :19:02.the top eight. He has got four goals in the Premier League. We are
:19:02. > :19:06.into the realms of the striker who does his bit for the club. I want a
:19:06. > :19:11.centre forward to be banging goals in. You are putting a player on the
:19:11. > :19:18.spot. Demba Ba has been fantastic apart from at the beginning of the
:19:18. > :19:25.season. Every time he goes in he is getting goals. But it takes a
:19:25. > :19:31.certain mentality to wait your time. He came in as a squad player.
:19:31. > :19:37.has had that at Coventry, and at Southampton. He has had tough times
:19:37. > :19:41.in football. He has never been prolific. He has learned from that.
:19:41. > :19:48.He except that he is second fiddle with Demba Ba playing as well as he
:19:48. > :19:53.is. Now he has got a chance he must take it. It is all right giving
:19:53. > :19:58.credit to football for helping him, but staying out of that circle of
:19:58. > :20:03.friends - it must be a temptation for somebody from that background
:20:03. > :20:12.to go back home and get sucked into it. So we should give credit to him
:20:12. > :20:16.for not doing that. I have come across people who have said they
:20:16. > :20:26.were better than me and they could appear professional. Maybe they
:20:26. > :20:35.were! Give him credit. He still Sen's autographs home. Full credit
:20:35. > :20:44.to Leon Best. Revell Morrison, the Manchester United player, has had
:20:44. > :20:54.one or two scrapes. He needs numbers in. He is not going to get
:20:54. > :20:57.
:20:57. > :21:01.a lot of money to spend. Demba Ba was a free. Is he a decent player
:21:01. > :21:08.question mark he will be a squad player. Alan Pardew has got a small
:21:08. > :21:17.squad. He needs numbers and the need cover. In League One Neil
:21:17. > :21:27.Cooper's 4th game in charge since returning as manager of Hartlepool
:21:27. > :21:29.
:21:29. > :21:39.was played at St James's Park - the other St James Park! He is on side
:21:39. > :21:46.there. I thought you said offside. Neil Cooper coming back. Can you
:21:46. > :21:52.see why he has done that? It was at the home form. That was the
:21:52. > :21:59.downfall. I was surprised to see him leaving the football club. He
:21:59. > :22:04.did a terrific job. They were unbeaten in the first 1213 games.
:22:04. > :22:12.It is a New Era now. He has come back to try and get them at the
:22:12. > :22:16.league as quick as he can. Hartlepool fans thought that the
:22:16. > :22:22.350 mile journey to Exeter was bad spare a thought for those Carlisle
:22:22. > :22:29.supporters. They went to Milton Keynes and the game was called off
:22:29. > :22:34.for one hour before kick-off. Their MK Dons chairman has today sent his
:22:35. > :22:38.heartfelt apologies for letting down Carlisle supporters. He is
:22:38. > :22:42.refunding the ticket money and giving them two tickets for the
:22:42. > :22:51.replay game and he is going to pay for a couple of coaches to go down
:22:51. > :23:01.there. He has held up his hands. is a nice gesture. A Carlisle are
:23:01. > :23:02.
:23:02. > :23:05.doing OK. We are staying with Carlisle now.
:23:05. > :23:13.Maybe their new found confidence comes from shattering the Egg Ups
:23:13. > :23:23.record at the end of last season. Paul Thirlwell is taking on the
:23:23. > :23:23.
:23:23. > :24:07.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 44 seconds
:24:07. > :24:17.Fantastic. And now the biggest chain in soccer.
:24:17. > :24:27.
:24:27. > :24:37.That is very short. And now the boy from Penrith. It is coming back.
:24:37. > :24:40.
:24:40. > :24:50.And now you Lee Miller. Could drill. He has got the best recedingIn the
:24:50. > :25:15.
:25:15. > :25:25.game! Straight through. Stevie or Now this silent Slovak. Good feed.
:25:25. > :25:42.
:25:42. > :25:52.Come on that! Good strike! And now I am not sure how good that is. I
:25:52. > :25:59.
:25:59. > :26:07.think it is three under. Well done Anybody got a clue? We have got a
:26:07. > :26:11.leader board. But the budget has been spent on a plastic paddling
:26:11. > :26:16.pool. You play for Martin O'Neill at
:26:16. > :26:22.Celtic and you play for him at Norwich. Do you believe in it fate
:26:22. > :26:28.for managers? Certain managers get to a certain club at a certain time.
:26:28. > :26:38.There is more to it than just bringing two individuals together.
:26:38. > :26:39.
:26:39. > :26:43.I do not. Manager decide their own fate when they go to a club.
:26:43. > :26:49.Personalities matching a certain set of results? Martin O'Neill is
:26:49. > :26:53.the right man for the job at the moment. Steve Bruce had not managed
:26:53. > :26:57.to get them playing in the way that he wanted. Martin O'Neill brought
:26:57. > :27:07.in fresh ideas. It has worked so far. Martin O'Neill is an impact
:27:07. > :27:12.
:27:12. > :27:19.manager. He has done it before. He has got to keep it going. Martin
:27:19. > :27:29.says he has never made it to that top-four management. Sunderland is
:27:29. > :27:29.
:27:29. > :27:38.his sort of level. He might have been at Newcastle manager. But that
:27:38. > :27:43.was not the right club for home. soon as Steve started losing games
:27:43. > :27:53.that would always be on his head. But Martin O'Neill said that he
:27:53. > :27:57.
:27:57. > :28:01.chose Sunderland as as a English side as a youngster. Quinn Peter
:28:01. > :28:06.Reid lost his job at Sunderland Martin O'Neill got a mention then.
:28:06. > :28:15.It has been up there in the wings. For now it is a perfect fit for
:28:15. > :28:23.Sunderland. Is he a players' manager? He is not really a court,
:28:23. > :28:28.but he is always there. His speeches before you go home and at
:28:28. > :28:35.half-time are incredible. Everything is about winning.
:28:35. > :28:40.Whether it be head tennis or a walk in the park it is all about winning.