Interesting article on news now national league by a Chesterfield journalist on the 12 players who have impressed against Chesterfield this season and we have two players in the 12 Manni and Mancini who as we know only played 120 minutes against them but did nough in that time to be included so well done to both of them.

definitely the most likely assets to be sold if Raj needed to

If we keep hold of both of them for next season then i think we have a chance. Its not often Pools have found themselves with 2 very saleable assets based on their current form ! We dont usually find a decent striker either, but it appears somehow we have had 2 in 2 seasons with Mani and Umerah. The latter i imagine will be gone come the summer this time round anyways.

Great players to build the team around given also we have Dixon now performing and 2 good CBs with Mani O also on the bench.

Just depends if the offers that come in are worth it - id only look to sell them if it meant been able to literally buy another 6 league quality players who could push us on and get us out the league again !

I personally think we be able to keep our best players next season. Then I think we could sign some quality players from League one or two, because of K.P. All these players who watched Phillips in the 00's scoring goals for fun (didn't get a fair chance at England) they might want to train and play under one of the great goal scorers of the 00's (In my opinion)

I would never have thought we would ever sign likes of Waterfall, Parkes, Senior, Dickerson and Kahn..

If Mancini doesn’t get fully fit again he won’t be going anywhere.

Mancini does have that hanging over him - but i reckon we will see the real Mancini after a full pre season.

given he is fully rested and looked after he may even come alive again over the next few weeks.

he could well make the difference in times of need i.e he would of been perfect in the Woking game to just do something and drive us forwards.

for me they are two players who on their day make attending games feel worthwhile. if they had played for opponents the words why can,t we sign players like that would be appearing on here.

100% agree we are fortunate to have them both.

they have been the only blessings this season

In KP pre match interview ne says Mancini still has a groin problem and is undergoing treatment, on a side note KP also said Khan is going to be out for a few weeks.

Still plenty of deadwood to release in May which should create a bit of wiggle room in the summer recruitment process.
Agree no reason why we can't recruit from above instead of gambling on a player from Scarborough like last summers first signing.
In KP we trust.
UTP.

Spot on Accy

Spot on

Mancini we could get a decent fee for with a sell on clause, Dieseruvwe has never been a prolific goal scorer, he has only scored 33 goals in his career as a professional prior to joining Pools, 29 years old, I couldn’t see a club paying a big fee for him.

This is the new football world we are talking about - clubs with cash will gamble on a 33 year old for at least one season in a hope he replicates the goal tally he may have gotten the season before (given it was a very good goal tally). I think someone like Mani D in his current form would have no problem operating at L1 in a decent side and would return them 20 plus goals a season too. But lets just hope hes here for next season regardless as i think he is a pinnacle to getting us out this league again. Imagine someone with equal quality, pacier direct next to him. with a fully fit Mancini behind them. League quality that ! (plus Joe Grey as hes only getting better and better each game now) !

looking at some of the duds we signed when we were in the league anything is possible nowadays when the names of decent players crop up. can also see a team taking a punt on joe grey also.

The basis for a decent squad is here now Dixon Waterfall Parkes Crawford Cooke Mani D Fergy Grey Mancini.
Interesting most on here are looking for a promotion challenge next season but Fergy and Mani D both mention play offs this season. Can see some entertaining games coming up if that's KPs mindset, draws are not much good we need to go out to win every game.

Given the teams around us have games in hand - it would be a very tough task and Pools would almost have to now win every game i think.

Some teams are hitting little patches of form around the top 10 now too. Given we are the No.1 in form atm !

Draws we can handle if the teams around us keep loosing - points on the board is key no matter what from now till end of season if we are to actually creep in the top 7

Play offs a very long shot but because there is a tiny glimmer of hope, I suspect most of us are secretly harbouring dreams. Its the nature of being a Poolie and I guess a fan of any team: if there is hope how ever faint, there is interest.

Most of the teams around us have either played the same, or 1 or 2 games less than us. Altrincham have 3 games in hand but have lost their last 2, and Rochdale have 3 games in hand but have lost their last 4 and are 6 points behind. The only other team with a lot of games in hand are Wealdstone, they have 5, but are now 9 points behind, and have only picked up 2 points from their last 4 games. If we can keep our unbeaten run going, mainly with wins, we have a good chance to get into the play offs.

Studyed the divisions remaining fixtures and it's defo a minimum of 10 wins required.
A big ask but no way impossible.
The team spirit is back and they know they've got the best fans non leagues ever had right behind them.
UTP

10 wins would get us to 77 points, that would have got us to 5th place last season. 8 wins would get us to 71, the same points as 7th last season.

The totals change every season.
I can remember Boro getting into the playoffs decades ago on 69 pts. Must be some record that like.
Aldershot at home in April could be mega.

Nothing at all unusual about looking to next season for a promtion challenge, just common sense.
However that doesn’t mean those advocating it wouldn’t be over the moon if we could do it this season,.
You hope, but you have a back up plan in reserve.

We need an upgrade on Dixon and Crawford next year in terms of starting line up, also need to solve the conundrum of how we play Cooke (who does bring a lot to the table) in midfield without being overrun

Why Crawford? Featherstone is too slow. Cooke playing well enough and Crawford make the tackles and can score goals too.

Great podcast on Radio Tees - KP at 10 mins & Mani D at 21 mins. Mani says his form is the best it has ever been in his career, so it's time for Pools need to tie him down long term. And he gets a glowing testimony from the interviewer

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0h7zsb2

Not sure why we need an upgrade on Crawford? Gets through an huge amount of work, tackles and gets into the box. He's been very good for us since KP arrived and I very much doubt Wallace or Fev will be able to fill his boots while he's suspended.
Dixon has made a few errors for sure, but he's also had some very good games too. He's the best at dealing with crosses we've had in many years.

Dixson kept us in the game at Bromley with a good save from a free kick.

all about opinions--Dixon has been better as two proper centre backs helping him out--he should have done better for both goals Tuesday though

Crawford I would have as a squad player--if we want to go up we do need to upgrade the midfiled though, as him Feather and Cooke together doesnt work IMO

Well surely Fev isn't the future? Cooke will go elsewhere imo possibly back to an efl club. Crawford is also out of contract but was good enough last time we earned promotion and is now a better player than he was then.

Fevs has a good 1st touch and good passer of the ball. Shame it's always very short passes the majority backwards n sideways which allows the opposition to build a brick wall near the penalty area.
Would like to see him be a bit more ambitious and go forward passes to our wingers n forwards
Downside to his game soft as shite n detests any form of tackling and always shys out of heading the ball in a 50/50 situation.

Cooke great passer but very slow which makes him look lazy at times. Gets in some excellent one on one situation against the keepers but mainly drags his shots wide or hits the bar

Reckon Crawford will improve under KP and has loads of energy.

Different opinions eh.
It's certainly Gunna be an interesting Retained List in May.

And I'd go for a younger 6ft 6 inches Goalkeeper for start of next season.
UTP.

Pretty much agree 100% with that assessment of Fev, how so many managers have played him in the holding role is a mystery to me. He's a much better player when we're on the front foot and he's higher up the pitch. Having said that all those managers do this for a living whereas what do we as fans know?
Cooke has vision and a range of passing that no-one else at the club has, lately he's shown passion, pace, and strength to his game - maybe he knows that his position is under threat from Mancini as I don't think we can have the luxury of the 2 of them in the same team?

need to remember that reaching the play offs is just the start of the battle. if we sneek in 7th we will have 2 away games to win before we even reach the final. for me even looking at our improved side it will be a season too early as KP will need a hell of a lot of replacements during the summer. showed how hard this was under challinor getting the right men in.

think if we got the playoffs id be looking to bring some more in and spend some cash on those that have over performed for the lower teams in the division. This used to happen all the time at this level. The pick of the best players from the bottom clubs would sometimes get short deals during the playoff campaign

Challinor was also hampered by the fact that the play off final was only a week before most players contracts expire at the end of June so many players would already have agreed deals with new clubs whereas we didn't know which league we'd be in. Plus a 6 week close season for us, most other clubs were back in pre season before we'd played the final.
This season the play off final is the 1st weekend in May which makes it a he'll of a lot easier for the successful club to recruit and prepare.

So what's the excuses for the Transfer Windows after that then.
Absolute pathetic especially the January windows were the Managers thought they were Gunna get some help.
It's the main reason why we ended up back in Non League Superfast.
Basic fact.
But ya can disagree like.

it does but still feel even now that we have very few players up to league standard and that includes a some of the new signings and those having a better season like crawford and possibly joe grey if we are struggling a bit. just need to compare what we have got to chesterfield for a start and the money we may have available.

There's a huge number of players out of contract at the end of this season which helps big style, not so much dross we'll be stuck with.
The clear out is coming and not before time.

there is every season but why do pools have trouble finding them. do not think its much to do about geography either but an excuse given. think a lot of the clearout has been done already with very few still on the books we do not ever want to see in a pools shirt even in an emergency if we are still in this league next year.

Couldnt clear enough out last season with 2 year contracts being given to all of Hartleys misfits plus the likes of Dolan being given a deal by a manager who didnt last 5 minutes.
Quite a few still on the books but out on loan so will still be a cost until their contracts expire.
Of the ones I've mentioned as being the basis of a decent squad Fergy, Crawford and Cooke are both out of contract this summer I think. So that leaves us with 6, we'd still need another 14 or so to have the numbers required for a new season. Biggest number out of contract for quite some time I think.

a lot could depend on who KP wants to offer new contracts too or can find better fits in the squad.