You read these days of footballers being transferred for millions of pounds for a scoring average of a goal every three or four games - so what would Jose Mourinho and Sir Alex Ferguson pay for a player who scores on average in nearly every game?

Bill Tulip was one of the most prolific ever Darlington strikers, with 36 goals in 44 league and FA Cup matches in the late fifties, a rate which hasn't been bettered since, and probably never will be.

It was thanks to another Darlington great, Ron Greener, that Bill signed for the club in the summer of 1956, and he made an instant impact, scoring twice on his debut in the old Fourth Division at Scunthorpe on August 18th. He scored eight more times before the turn of the year -- including two in the club's record win against Evenwood in the first round of the FA Cup -- but then on New Year's Day against Rochdale he suddenly hit top form and for two mesmerising months couldn't stop scoring.

He blasted a hat trick against Rochdale in the 4-3 win, and in the following games he scored like this - 2,0,4,3,1,2,0,3,1,0,0,2,0,1,1 - 23 goals in 17 matches. His most memorable performance was against our dear friends from Hartlepool, who won promotion that season, on March 2nd 1957, when he scored all three of our goals in the 3-1 win at Feethams in front of a big crowd of 14,051. The Echo said: "When he scored his hat trick, the crowd gave him the sort of ovation that is reserved only for big occasions. The Hartlepool fans sportingly joined in the applause." (Honest, that's in the report!)

Bill scored 32 goals in 38 league games that season, plus another two in the FA Cup, and another two at the start of the following season before he suffered a back injury. He slammed another three past Sunderland in the Durham Senior Cup in an 8-1 win.

So with a prolific striker in the team, where do you think Darlo finished that season? In the league, Darlo scored 82 goals - not bad at all - but at the other end, conceded 95 to finish in 18th position. The league champions that season, Derby County, scored 111 on their way to the title.

Bill's back injury finished his career, even though he went to see several specialists, one even recommended by Stanley Matthews. But injury treatment was primitive in those days - and maybe if today's techniques were available then, Bill could have become the club's all time record scorer.