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England’s ‘worst team’ owned by ex-Prem player resigns from league and all competitions

England’s ‘worst team’ owned by ex-Prem player resigns from league and all competitions with immediate effect, they confirm.

Durham City of the Wearside League, sees fans at loggerheads with owner Olivier Bernard, and have conceded 128 goals across their first 13 league fixtures to sit bottom of the 11th-tier division with it turning rather sour especially on social media.

Zenith Sports and Event Management, who have been of charge of the club since December of 2021, have now terminated their relationship with owner Bernard, with the management also resigning.

Bernard, who played for Newcastle between 2000 and 2005, and had spells with Darlington, Sunderland and Rangers, had once pledged to turn Durham City into the best feeder club in the North East on his purchase in December of 2013.

However, a huge drop in form has seen the club pick up just one game since 2019 and now decide to withdraw from league with their future thrown into doubt.

A post on Twitter reads: “It is with sadness that we must announce that we have advised Durham FC and the Wearside League that we have withdrawn Durham City from all competitions effective immediately.

“Zenith SEM has terminated its relationship with Olivier Bernard, senior management have also resigned.”

After supporters wanted answers, the Frenchman said earlier this year: “Durham City doesn’t have ANY real supporters.”

Australian Chris Tanner had been in charge since last December, however, he worked from Sydney, with Bernard cutting ties despite still being the owner two years ago.

Bernard was quoted as saying by The Sun that he simply doesn’t have the time or energy to sort out the mess the club find themselves in.

‘I’ve got the power to change things but do I have the time? No,’ he said. ‘And the last thing I want to do is go down to Durham — it’s another hour’s drive.

The former Magpies star has denied saying he doesn't have the time to run Durham on Twitter

Bernard also revealed he is plotting a 'new direction' for the club despite their current woes

‘There are no Durham City supporters. They are now Spennymoor or Darlington fans.

‘They’ve never been supporters because, for me, fans don’t switch teams. You wouldn’t switch to Sunderland if you support Newcastle.

‘It could be me today but tomorrow it could be someone else. Either you love the club or you don’t and we don’t have many lovers.’

Wearside League then confirmed: “The League can today confirmed it has received the resignation of Durham City AFC with immediate affect. This will be reported to the league committee and a fine in accordance with league rules will be levied.”

As can be seen above, following the announcement, Bernard took to Twitter himself to deny admitting he doesn’t have the time to run Durham in his interview with The Sun and also claim they had been withdrawn from competitions without his consent, saying: ‘Would like to apologies for the twisted story you all been reading . A lot of it is taking out of context again but I’m not surprised as we all know this Newspaper !

‘As from today Chris Tanner and his Zenit team will no longer be part of the Durham city football club. I will give you more information asap on the club new direction shortly.’

Bernard then added: ‘I never wanted the club to leave competitions. I will get in touch with the league today.’

www.fanbanter.co.uk – Fan reaction to the latest football news, gossip & funnies

Durham City were a Football League side between 1921 and 1928 having been founded back in 1918, but have dropped down the tiers since being denied promotion to the National League North due to having a plastic pitch back in 2007/08.

13 years later and the club now have no permanent home following a row with the owners of New Ferens Park in 2015 over failing to provide match officials with tea and coffee the Daily Mail write.

They now play games eight miles from Durham in Houghton-le-Spring near Sunderland, with reports stating a £2,400 debt racked up from groundshares with the likes of Consett and Willington are reportedly still yet to be paid.

Statement from Zenith SEM

On Tuesday 8th November, myself and controlling partners in Zenith SEM decided to terminate our relationship with Olivier Bernard and the football club that he owns – Durham City AFC.

We took over the running of the club via a commercial agreement with Mr. Bernard in December 2021.  We weren’t appointed by the previous board (one of his recent lies)

We immediately went about fixing a lot of the problems at the club.

Close to £10,000 was brought to the club, the club became much more self-sufficient, and Mr. Bernard’s financial assistance to the club was minimised dramatically.

We increased social media metrics, and brought in media partners, celebrity partners, charity partners, and more.

At the time of our departure, two social teams, two junior teams, one women’s team and a private academy were talking to the club about coming under our umbrella in 2023.

At the time of our departure, we were talking to Sunderland Council about plans for Leyburn grove, including pitch improvements and a licensed social club.  We were also talking to New Ferens Park about a return to our spiritual home.

Throughout all this time, there has been one constant problem … the lack of interest of Olivier Bernard, the club’s owner.

Now, don’t get me wrong.  This is not a payout on Mr. Bernard.  It’s simply a statement of fact, that may or may not help the club find a better ownership structure down the road.

I don’t blame Olivier for being disinterested to be honest, but he can’t keep blaming everyone else for the decline of the club since he bought it.

This week was the last straw.

After the debacle of the Willington bill, that he was paying, not paying, paying, not paying (an arrangement that was put in place before we arrived on the scene) we saw the writing on the wall.  This guy owned a club, but had no idea on how a club operated.  I guess that’s why we were brought in  ?

I cheekily asked Olivier from time-to-time to strap on the boots to save HIS club … he declined, no problem.

This week I asked him where the new players were he had scouted for us.  He told us they weren’t coming because they didn’t like me.  No other players had an issue with me, only Olivier’s players … PROBLEM.  Surely they were playing for him and his club ?

He told our manager that the players weren’t responding to him .. a different story, PROBLEM.  I asked him could the manager ring them instead of me.  He didn’t respond because he didn’t want to get caught out … he was lying.

We’ve repeatedly asked him to be a guest at fundraising nights … he refuses.  These nights would have made us £4000-£5000 per season.

This week, when the players’ spirits needed a lift, I asked him if he would attend training to have a chat to the lads.  he refused again.

We never asked him for any other monies, just to take a small interest.

That was the last straw.

A club like Durham City belongs to its people, they are the stake holders.  Olivier is a 100% shareholder who doesn’t care.

He doesn’t care for the layers (volunteers), nor the sponsors, nor the officials, nor the supporters … nobody.

These people have invested their own time and money (like me), to keep HIS club afloat.

What respect and co-operation do they get ?  Nothing.

I should note that Mr. Bernard agreed to pay Sunderland Council’s bill.  Zenith SEM were to provide the tenancy at New Ferens Park should we have stayed on.

So we decided that that was it.  The people are the club.  It’s rich history from the founders, to George Camsell, to Lewis Heap, to Paul Trotter, Gary Hutchinson and Frank Richardson.

We can’t have this man owning the club in the current environment.  Something must change.

We have supplied the Wearside League and the Durham FA with statements of fact.

Mr. Bernard owns a business named “Durham City AFC”.  The club belongs to its people.

We hope one day, he admits his mistakes and walks away and allows the club to flourish under a new ownership model.

Sadly. we couldn’t make the improvements happen on the pitch and the results of last season flowed on into this season.

The improvements we have made can be attributed to a number of good people.  We’d like to thank – Kevin Harrison, Peter Maguire, John Topping, Daniel Wales, Helen Camsell, Dr. Tosh Warwick, the staff of Durham Distillery, the staff of St Cuthbert’s Hospice,  Sue Sweeney, Terry Fenwick, everyone at TiDi Nation, Bryan Telfer of Difference Group UK, Simon Minto at SM Print, Lee Hughes, Ian Thompson, Sarah Soulsby,  George McCormick, Nick Ballard, Kevin Walters, Paul Trotter, James Williams, Gary Hutchinson, Austin Carney, Justin Smart, John Smart, Matt Hollyoake, Lauren Stephens, Clair Johnston, Mick Fieldson, and many more.  I’m sorry if I missed someone.

Thank you all (again).

Good luck to Durham City.

This week, after Olivier let the club down for the last time on our watch, and showed total disrespect for all its people, I took action which I had power to do under our agreement.

  1. players were released and are being given assistance to find other clubs.
  2. all management staff resigned
  3. the first team was withdrawn from the Wearside League
  4. we advised Mr. Bernard that our agreement was terminated
  5. we advised the league and the FA of what had happened

He is now running the club.

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