Darlington sack Taylor

Tommy Taylor has paid the price for Darlington's failure

Struggling Darlington have sacked manager Tommy Taylor after the club's poor start to the season.

The Quakers have won just three of their first 14 league games to leave them in 20th position in the Third Division.

He's gone now, thank God, but we won't rush into an appointment

Darlington chairman George Reynolds on Tommy Taylor

Taylor's final game in charge was the 1-0 defeat to Stockport in the LDV Vans Trophy first round game on Tuesday and assistant manager Mick Tait takes charge.

Managerial merry-go-round

He took charge last October but his side won only 15 of the 53 games played since then.

Chairman George Reynolds said Taylor's departure would allow the club to move forward, but insisted they would not rush into a new appointment.

And he blamed Taylor's southern roots for his failure to motivate Darlington.

Darlington lose again

"We've got to move forward. He's gone now, thank God, but we won't rush into an appointment, we'll look carefully for the right man for the job.

"There are thousands of players and managers out there and I'm sure the phone will be alive and applications will come in, and we'll go through them thoroughly and methodically."

He added: "I find with managers you've got to get them where their heart and soul is in it. Southern managers don't seem to gel up in the north for some reason. Up here football is religion."

Taylor's assistant Tait will be in charge for Saturday's trip to Exeter, and Reynolds refused to rule him out of contention.

"Mick is in charge for now and if he does very, very well who knows?" he said.

Tait admits he would be "silly" not to be interested in taking over the vacant position, but is simply looking to steady the ship in his new role.

He said: "It's sad that Tommy's gone, but someone has got to take charge and I'm more than happy to take control for now."