Darlington FC are very pleased to announce that Alun Armstrong is the club’s new manager.

Former player Alun takes over from Tommy Wright and begins work with the club on Monday 27th May.

"There's a big job to be done, and I'm really looking forward to the challenge," he said.

"I have no doubt that it will be a challenging job, but I believe that we can bring success to the club. I'm looking forward to working with everybody.

"The fans, and the ambitions of David Johnston, are big factors in my coming to the club. I want to try and get the club as high as I can."

He had two spells as a player with Quakers. He scored a hat trick on his debut against Southend in October 2004, and went on to score 11 goals in 32 appearances for us that season before leaving for Rushden and Diamonds.

He returned in September 2006 but wasn’t a regular in the starting line up, appearing mainly as a substitute and scoring only once.

In his professional career – which included a scoring appearance for Ipswich in the San Siro against Inter Milan – he made 337 appearances, scoring 104 times. He was at Newcastle, Stockport, Middlesbrough, Huddersfield (loan) Ipswich Town and Bradford City (loan) before coming to Darlington.

After finishing his playing career, he gained his coaching badges and was a coach at Middlesbrough before moving to Blyth, firstly as assistant and then as manager in September 2016.

He helped Blyth win promotion from the EvoStik League, and then took them to the National League North play offs three weeks ago, only to lose at Altrincham after leading in normal time.

Darlington chief executive officer David Johnston said; "Alun was the most outstanding candidate out of the 71 who applied, he was a perfect fit for the criteria that we laid out for the job. He is a well-qualified coach, who has good experience of this league, good knowledge of players and has plenty of contacts.

"He has done very well at Blyth in the last three seasons, guiding them to promotion from the EvoStik League in his first season, and then into the play offs in the season just ended.

"He formed a very good relationship with Darlington fans in his two previous playing spells, and now we would like to welcome him back again as manager and wish him all the best in the future."

Chris Stockdale, Chair of DFCSG, the owners of Darlington FC, said; “I’m delighted to extend a warm welcome to our new manager, Alun Armstrong. Having emerged as the outstanding candidate during our extensive recruitment process, I believe Alun is the right person to work with as we look to take our great club forward on and off the field.

"His managerial abilities have shone through over the last two seasons in the National League North and I’m sure his attacking brand of football will prove popular with our owners and supporters.”

Help Alun by Boosting the Budget!

https://fundraising.darlingtonfcsupportersgroup.org/pitches/boost-the-budget-19-20

More news will follow in due course!