The Dart(s) Board

A very lucky result in the end today for DFC considering the way we played overall. The first 15 - 20 minutes we looked strong and dangerous going 2-0 up but then we seemed to ease off the gas and gave far too many sloppy balls away. As soon as Brentwood scored their 1st on about 40 minutes they really stepped up the pressure and the 2nd half it was basically all them. We was awful in that 2nd half giving far to many balls away and being 2nd to every ball.
You could see Brentwood just putting more & more pressure on us and with a bit of play acting along with some bloody awful refereeing and giving countless yellow cards to us but virtually none to them then it was obvious to everyone in the ground apart from our management that at least one of ours was going to see a red card if not more.

I have to say it was a very poor and stupid challenge from Sam Odaudo to make considering he was already on a yellow card. To jump in the way he did with his boot up no where near the ball was just reckless and put the team under even more pressure.

I had already left by the time that Eddie was brought on but he should’ve been on a hell of a lot sooner as if anyone is going to get you a goal then it’s him.

A few weeks ago both he and Olly were the leagues top goal scorers and now Olly is 2nd 1 goal behind Brentwood’s No 10
Daniel Ogunleye who got their equalising goal today on 15 with Eddie now down to joint 10th with 10. How many more would Eddie have had if he’d been playing a lot more.

I think our management have got a lot to answer for with their decision making and team selections this season and so have the club to be honest with a lot of decisions they’ve made over these last few seasons.

Tuesday I think is going to be another very difficult game, I only hope the right choices are made regarding team selections.

Dart of Herts wrote: Sat Jan 31, 2026 11:43 pm Genuine question from someone who doesn’t know much about the inner workings of DFC: what have the board done (or failed to do) that has resulted in decline?

I'll try to answer that question without the need to start slagging off everything and everyone at the club and without wearing rose coloured specs.

When the club folded up and was reborn, the new version of the club was created with a one man one vote constitution, intentionally so that no individual could buy up shares and repeat what happened to us before by taking over and destroying the club. At the time it seemed a sound strategy and pretty much everyone I know was in favour of it. People like Tony Burman, Steve Irving, Dave Skinner and Norman Grimes played a massive part in resurrecting our club for which anyone who loves the club and is aware of all the facts, will always be appreciative. For a good few years it worked fine ... There was a togetherness at the club, we were on an upward trajectory and Tony achieved absolute miracles taking us to eighth in the National League, the highest ranked semi-pro club in the land. However, when that momentum ground to a halt, we stagnated for a while and then gradually started to roll back down the hill. I believe that's a pretty fair appraisal of those early years and isn't a rose-tinted view.

Nevertheless, since that time we have failed to keep pace with many of the clubs around us. Dave Skinner sadly passed away and Steve Irving now lives hundreds of miles away and I don't believe anyone at the club has their finger on the pulse or is aware of the mood of pessimism amongst many of even the most loyal fans. I think the accusations against our board are that they have become too complacent and have missed opportunities to boost income and provide managers like Ade, the budget required to be successful, even at this current level. I have lost count how many times the subject of running our own bar has cropped up at shareholders meetings over the past 20 years, it's an annual occurrence but nothing ever happens and we just keep outsourcing to "Bite Me" who happily pay an annual sum and keep the profits. The Skinners season ticket holders bar is ours, and a good idea but I won't use the bar at the other end because the money isn't going to our club. Another suggestion that regularly comes up is charging for the car park which could also raise a good few bob, but this always gets dismissed because, it has been said, "people would park in the side streets and annoy the neighbours, rather than pay to park" even though hundreds of other clubs charge for parking. Of course I know some people won't like this idea, but if we want to see success on the pitch, ultimately we have to find a way to pay for it.

Having said all that, real success requires real money and the elephant in the room is that we simply can't attract potential large scale investors because of our constitution. I believe the voting shares limitation has changed a little since the outset, but basically as it stands it still doesn't matter how much someone is willing to invest, they can't get a controlling interest. So even if some very well intentioned rich benefactor comes along with millions of pounds to offer, they won't be able to get control of the club unless there's a change to the constitution. Of course there are risks associated with doing this, but as we have spent several years in gradual decline, you have to weigh this against the risks of not doing it.

Spike has made a very good brief description of how we got where we are. The circumstances surrounding the loss of Watling Street remain a source of frustration to this day to some of us as those responsible were never held to account.

Circumstances this time are a little different as the club does not own Princes Park, but is merely a tenant with a supportive land lord that does not charge a commercial rent. I believe that the only assets are the contracted players and the risk of the club being asset-stripped again are minimal as there is not much to sell. I do not know the terms of the lease, but provided management keep onside with the Council, whoever they may be in future, our home is relatively secure.

The ground arrangement should allow us to consider an outside investor. Why would anybody pump money into a club that has no assets unless they wanted to be a club owner? The main risk is that an owner commits the club to contracts that it is not able to afford and then fails financially or walks away. The club would then become insolvent as it could not meet its financial commitments. If the investor is known to the club, the risks are reduced.

Looking forward to the meeting on Monday night.

Yeah a good summary from Spike and Grassbanks.

I may be wrong, but i think the board are oblivious of the strength of feeling on the terraces atm which goes beyond what is happening on the pitch.
Monday's meeting may be interesting........

That was a hard watch yesterday, I had to shake my head when the winner went in. Completely against the run of play against a very good side, who must be kicking themselves. Even at 2-0 I didn't feel comfortable, I thought if they get one back before half time we were in for a battering.
So it proved with a glorious goal for their first and a battering in the second half.
Their second was almost as good with our defence hanging on for dear life. The sending off didn't help matters and I could see the game going one way.
Then came the run from young Dan who left players in his wake and then when I thought he had lost the ball he sent in the pass to Eddie. At that point I thought 'job done' as he got the winner. But surely bringing on Eddie with 6 minutes on the clock ???
Sam Okoye started the match the right way but with Dan Smith holding the ball up while Sam was coming in like a train, I wondered if he would ever get there to receive it. But a good finish. Olly took his goal well and then the wheels started to come off.
But Dan Carter's run was a superb was the only way Eddie was going to finish it off as the Brentwood defence had little to do all second half.
I would have gone for Okoye but his first half performance was overshadowed by the battle to keep us in the game.
So, I've gone for Jonny Henley who put in a good shift to get us over the line.
I have to bring up Sam Okoye's header against the foot of our post, bullet like, and if it had gone anywhere else but into Jonny's arms it probably could have been 1-1.
My MOTM Jonny Henley
CoYD's. On to Tuesday and another toughy by the looks of things

Seeing it closer up, boy did they miss some chances. And the keepers handling was top class. Disappointed they didn’t show the 3 (I think it was 3) throw a bottle deliberately straight at me. Good job I’m not precocious.

As much as they deserved something from the game, Brentwood’s equaliser started from our corner kick and was ultimately met by their no.10 who was not only sandwiched between Olarewaju and Tennent, but a long way behind them when the cross came in. Okoye was also back without a runner, so technically their guy had the beating of three defenders. Sometimes credit has to go to the attacker (who did do well) but our big guys need to be winning that ball at any costs - behind for a corner if necessary. How they didn't take the lead at the far post after that was a miracle.

They looked even more frightening in the highlights.

If Callum goes down instead of shooting for our second goal, then that's a straight red for Brentwood's 23. So why didn't the ref show a yellow after playing (what should have been) advantage? Either blind or doesn't know the law

Also, any reason Odaudu's red wasn't included in the highlights?

Why are we not being shown the red card in the highlights?

Removes all context from the 2nd half

Park Life wrote: Sun Feb 01, 2026 12:11 pm

So if as you say Eddies the “Best finisher at the club” why don’t you start with him ?

For the second home game running I witnessed young supporters being turned away from the turnstile. I could understand this if they were the Peaky Blinder looking type draped in Burberry but these were just a few young 10-12 year olds looking for a footy fix. I spoke with Spike about this at our last home game and he said they got turned away at the away end and the stewards radioed the other end instructing them not to let them in. This is another generation of young supporters that we have lost and it really is sad to see. Someone from the club should have explained the process of how to gain access through free ticket program. Maybe, this is another topic to add to the meeting.

As for the game; this is why I never leave early as you never know. With Eddie coming on late, I always felt that we could nick a goal and so it proved. Like others have said, how can you leave a 20 plus goalscorer on the bench. Some of the decisions from Ady remind me of the sketch where Eric Morecambe says to Andre Previn "I'm playing all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order". Team selection, Substitutions & tactics are very old school, one dimensional and predictable, I just wish he would be a bit more positive.

I went with Johnny as my MoM in the end after reviewing the video, he has not had the best of starts but in the last few games he has put in some consistent performances. All in all it was a great game to watch and the finish to the game was the best of the season to date. Sadly, it was just a little too much for their player who threw the bottle into the crowd at the end of the game.

Regarding the young fans, this a complete mess by the club. They don’t learn a thing and don’t understand the impact. I’ve seen myself perfectly behaved younger supporters being turned away, two brothers and a cousin, the cousin was a young girl. 3 very polite, pleasant but very disappointed youngsters. We’re alienating part of our fan base, most of whom are completely innocent and friendly, the future fan base, DFC fans of the future years. So they will not come, they won’t grow up watching Dartford, their friends won’t come, their potential future children won’t come because there’s no built up emotional connection through the seasons. We don’t just alienate them as individuals were ruining the chance of getting future generations and families in because we’ve not let them in to build relationship with the club and get DFC into their hearts. We’re just pissing people off, if my children were turned away from their community club then they will end up watching someone else, probably. And possibly forever.
Absolutely clueless and contributing hugely to the demise in certain aspects of this club. They don’t learn, the board’s decision making is total incompetence and prefer to run away from a small issue than seize a massive opportunity that the club would benefit from for the future. This club is meant to be a community club for the community, it is anything but this.

Jonty wrote: Sun Feb 01, 2026 4:43 pm For the second home game running I witnessed young supporters being turned away from the turnstile. I could understand this if they were the Peaky Blinder looking type draped in Burberry but these were just a few young 10-12 year olds looking for a footy fix. I spoke with Spike about this at our last home game and he said they got turned away at the away end and the stewards radioed the other end instructing them not to let them in. This is another generation of young supporters that we have lost and it really is sad to see. Someone from the club should have explained the process of how to gain access through free ticket program. Maybe, this is another topic to add to the meeting.

As for the game; this is why I never leave early as you never know. With Eddie coming on late, I always felt that we could nick a goal and so it proved. Like others have said, how can you leave a 20 plus goalscorer on the bench. Some of the decisions from Ady remind me of the sketch where Eric Morecambe says to Andre Previn "I'm playing all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order". Team selection, Substitutions & tactics are very old school, one dimensional and predictable, I just wish he would be a bit more positive.

I went with Johnny as my MoM in the end after reviewing the video, he has not had the best of starts but in the last few games he has put in some consistent performances. All in all it was a great game to watch and the finish to the game was the best of the season to date. Sadly, it was just a little too much for their player who threw the bottle into the crowd at the end of the game.

That bottle was at me, someone upset him?

He was upset from the first whistle , he was swearing at fans all game

Well said Jonty and Kentc . Ever since the Board started their vendetta against youth in a game when Dawson was manager we have listened to a whole generation of people that were potential loyal future fans
Yesterday we had a gate of 1080 and that probably included up to 100 season ticket holders that did not attend. Brentwood looked as they had at least 200 fans in the ground so that leaves 800 home fans in the ground at most. A big percentage of this 800 are around my age which is 71.
This is disastrous and does not bode well for the future.
This error must be put right immediately. I would suggest anyone 18 or under gets free entry until the end of the season and reviewed in the summer for next season. To obtain free entry they most hold ID showing name address and dob. Anyone caught misbehaving will have their ID photocopied by the club and refused further entry for a full year.
I can’t believe we are still having this conversation two years after they were first denied entry.

We got away with that didn’t we

I can’t disagree with fellow Darts - how can Eddie not start every game

Shit management if he is 100% fit

And we go again Tuesday. COYD

KentC wrote: Sun Feb 01, 2026 5:53 pm

Jonty wrote: Sun Feb 01, 2026 4:43 pm For the second home game running I witnessed young supporters being turned away from the turnstile. I could understand this if they were the Peaky Blinder looking type draped in Burberry but these were just a few young 10-12 year olds looking for a footy fix. I spoke with Spike about this at our last home game and he said they got turned away at the away end and the stewards radioed the other end instructing them not to let them in. This is another generation of young supporters that we have lost and it really is sad to see. Someone from the club should have explained the process of how to gain access through free ticket program. Maybe, this is another topic to add to the meeting.

As for the game; this is why I never leave early as you never know. With Eddie coming on late, I always felt that we could nick a goal and so it proved. Like others have said, how can you leave a 20 plus goalscorer on the bench. Some of the decisions from Ady remind me of the sketch where Eric Morecambe says to Andre Previn "I'm playing all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order". Team selection, Substitutions & tactics are very old school, one dimensional and predictable, I just wish he would be a bit more positive.

I went with Johnny as my MoM in the end after reviewing the video, he has not had the best of starts but in the last few games he has put in some consistent performances. All in all it was a great game to watch and the finish to the game was the best of the season to date. Sadly, it was just a little too much for their player who threw the bottle into the crowd at the end of the game.

That bottle was at me, someone upset him?

You must have been standing in front of Parklife as I think it was aimed at him.