Episode 1 Late Kick Off North East and Cumbria

One tonight's Late Kick Off, Leon Best on the right track. I did go

down the wrong path at times, but I chose football the way. It has been

a rough journey for Darlington. were getting thousands, I do not

care. Carlisle did manage a game of golf on Saturday. Welcome to Late

Kick Off. We will be bringing you all the big football stories and

colourful characters. Danny Mills is back. For the first show of the

new series, housewives favourite Michael Gray. Have you thought

about cashing in on your popularity with the ladies? You could do and

naked photo-shoot. I will be keeping my clothes on. That is very

disappointing news. I did do it when I was playing at Blackburn

Rovers. That is a collector's item. Danny, you could make a comeback

like Paul Scholes. Nothing to 10 g off the so far? I certainly am

going to stay here. It is far easier. -- nothing to get you off

the coach? You have both played under Martin

O'Neill. Our first story is about Darlington. Darlington fans had

been facing the very real prospect of losing their football club.

Three days into the new year, chairman Raj Singh left, and that

meant administration for the third time in the last decade, crippling

debts, and players going unpaid. It has been difficult for everyone

Dear Chairman, I totally appreciate what you did for Darlington

Football Club, but if you could keep us going until someone takes

it over... There is a rumour that the club will go into

administration. We did not get paid at the end of December. When the

news came through that it was administration everybody was

devastated. There is a sinking feeling in your stomach. There is

just no stability. We have been through this before, we thought it

might be different with Raj Singh. I was trying to make things happen.

After the Grimsby game, I said to myself, I am delaying the

inevitable. I need to get out. That is what made my mind up. Some lads

might be saying he has not paid me, but he has been paying us every

month for the last two years. We sold a couple of players for good

money. We have back the chairman week-in and week-out. It is

frustrating. Forest continue as a football club, the best option

would be to get out of the ground. The money it drains out of the

football club is incredible. The electricity and water rates.

biggest overhead is the couple mistakes I made thinking I could

work with the council. When the received a letter that there was no

help coming from the council, I sat there thinking the land issue is

still a million miles away. In the meantime, it costs me �10,000 per

month. Do I just cut my losses or do I keep going and said there in

years time thinking I wish I got out? That was what made my mind up.

The thing about administration is it does not just affect the players,

it affects the non-playing staff, the fans, people's livelihoods.

That is the most disappointing thing. De Gaulle from earning a

living one day to not being paid the next day, it is difficult. --

to go. We are not on big money, we cannot afford to retire. I need to

try and get a job. I may need to sell my car. I want a football club

to survive, people are saying I just walked away, because I did not

care. If caring means buying a season ticket, I do care. If caring

means me putting �20,000 a week, I do not care that much. I want to

have as long a career as possible and play as high as I can, but to

think of life without football would be quite difficult.

through all her we saw at the end of the piece, Jamie Chandler, has

subsequently left the club. He joined Gateshead. The latest at the

time of recording is that the Darlington Football Club rescue

group will be meeting administrators today. There will be

a meeting with potential investors on Wednesday, but the big news is

that Paulinus and, he says all the players have been made redundant. -

- Paul Arnesen. This is a sorry state of affairs. The writing is on

the wall. In effect, the club are washing their hands of them.

looks that way. I would like to see someone take over the football club

and try it out one more time. They have a decent fan base, they will

never fill that stadium, but it is a great club and we need some

players to get out there and play the game. Bucket collections at the

Riverside on Saturday. With the greatest of respect, �7,000, it is

nothing. You will have doubled the administrators know what they are

doing. They will have sack the players to re-employ them on short-

term contracts, or as a pay-as-you- play basis. Hopefully they know

what they are doing. The club has just been run badly again, and the

last thing the town needs is the club to glide the business entirely.

-- law out of business. Raj Singh was saying he cannot put any more

money in. He has gone in and basically failed. He had big plans.

The council have not helped him. He is not prepared to put any more

money in. He is writing off the money he put in. At some point you

have to cut your losses and run. There is a huge stadium there,

massive land. Something has to work. This is all very well, I know you

are a chain four seconds. Danny said something earlier. Maybe the

Sunderland reserves or Newcastle reserves could play their games

there. That would build something towards the football stadium itself.

It would bring in income. Is it not better for the club to go bust, to

relinquish its ties with that stadium? It will forever dragging

down. Three administrations in the last decade is crazy. The club will

never break even in that stadium. Is it not better to reform in the

northern division, start again, smaller stadium. Brian Shea with

Bishop Auckland, get the club going again. -- groundshare. I think

there is somebody I there. It is a great stadium for someone to go in,

given a massive boost, give it one more call. Through a bit of money

at it. The fans will all come back. -- give it one more attempt. That

was all the latest, you can keep up was all the latest, you can keep up

with it on Look North. You can speak to us on Twitter, or on

Still to come, he was on the scoresheet yesterday, his Leon Best

the man to fill a Demba Ba's boots? We are turning to the Championship

now, but before we see Middlesbrough rap, we will hear the

thoughts of Danny Mills. This his last series. They will find it

difficult next season, it will not be easy for Middlesbrough fans to

it accept that they will not be pushing for promotion. For give me,

but where do Middlesbrough seemed to be in the table? They are

outside the automatic promotion. They have a pleasantly surprised

all of us. It has been fantastic. Completely new set of players,

young players coming through, punching above their weight. Tony

Mowbray has done a fantastic job. I am delighted to be proved wrong.

They lost at Blackpool, they now lost at home. Second home defeat of

the season. This is the reaction of the young players losing two in a

role. They are putting things right as soon as they can. That is what

Tony Mowbray has to say to the players. The goalkeeper is the son

of a Middlesbrough a legend. He is only 18 years old. That is quite

young. Keepers rarely make the same mistake two games in a rope. If he

can get through a couple of games and get one of his stronger keepers

back, when you lose key players, it affects you. The threadbare squad

was always a potential problem. Gary Robson is missing. Key players

are missing, and also bought that the goalkeepers. That is the

trouble with having a small squad. The cause of last season, the young

lads coming into the side is probably why Danny Mills said they

would not go for promotion. When you look at the way they reacted

for the manager, fantastic. really is. Four Middlesbrough

players could represent Team GB at With Demba Ba now at their Africa

Cup of Nations Alan Pardew is looking for players to fill the

void. Leon Best is one of those players.

As he told our reporter life could It has taken you a while to get

your Career going at Newcastle. Was there a stage we thought would not

make it? Yes. That stage was Coventry for me. I had always had

little injuries. I would be in the team and I would not be sharp and

not fit. Then I came here. When I started scoring goals I was

thankful to no one but myself. had a tough upbringing as a kid.

Has that helped or hindered you? has helped me. It has made me who I

am. There have been times where it might have been different.

close were you to going down the wrong path? I did go down the wrong

path at certain times. When I reached the 40 mark I was old

enough to understand it was not the right path -- the 14th mark. I came

away from it. Lots of your friends have been in prison. Do you have

contact with them? They are still my friends no matter what they have

done. They are good people. At the same time I can sit down and think

about what could have happened. If it was not for the good guidance

from my mother I do not know what would have happened? I can see what

my mother was doing for me. I do not want to upset her. I am very

proud of where I am from and my friends. Football all way. You said

you were arrogant when you were young. Why did that change for you?

I was told that I would have to go down the leagues to understand

football in order to come back. That is what happened. I did not

have a father figure in my upbringing. I make decisions myself.

When people tell me what to do sometimes I find it hard. It took a

while for that to cocaine. -- for that to kick in. I will always do

what I have to do. Work like a slave, eat like a king. If you put

Newcastle are up to 6th. This is an interesting time in the season.

momentum is keeping them going. Whoever they put in the Saeed seems

to perform. Leon Best has performed. At the start of the season Demba Ba

did not score for five games. He has now gone away and the focus is

back on the Leon Best. He has focused and scored a goal. If they

can get through the next few games they have a chance of finishing in

the top eight. He has got four goals in the Premier League. We are

into the realms of the striker who does his bit for the club. I want a

centre forward to be banging goals in. You are putting a player on the

spot. Demba Ba has been fantastic apart from at the beginning of the

season. Every time he goes in he is getting goals. But it takes a

certain mentality to wait your time. He came in as a squad player.

has had that at Coventry, and at Southampton. He has had tough times

in football. He has never been prolific. He has learned from that.

He except that he is second fiddle with Demba Ba playing as well as he

is. Now he has got a chance he must take it. It is all right giving

credit to football for helping him, but staying out of that circle of

friends - it must be a temptation for somebody from that background

to go back home and get sucked into it. So we should give credit to him

for not doing that. I have come across people who have said they

were better than me and they could appear professional. Maybe they

were! Give him credit. He still Sen's autographs home. Full credit

to Leon Best. Revell Morrison, the Manchester United player, has had

one or two scrapes. He needs numbers in. He is not going to get

a lot of money to spend. Demba Ba was a free. Is he a decent player

question mark he will be a squad player. Alan Pardew has got a small

squad. He needs numbers and the need cover. In League One Neil

Cooper's 4th game in charge since returning as manager of Hartlepool

was played at St James's Park - the other St James Park! He is on side

there. I thought you said offside. Neil Cooper coming back. Can you

see why he has done that? It was at the home form. That was the

downfall. I was surprised to see him leaving the football club. He

did a terrific job. They were unbeaten in the first 1213 games.

It is a New Era now. He has come back to try and get them at the

league as quick as he can. Hartlepool fans thought that the

350 mile journey to Exeter was bad spare a thought for those Carlisle

supporters. They went to Milton Keynes and the game was called off

for one hour before kick-off. Their MK Dons chairman has today sent his

heartfelt apologies for letting down Carlisle supporters. He is

refunding the ticket money and giving them two tickets for the

replay game and he is going to pay for a couple of coaches to go down

there. He has held up his hands. is a nice gesture. A Carlisle are

doing OK. We are staying with Carlisle now.

Maybe their new found confidence comes from shattering the Egg Ups

record at the end of last season. Paul Thirlwell is taking on the

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 44 seconds

Fantastic. And now the biggest chain in soccer.

That is very short. And now the boy from Penrith. It is coming back.

And now you Lee Miller. Could drill. He has got the best recedingIn the

game! Straight through. Stevie or Now this silent Slovak. Good feed.

Come on that! Good strike! And now I am not sure how good that is. I

think it is three under. Well done Anybody got a clue? We have got a

leader board. But the budget has been spent on a plastic paddling

pool. You play for Martin O'Neill at

Celtic and you play for him at Norwich. Do you believe in it fate

for managers? Certain managers get to a certain club at a certain time.

There is more to it than just bringing two individuals together.

I do not. Manager decide their own fate when they go to a club.

Personalities matching a certain set of results? Martin O'Neill is

the right man for the job at the moment. Steve Bruce had not managed

to get them playing in the way that he wanted. Martin O'Neill brought

in fresh ideas. It has worked so far. Martin O'Neill is an impact

manager. He has done it before. He has got to keep it going. Martin

says he has never made it to that top-four management. Sunderland is

his sort of level. He might have been at Newcastle manager. But that

was not the right club for home. soon as Steve started losing games

that would always be on his head. But Martin O'Neill said that he

chose Sunderland as as a English side as a youngster. Quinn Peter

Reid lost his job at Sunderland Martin O'Neill got a mention then.

It has been up there in the wings. For now it is a perfect fit for

Sunderland. Is he a players' manager? He is not really a court,

but he is always there. His speeches before you go home and at

half-time are incredible. Everything is about winning.

Whether it be head tennis or a walk in the park it is all about winning.