Adam Nowakowski signed for Quakers earlier in the week, after leaving Harrogate Town in the Conference North. He was nicknamed the Harrogate Destroyer by the Wetherby Road fans, and it looks as if he’ll be given a similar nickname by Quaker fans – the Darlo Destroyer.

“My main position is centre midfield, but I can play in defence or up front if necessary,” he said. “The manager can put me anywhere as far as I’m concerned. Because of my height and presence, I can drop back to help shore up the defence, or go up front. I even played in goal once and saved a penalty!

“Hopefully my experience of playing in a higher league with players such as Adam Bolder will help me a lot. The fans used to nickname me the “Harrogate Destroyer”. That was probably because they couldn’t think of anything to rhyme with my surname – they used to sing something to do with a high Scrabble score!

“I’m not scared to get hurt, I don’t mind putting my head in amongst the boots and putting tackles in. It is my job to win the ball in midfield – but I can pass the ball around and score goals as well.”

Nowakowski, who was Town’s player of the year in 2012-13, told Harrogate manager Simon Weaver in March that he was going to leave at the end of the season. “I’d been at Harrogate for six years, I played in the Conference North for them. We nearly got into the play offs one year, but then I got injured.

“Harrogate Town was my home club, just like Darlington is for Alan White. My contract was up at the end of last season, and I was looking for a new challenge. Darlington is a club on the up, it has a great set up and a big fan base. They fitted the bill as far as I was concerned.

“I had a few clubs in for me, some were even on my doorstep. But when you’re young, you want to kick on, and I had no hesitation in signing for Darlington.

“I had a few offers from other clubs in the Conference North and Evo-Stik Premier, but Darlington was always my number one. They were my first choice.

“When it became known that I’d signed for Darlington, I had so many alerts of people following me from Twitter that my mobile phone battery went dead. It shows how passionate the supporters are. I can’t wait, I’m really looking forward to playing for the club. I can’t wait for pre-season to start.”

Nowakowski won’t be a stranger to some of the Darlo players.  “I know a few of them. Alan White and Graeme Armstrong were at Harrogate for a while. Whitey is one of the best centre halves I’ve ever played with, and Graeme is one of the best centre forwards. Not much got past Whitey – he was like a man mountain, and wasn’t scared to dish out a few rollickings in the right way. Graeme scored quite a few goals. He’s a brave player. I’m pleased he’s recovering after his operation – I’ve known him play with his head bandaged up.”  He’s also played with Adam Mitchell and Leon Scott at Harrogate.

Nowakowski started his career at Leeds United as a right winger, at the same time as Aaron Lennon. “Problem was, we were both right wingers, and look where he’s ended up! I played a lot of football at University in Sheffield – I used to travel back to Harrogate for matches. The travel going up and down to Darlington won’t bother me.”