Welcome to Boost the Budget 2025/26!

Following a strong build on season 2023/24 and a 2024/25 campaign that had us in the chase for a play-off spot until the final weeks of the season, can you help maintain the momentum and enable Steve and Terry to build an improved squad for the coming season?

"Boost the Budget was a huge part in how we’ve been able to be successful…that's been a massive help!” (Steve Watson, April '24)

To pledge to Boost The Budget 2025/26, click here.

On 31st December 2023 the club appointed Steve Watson as manager, with Terry Mitchell as his number two. At that point, we were 23rd in table, eight points from safety and we had played a game more than the likes of Bishop's Stortford, Southport and Banbury United sat around us in the table.

The task ahead for Steve, Terry and the players was monumental. Many feared relegation was a foregone conclusion.

The rest, as they say, is history. We won 12 of the next 21 games, securing National League North safety with a 3-1 win over Farsley Celtic at Blackwell Meadows in front of 2,261 fans on Saturday 13th April 2024.

Cedric Main, Matty Cornish, Scott Barrow, Matty Young and Aidan Rutledge – Steve's signings across January, February and March – all played a massive part in our survival campaign, and it would not have been possible to attract them had it not been for Darlington fans raising £32,000 at the start of the year via 'BTB 2'.

In May 2024, Darlington FC fans answered the BTB call yet again and raised a staggering £189,225 for Steve and Terry's 2024/2025 budget.

As they always do, Darlington fans got right behind the campaign from the off, raising the highest ever day one total (£46,381), hitting 50% of target by May 19th, getting to £100,000 the next day, hitting £150,000 with a day to go and then beating the highest BTB target to date by £27,155 with a breath-taking final day of donations.

Indeed, The £189,225 raised is the fifth time that a final BTB total has beaten the previous years' total (from just seven full BTB campaigns, not including January 2024's mini-BTB). The average pledge was an incredible £212. Since May 2023, Darlington fans have invested an astonishing £383,375 into the club's playing budget.

Steve and Terry used the fan's investment wisely, tempting the likes of Pete Jameson, Scott Barrow, Jack Maskell and Elliot Forbes to the club that summer. All key players in the 2024/25 campaign.

As the season progressed, other key signings were added to the squad, both permanently and via the loan market - Will Flint, Caden Kelly, Will McGowan, Hazeem Bakre, Sam Hetherington, Charlie Stirland, Jack Lambert, Louis Storey, Levi Andoh, Ali Alshabeeb, Oli Thompson, Ben Andreucci and Blair Adams all played their part across the season.

And, given the context of the season before it, 2024/25 was an impressive campaign, including brilliant wins over the likes of Spennymoor Town, Chester, Hereford (twice!), Scarborough Athletic, South Shields, Kidderminster Harriers and King's Lynn Town. From late-August to late-September the team went seven games unbeaten - five games unbeaten twice between early-December and New Year's Day, and mid-March to mid-April.

Ultimately, we finished 11th, just falling short of the play-off positions. However, many Darlington fans would see it as a successful season off the back of 2023 and somehow staving off relegation in April 2024. The ship is steady again and there is plenty of reason for optimism ahead.

Steve and Terry are looking to add to an already-strong squad to 'go again' in 2025/26, aiming to improve on this season's performance and get into that promotion mix come the end of the coming season.

This is where you can play an integral part in helping us achieve this. As a fan-owned club with 1,300 of us owning 90% of DFC, we effectively dictate the level of ambition and quality of the squad by setting a significant chunk of the manager's playing budget.

Steve believes that, with some key additions complimenting the core of last season's squad, we can seriously compete again and "go one step further" this campaign. To attract the best and to retain the talent we already have is not easy (or cheap), but we're ambitious and we want to back Steve and Terry as much as we can yet again.

Off the pitch, securing a new long-term home for the club remains a strategic priority for the DFC board, fully supported by the DFCSG board. Both boards are firmly committed to delivering this goal and are actively progressing this crucial project.

Last May we were amazed at the £189,225 raised, and we just know that Darlo fans will dig deep again, hence a May 2025 'Boost the Budget' target of £180,000. Since its inception eight years ago, 'Boost the Budget' investors have contributed just shy of £1m to the club's playing budget; a staggering contribution, and the very definition of "fan ownership".

Football fortune income (ie, TV revenue, cup runs and player sales) can also add to the playing budget throughout the course of a season. But the more we raise now, the better Steve and Terry's prospects are of both attracting and retaining top players during the close season.

As always, we know that making a financial commitment to the club may not be possible at the level which you have invested previously. It is important we look after ourselves and our families first and foremost. However, if you are fortunate enough to be able to invest for the coming season, it will make a significant and material difference to the playing budget and the targets we hope to secure.

As with previous years, any and all contributions are appreciated. However, due to an increase in individual transaction fees over recent years we ask that you consider minimising the volume of donations you make (looking at you, rounder-uppers!). Minimum levels have been introduced on each of the one off/weekly/monthly donations, but if this is going to cause an issue then please reach out.

To pledge to Boost The Budget 2025/26, click here.

As in previous years our fan rewards are back again – click here to see full details of what is on offer.

Let's aim for a successful 2025/26 season together! Thank you, once again, for your incredible support.