Ignoring the injuries to Mancini and Dodds.

About a year ago, next question?

Very sharp as usual Snowy although I think we had a better squad last season only we were playing against better teams with better squads. If we can’t beat postman, bricklayers etc it shows how bad Pools are, Dorking players would have been working Friday and travelled up Saturday morning not having the luxury of an overnight night stay like the Pools have when they play down south.

Maybe this pampering does not get results. A good Friday night on the piss might be an option..........we have tried everything else.

2016/17, Craig Hignett, Sam Collins & (the Jeff rant on Sky) Dave Jones.

That squad was god awful in my opinion.

It’s been our nuclear wasteland since IOR left.
We need to set out on a course and stick to it, this club is like a tumble drier on a long setting, time to get some stability and have a plan.

We'll see what this new guy does with recruitment. If we are to have a playing plan surely we need to recruit for that plan, right throughout the squad.
We need around twenty six players all buying into the plan. who can also slot seamlessly into the side as and when required. The academy also needs to play to the system so they can be promoted to the first team squad fully au fait with what is required of them.
That really is a basic requirement and it has to start now, if we are to achieve anything at all.
If we can achieve anything this season all well and good but we may have to be satisfied with just staying in this league until JA can get the players he wants and get rid of the ones he doesn't want.
Then we should have the foundation to build upon. It will take time and so we have to be patient and do our bit.

Still early days but at the moment seems highly likely we wont be getting promoted.

Which is not the end of the World if we use this season to lay the foundations for the future.

I was hoping this season would be a season of laying foundations especially with Askey getting a three year contract. I never expected instant gratification because it’s time we started building instead of this stumbling along and wanting every thing to go right from day one.
Building a team takes time and tears, there’s no quick fix.

Ah well, off to see the nuclear submarines at Barrow next week and I can’t take Ratboy , well, it’ll make a change from here.

let’s just hope we can build said team around Dodds, Mani D, Mancini and a couple of other smart additions - and not, start from scratch, as is generally the case each year.

Never said it was. I guess a few of us were allowing ourselves to get optimistic for a play off slot after our very good start but before a ball was kicked I reckon most of us would have settled for a top half finish with no threat of relegation considering what happened last season. A lot remains to be seen over the next few months.

I still maintain a top half finish and a trip to Wembley in the FAT- will be a good season, for me.

apart from needing another sentral defender and a midfielder in our present squad was possibly as good as the one challinor got us promoted with. if every injured player was back for wednesday we,d be talking about how many we,d beat boreham wood by. i,d take my 12th position now and move on. we just need something at the vic on the pitch yo keep our interest up.

How about the squad that Cloughie inherited?

Or the rabble that Chris Turner took over?

But there is a difference - those squads (however awful) contained characters and guys I liked - afraid I feel no connection to the current guys, despite the badge kissing walks around the pitch after the odd win.

Brian Clough scoured the midlands mostly around Burton for players - all were what we might call journeymen footballers. However they gelled as a team and had a belief in themselves far and above their talent and put some pride into Pools which had been lacking from around 1958 to 1966. Another team springs to mind who to mind were the finest team for spirit that I have ever seen and that was the Sunderland team that won the cup in '73.

can the clock be turned back though for a repeat of all that or has it gone forever in the modern game of stats rule ok.