All my time watching Pools, Darlo aside, two teams that always seemed to annoy me were Barnsley and Port Vale.
Last time we beat Barnsley was in 1975 and Port Vale took us to the cleaners through the 70’s.
Which begs the question why did I latch onto these teams considering all the other teams we’d played, there must have been something in their performances that put me off.

Northampton - don't think we've won there since the 60's

Given they're just down the road from me now, been many times over the years and think I've witnessed ONE draw. Still traumatised by a 5-1 defeat at that god awful ground of theirs about six years ago. We were 1 up in the 1st minute and then got absolutely battered. Might have been the season we fell through the trapdoor the first time.

I hate Mansfield- scabby fuckers. Something quite unpleasant about their fanbase and their town really is the end of the world- on a low par with Burslem, Port Vale. Turned up one year and the ground was a building site- didn't even have any turnstiles that day- think it was the year Beardsley played for us.
I remember we played them at home last game of the season mid nineties and Stephen Halliday got a hatrick 3up and in typical Pools style held on for a 3-2 win. Sure their fans were in the Town end pre redevelopment under Lord Harold. But the bile coming from their fans throughout the game in what was an end of season dead rubber was horrendous.

Scunthorpe - dreadful soulless identikit stadium.
They even banned Hangus one year- sure we played them in the league one week and again in the FA cup the week after.

Stevenage- easy to get to and park- they are normally shite but we never win there.

Lootown - shithole - awful matchday experience and again, never seen us get as much as a point there.

Funny you should mention Mansfield, went there in April for the first time ever, (non football related) glorious day and it was Monday.
I navigated the ‘town centre’’ which was deserted and thought this is like a Sunday afternoon, very strange, but in reality there was no definable town centre.
It reminded me of Covid lockdowns, it appeared to be still in force there or no one has told the locals it’s over…..returning to a busy and irritating M1 was a relief to find life was back to normal.
Even Chesterfield now is like a Giant retail park with a town centre stuck on the side whose only purpose in life is to irritate and obstruct drivers trying to reach the Peak District with their unique version of traffic management.

rochdale, rochdale reserves and rochdale youth team. not keen on lisa stansfield or gracie fields either. mind you i,ll join the mansfield dislike list as it was the only ground i have been arrested on.

I know Gracie Fields was a competent centre half in her day but Lisa Stansfoeld was a class above in midfield.

Charlie Williams the comedian played 151 games at centre half for Doncaster, he used to make jokes about his own skin colour, I doubt the woke brigade would like that nowadays ?

cyril smith in the nets took some beating unless you had some pretty young lads up front.

they would have accused him of selling out as his great, great , great grandfather had white blood in his veins and was totally embarressed by the situation that affected his mental health.

His Mother was white, interesting documentary about Charlie Williams on YouTube.

Saw that documentary, really interesting…it showed him with his dad, a retired miner walking along together, a stocky little bloke in a three piece suit, trilby and gold pocket watch in his waistcoat, but he must have been born in Yorkshire because he had a right broad Yorkshire accent. Fascinating story.

Brentford. In recent years they have been on a different plane of existence to us but back in the 70s and 80s they were regular opponents and I dont remember ever getting a point off them. They gave us a few good hidings at Griffin Park and always nicked a win at the Vic. I used to dread playing them.

What about Cyril Smith?

Less said the better about the obese person

As mentioned we never get much luck with Northampton and my other was Preston, always beat us in the 90s when we played them. Oddly for me it always feels like we pick results up at Torquay, Exeter and Yeovil quite often.

Mind saying that we did win 4-1 there on a plastic pitch

That game at Preston on the plastic - about '92/'93 - seem to remember we played in a dreadful 3rd kit - think it might have been grey with a red trim and might have been the only time we wore it- does that ring any bells with anyone present?

yes and compared to the ones they have today that one was piss poor.

Darlo. Hostile(I suppose expected).. Glad to get away afterwards. Bradford City aka 1975 a 2-1 win there. Brother broken rib police laughing and it pissed down. Rotherham United first game of the season and a 0-5 loss in the league cup. Had to scale a fence to escape the Yorkshire bastards. Not content with walloping Pools they wanted to do the same to us. Rochdale. Burnley fans joining them to give a good hiding given half a chance. Birmingham City. Pools game off due to snow at Wimbledon. Went to St Andrews to see Boro beat them 2-1 late on. Pure hatred. Stood with the Boro fans behind the goal and actually saw an NF guy (black) with it tatooed on his face. Never want to go back there again. And finally Derby County the old Baseball ground. Ah well not much chance of ever going there again. Be interesting to have other fans verdict on a visit to The Vic?

Darlo. Hostile(I suppose expected).. Glad to get away afterwards. Bradford City aka 1975 a 2-1 win there. Brother broken rib police laughing and it pissed down. Rotherham United first game of the season and a 0-5 loss in the league cup. Had to scale a fence to escape the Yorkshire bastards. Not content with walloping Pools they wanted to do the same to us. Rochdale. Burnley fans joining them to give a good hiding given half a chance. Birmingham City. Pools game off due to snow at Wimbledon. Went to St Andrews to see Boro beat them 2-1 late on. Pure hatred. Stood with the Boro fans behind the goal and actually saw an NF guy (black) with it tatooed on his face. Never want to go back there again. And finally Derby County the old Baseball ground. Ah well not much chance of ever going there again. Be interesting to have other fans verdict on a visit to The Vic?

My most annoying team are that bloody Hartlepool Utd lot, been going since 1911 and never won any sort of league once.
Sometimes they really, really, really annoy me
But I’ve adapted now

a visit to the vic and the town itself aint that popular before they visit. goodness knows what they expect. however once they have done it most i know have been pleasantly surprised and we go up in the league table of good away days. those who knock the place a quick mention of places like colchester and other out of town breezeblocks quickly shut em up. millmoor morons must have hated leaving that place as away fans do not have to run the gauntlet up that alleyway back to the main road.