..Before the start of the season--is there any real doubt we are working with a lot less money than last year and everything is being invested in a strategy that hopes Sarll can work some magic and we have zero injuries

Cant say I am surprised, but its hard to look at the business we have done and conclude we are being serious about going up....I didn't rate Phillips but if we had kept him he'd have fucked off by now anyway based on the backing given

We were always going to be working with less money this season. The parachute payments drop by something like £200,000, I don't imagine Raj would be too keen filling that void.
Either way I thought we would've seen at least another 2 or 3 players by this time. If we get another 3 in and our injured don't recover in time we will just have enough for a bench...

and next year there will be no parachute payment..

I honestly don't understand the plan---he doesn't want to invest more (and that's understandable and in fairness to Raj he did put his money in at the start), he doesn't seem to want to sell, the asset he owns is losing value each year.....what is the end game?

Get lucky with Sarll?
There's probably a bit more value within the squad than at this time last season - Mani D and Joe Grey must have gone up in value, we've paid fees for some of the signings, and some promising kids might start to flourish and be worth fees.
Maybe the academy is at the heart of any long term plan, who knows?

Bankruptcy

His end game is to keep taking as much money back as he possibly can and once this paracute money is gone then he will probobly sell.

Of course there is doubt.

We have 18 players. If we don't sign anyone else we will struggle to field a balanced 11 week in week out. As others mentioned, a few injuries and we'll be in serious bother.

There is no one from the club suggesting financial issues.

All the key people attended the most recent friendly at the Vic, Raj, Ronnie, Lennie amongst others.

If a club is in bother, it doesn't stay quiet.

Listen to Sarll. It's his reputation on the line. In a recent interview he spoke of the PL transfer window and how it closes end of August. This impacts loans and PL decisions.

He is literally saying, judge us by end of August. If we have 13 points and a proper squad of 22, perfect. If not, then we need to understand what's went wrong.

It's too soon to panic now, before a ball has been kicked.

I still think some people are looking at the books and thinking about buying

Lets not get conned by saying we paid fees it will be minimal and in the grand scheme of things peanuts. We have one player worth possibly half decent money and if raj is planning on gojng he will probobly sell him before his contract is up.

The problem is us hardly being able to fill the bench or change things will affect results in August, i dont buy this we have an easy set of fixtures lark, infact the first two probobly couldnt get much harder. Yeovil used to a winning mentality buzzing to be back in the league and southend who will surely be up there.

The fees might be minimal but this is NL, how many other clubs are paying fees at this level? And at this stage last season we had none who would've been worth a fee and no kids breaking through either.
Even with the reduced size of squad I'd say the value now is more than it was 12 months ago.

Sounds so depressing might as well not bother then.
Might take up hang gliding..or extreme pottery

I am not enthusiastic about the coming season. I think it will be a bit grim.

Always optimistic at this time of year I find it pays off on average every 10 years or so.

I think we'll make the playoffs. Something to build on if we have the patience!!

Maybe the club should get their fingers out. Had long enough.

another year out of this league and we have to abandon the academy/lose all protection from other clubs taking anyone half decent for nowt

Any team serious about Promotion will have their house in order by now.
Our fans seem divided on how the seasons Gunna pan out.

But what will be will be.

It's still now or never from KPG.
UTP.

Will be the big A or a takeover with obviously a less asking price than last time.

You would think that would be the case, not us though. 2 months ago when we questioned what was going on we got told no rush its only june. Its now August and probobly around 5 players short, but now its gone from being ready for the start of the season to the end of August. Be panic stations if we get 4 or 5 injuries in no time.

What are we doing hoping some premier league teams allow us some players for nowt? Surely though we will be bringing a keeper in next week? Even we arent that daft.

It should be obvious that a club with HUFC support, hence income, cannot compete to sign decent players, that cash is being syphoned off to the owner. Raj is imo maximising his income before selling up leaving us in a similar position to that which we were in when he 'rescued' us.
There are only two classes of football club buyers: very rich supporters and those who see it as a profitable investment. Raj is clearly in the latter group.

Can't compete to sign decent players? We've got 1 who was offered a contract by a div 1 club and we competed and we're successful in signing the rest.

You could get another greenhouse so you can compete with your misses.

You know the doomongers get doomier if that makes sense. God they’ll commit suicide if we are successfull.

Surely if Raj was intent on recouping his money we'd have sold Grey and Mani D and we wouldn't have brought in the players we have we'd have gotten cheaper options from Dog n Duck Leagues?

I would never try to compete with our lass on anything,, she’s from West View.
Never annoy a crocodile.

I am not happy with Dixon in goal....but will we even have a spare keeper on the bench?--him getting injured or sent off and some outfield player taking the gloves might show some on here how much we are cutting corners/taking the piss out of the fans again

I won't of been the only one on here who went to Brighton about 30 years ago.
Our keeper went off.
John McPhail went in goal n saved a penalty.
Brian Honour scores last minute Equaliser.
500 Poolies go ballistic in celebration

Certainly the good old days.
Never thought then we could of stooped so low.

We still got quality fans like.

Stop telling lies

I was there Kev McPhail pulled of a few good saves. Maybe he might be interested in helping out again. If memory serves didn't we get two sent off

You dont recoup money by losing week in week out with players from the dog and duck league. Even raj knows he needs enough national league players to keep crowds coming in. With the hope we muster our way to a big cup game along the way. He has hardly splashed the cash has he releasing 11 players now of the wage bill, no more 6 loanees and bringing in 5 lads from halifax fylde and crawley etc.

Some fans are quite content with this just shows how far the club has fallen.

So going on your method/view.

We are guaranteed a better season
Nailed on promotion?
In your world we buying our way to Promotion.

Don't take it to heart but you come across as a bit of a fantasist we're you shoot down the Concernists.

Good crack tho.
Nice.

Read my first sentence then ask yourself where I even mention a better season or promotion let alone guarantee anything.
As for buying our way to promotion, again I've said nothing of the sort, I've said I think the value of the squad today is higher than it was a year ago which it undoubtedly is as Mani D would probably cost more than last year's motley crew.
As for fantasist - you're the one making things up rather than actually reading and responding to what I've written.
I'll repeat we need Sarll to be a lucky manager for us.

Backtracking now incase we don't go up.

I see the tide’s going out this morning… …..

Just don't like it when people make stuff up Snowy. Any sensible person can see that my post neither states or even implies what kpg says it does. And he doesn't even have the grace to concede when he's proven to be making stuff up.

If Raj was so focussed on getting his money back then he'd structure a sale which involved a pre-sale strip or completion loan repayments - so it would be in his interests to invest (short-term) and sell quickly. I say this as a retired beancounter and not a fan of Raj.

content or being totally realistic are two different things. know we are at the moment a few bodies light but i,d expect many of the others teams in this league to be the same or have a large squad after they have signed anything available to them. next thing if we only name 5 on the bench at yeovil we,ll be doomed before a ball is kicked if they have 7 on there,s that nobody has a clue of their standard. the crowds will increase if we are winning quicker than they,ll drop if we are not. those who turned up watching crap players where a win looked like something in ther memories were not content but fans of a club they love who just hoped for better days and the tured being polished slightly.

being a lucky manager is better than being a good one. do not know haw sarll has performed in his whole career but challinor has from day 1 as a manager been at the right club at the right time where only at pools was he cash strapped.

this happens every single season. does make you wonder if these actually deserve a decent club to watch.

You could say that about the happy clappers. Will accept anything thats offered up and still believe promotion is coming. Sometimes you got to ask yourself why around 800 fans are not renewing season tickets? Maybe they have heard it all before and are getting slightly fed up of being taken for granted. If some fans arent slightly concerned with this transfer window, then they never will be. Were expecting to have no injuries to get away with this squad, its just not going to happen.

But we're not quite at the start of the season yet so total season ticket sales can't be compared to last seasons yet, and we might have more players in before next weekend.
Given the loyalty Pools fans have shown over the years I'd be more inclined to think the price rise and cost of living have influenced more than any dissaffection with the club.

Correct. Based on what has happened in pre-season, most of the fans in the ground will expect the team to be competitive and to play a more attractive brand of football than what we've had to put up with in recent seasons.

For people who aren't sat at home watching and whingeing online, being motivated to go to the game is about not just will we win but will I be entertained? At the minute I'm optimistic about what I'll see but dubious about whether it will amount to a promotion season. As things stand Pools are leaving themselves open again to their prospects being ravaged by injuries. There's still time to change that but not much sign that it's going to happen.