The new Reynolds Arena has a capacity of 27,500

Chairman George Reynolds announced the Third Division club had been placed in administration on 23 December to protect the club against an Inland Revenue winding-up petition.

The scale of the Quakers' debts has yet to be confirmed, but Anthony Taylor, a member of the Darlington Supporters' Trust board with special responsibility for tracking the club's finances, believes the amount could lie anywhere between �100,000 to �250,000.

Mr Taylor said fans had been bracing themselves for news of administration and had already opened negotiations with businesses in the area with a view to a possible takeover.

Mr Taylor said: "We've been expecting this for some while now. I wouldn't say it's come as any sort of surprise to the fans.

We see this in part as an opportunity to take the club forward and install a new regime, a chance for Mr Reynolds to leave the club for pastures new Anthony Taylor, Darlington Supporters' Trust

"For instance, when Dave Hodgson, our manager, came in he made no secret about the state of the finances and I think his precise words were, 'we're skint'.

"We had asked Mr Reynolds for a meeting about the club's finances earlier in the year once the accounts had been lodged with Companies House.

"But his response was that we'd just built a fantastic stadium and the Supporters' Trust was a hindrance rather than a help and he would be severing links with us.

"So at the moment it's a case of finding out what the debts are and they could be anywhere between �100,000 and �250,000.

"It's difficult to even hazard a guess, but my gut feeling would be that it's towards to top end of that range.

"But we've already got an action plan, we've been speaking to local companies and local business people over the last few months and there's another meeting about that coming up very shortly.

Financial plight

"We also have an advantage in that we're already set up as a Supporters' Trust with an established constitution so we're not having to get ourselves up and running in response to a crisis.

"In fact, we see this in part as an opportunity to take the club forward and install a new regime, a chance for Mr Reynolds to leave the club for pastures new."

Mr Reynolds blamed the demise of ITV Digital and Darlington Borough Council for the financial plight of a new �25m stadium, opened earlier this year.

He has been locked in a legal battle with council bosses over alternative uses for the stadium.

He wants to use the 27,000 capacity Reynolds Arena for concerts, car boot sales and computer fairs, but has been refused permission by the council.

Insolvency practitioners Wilson Field have taken over the running of the 120-year-old club, which is languishing just one place off the bottom of the Third Division.

Representatives of the firm are due to meet council officials on 29 December to discuss the club's plight.