Cheers Mr Imp…. We all have to look back on what happened with regret, but you just have to move on and try to find common ground.

They say hope is the last thing that dies.

Hope is the last thing that dies, because it’s the hope that kills you…..according to Solzhenitsyn in the Gulag Archipelago…….
The ‘Gulag Stadium’ has a certain ring to it.

I'm not having my head shaved just to watch Pools. It may feel like an indeterminate sentence in a place almost without hope, but there are limits

I have no problem with the head shaving, it’s the random executions that would spoil my day.

just why fall out amongst ourselves. we all have different opinions and thank the lord for it. even promoted leyton orient fans will not all agree either. think most posters received some personal abuse from poolie 1 who rarely followed an arguement to its final outcome. raj will be pissing himself with laughter at us falling out between ourselves as more we do it we,ll leave him alone. its hard to feel positive at the moment but really what other option do we have. start pre season and go on about something we cannot change right up to the final game of the season. somewhere for me there is something rotting somewhere at pools for years now and only challinor seemed to sort the problem out. why do so many players turn up at the vic, play well but then drop their game to some of the rest. they all cannot hit a bit of bad form.

Where do we go from here? NL 23-24 In no particular order:
Barnet, Harrow and Wealdstone, Aldershot, Solihull Moors, Rochdale, Oldham, Halifax, Woking, Chesterfield, AFC Fylde (possibly), Ebbsfleet, Dartford (possibly), Maidenhead, Bromley, Eastleigh, Borehamwood, Gateshead, York (hopefully), Kings Lynn, Dorking, Southend, Altrincham

Bright side - The club with the biggest Sugar Daddies is up. The one with the biggest fan base should go up too. In theory, there are no sleeping giants in the NL and we're unlikely to see any team show the same dominance as has been the case this year. I live in Woking and the delusions some have here.. but Darren Sarrll has done a cracking job. Hopefully we'll be able to look forward to winning matches regularly again.

Fingers crossed Notts County get the job done as they would likely hit 100+ points again & stroll the championship.

Chesterfield the likely favourites? Oldham will fancy it too. Then the usual physical battles versus Solihull, Bromley & Eastleigh. It's a brutal, relentless division, that'll put us under intense pressure from the off. One of us or Rochdale to be basket case clubs and bottom out even further?

We need to be decisive in the decision making this summer, not delayed and hesitant like we were this season awaiting the appointment of Paul Hartley. Make a mark on the transfer window with a good manager in Askey to lead us too. Have the majority of the squad in place for the start of pre-season this time.

There’s nothing there apart from Chesterfield and possibly Oldham that give you any worries, but over confidence is worse than over caution, if we can get a team together instead of our ‘finest’…. there might be something to believe in….big IF though.

It'll be the teams you least expect that flourish in the NL though, especially with a more level playing field. Altrincham were raved about the season we came up, for instance. We saw first hand the level of dark arts at play from a certain few clubs too. Bromley away, always awful. Barnet will build & be strong next season. Borehamwood always a nasty game. And teams would come to the Vic and play like it was their cup final.

It is slightly more comforting when you see the teams laid out like that, but a lot of our transfer targets as we were in league 2, need to apply despite the fact we're in the NL. Our Scottish contingent all need to leave & we need to become an attractive proposition for top-end NL & bottom-end L2 footballers to come play. If the strategy is implemented and delivered in a ruthless manner, we can make the top 7 next year. But when you look at Scunthorpe, Torquay and Yeovil, you do fear the worst... The above sounds great, but the reality with Pools, probably end up losing our first 10 matches back in the NL & panic button being pressed.

Southend are doing Ok and on the fringe of the play offs this season so may well be a threat next season. Barnet have potential and Dagenham are always there or thereabouts.

Regarding players on the books, with a year still to run, would it not be better to just reach an agreement and pay the off as they will have to paid off anyway, just to clear the decks because as sure Hell there’s a few who’ll be as much use as a perforated condom.