thankyou for putting me right. it just seems a long time ago as between the end of one season and the start of another a day feels like a week to me. know it sounds sad by having few interests to pass the time but thats just me.

It's the arse end of pre-season to blame - every week feels like a month Roll on Saturday, whatever it brings.

at times i wish i could sleep from may to august as i do not like the summer due to heat and hay fever where the latter seems to go once a ball is kicked in anger. i have a good idea now that my final breath will be in june or july. even dog walking has to be re organised in summer due to the weather and always owning dogs who are made for winter and not the summer heat.

Antony Mancini in the latest social media video of the lads doing 1vs1 training.

Its a physical training session, with twisting and contact so wouldn't be able to do it unless fit.

There are a few missing namely Sloggett, Wallace and Stephenson otherwise everyone else is there.

Would not expect Sloggett to take part in those drills, Could tweak that ankle and knock him back over.
Could be rested most of the week imo.

It may mean Mancini is ready for the bench on Saturday but Sloggett isn't.

Could mean a bench of

Smith
Stephenson
Onaraise
Sass Davies
Mancini
Charman
Aungiers

Which gives us two really good attacking options off the bench in Mancini and Charman.

Just watched the one on one training on social media and they all seem very trim with no sign of carrying any extra weight. Another thing is I think we will have the tallest Pool's team for a long time. The biggest surprise was how slimmed down Featherstone is and how fast he was running which has never been one of his strong points . so come on lads give Yeovil the high press and get a good result. Remember this result has extra importance to both Mr Sarll and Mr Dickenson.

never liked playing against a tall side especially if they looked smart in a decent looking kit. felt we were one down before the kick off.

Mancini may be secretly fit - DS playing the mind games. Unleashes him like a secret weapon on saturday

or will he be one fit for games but not training. didn,t villa have a defender a few years back like that who could not do normal training but played in games.

Paul McGrath.

Just maybe he isn’t quite up to it in the confidence stakes yet. It happens

Supersub.
The modern day David Fairclough who played for Liverpool about 45 years ago.

The downside of Feaths looking so lean is he's now quicker over short distances than Luke Waterfall

Good to see Mancini doing a sprint too. No sign of Sloggett, assuming the big fair-haired lad doing the sprints is Sass-Davies.

The big fair haired lad is Sass-Davies. Also Hunter and Stephenson are on the video, but Mani O isn't.

His twin brother Wayne Goldthorpe played up top for us about 45 years ago but didn't score many goals

Wayne Goldthorpe was a favourite of mine - 8 goals in the 78/79 season - playing alongside Big Bad Bob in a squad which included Eddie Edgar, Ian Crumplin, Roy 'Haircut' Hogan, Mark Lawrence, Derek Loadwick and the one and only George Smith.

yes thats the man. shows how much training is actually needed to play the game at the top. its not like the old days when players put a couple of stone on between seasons either and is a lot of the pre season traing a waste of time. if a player is out injured for say just over 2 month in the season i doubt he will have to go through all the fitness part of training as he would in pre season just to be available for selection.

I think Ledley King was the same!!

You’ve found 1 player from 30 years ago that didn’t train much and decided training isn’t really needed

we have all this sports science in the game. players having there own training regimes and diets but still have the old fashioned training camps and gym works as well. then fans moan about injured players before the season even starts. on top of that you hear managers coming out with, i do not like pre season. i,d put a little bet on it now if the premier league champions reduced their pre season the rest would follow no matter what. the main thing about it is players getting to know each other and getting a good team spirit in the club.

We literally did that 2 years ago when Hartley hadn’t signed any players in time for the pre season trip to Portugal. We didn’t win a game until October.

yeh there has been alot of footballers over the years who only every did light training or gym work - then would play on the weekend.

was watching a podcast about it before - one of Dicanios teams had a character like that but would go out and blitz it weekly.

Adel Taarabt was another whom would do nothing in training - very lazy - feint injury through the week and then be a world beater in the games. According to alot of his previous managers.

Mancini id imagine be on the bench for the weekend.

Feaths might surprise us all this season and be just as good as he was under DC ! hope so !

In the 'good old days' it was more about getting a good team spirit in the pub - you can find a lot of things there but fitness isn't one of them

Pools put a story up on Facebook of just a photo of Mancini. Don’t know what means but seems relevant to this thread.
Him and Campbell are going to rip this league apart starting Saturday. We finally have a solid midfield which will allow these two to play their natural game. A few more signings are needed to bolster the bench but the first 11 is very strong in my opinion.

Came across the odd player meself, Who in training would never stand out.
But come match day, They would come alive, Takes all sorts.

Mancini confirmed by DS that he will be on the bus and in the squad (unless something happens within the next 48 hours he said) Interesting line, i know what he means by it but it could be taken another way also ? anyways i doubt we see anymore leave before the first game of the season thats for sure !

lets just hope we have had lads training with us this week and Henry is also fit enough to secure a deal - dont know what it is about him but after seeing him play and talking to the other lads i really think this kid could do well for us and i really think he wants to play here and work hard under DS. Sometimes hard work and determination prevails over raw talent. Seen many a shite footballer become something i.e Henderson.

I agree Campbell and Mancini interacting with Dodds overlapping and creating space for everyone is a great prospect--good players make the ones around them better, and the Dodds, Seaman, Mancini interplay was great ealry on last year before injury

Assuming you're talking about the latest DS interview with Rob Law on Tees, he also said he is looking to get another 2 or 3 players in this season but is in no rush just now. If Pools finish up with a 24-25 man squad (not counting the loans out) we'll be in a much better place than we were in the first weeks of last season.

Sarll really doesn't seem to be interested in the loan market at all - especially not short-term loans of young players. Just as well, Pools were clue less with them last season.

Totally agree Loyal

Totally agree about Henry

I heard the same interview as you did Mr. Hogans but think that was done by the club media man

When asked to name the best players in the best players in the division Chesterfield's manager named Mancini and said he only played 20 minutes before being injured but was a stand out player. I saw he play a master piece at Southend and reckon When fit is the best midfielder since Jan ove Pederson.

100% Essex

I mean this one: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0jh7ffg

"We think we're in a great place" - hope he's right and we have much better luck with injuries this season.

Is that Damian (circa '93) or Kevin (circa 2000)?

My outlaws, who are Shrimpers and we're in the home end at Roots Hall that day, said Mancini was different class - and couldn't remember the last time an opposing player received a standing ovation when he was subbed off late on.

They made some quip about buying him off us- though my retort was something along the lines of, 'How, when you haven't got a pot to piss in?!'

Other significant difference is that Pedersen was only here on loan from Brann between seasons- he was class though.

Mancini has genius within him. He can glide past players and make it look easy, he can twist and turn out of what look like impossible situations and then he can bang one in the top corner from 30 yards.

The only player in my memory (I'm 38) with that same genius was Adam Boyd. Doing the same things in the pouring down rain vs Sheff Wed, making the impossible look easy.

I think just about everyone accepted Mancini wouldn't turn out for us again. Fortunately we have recruited well and have a strong 11 without him.

We can do well without him. Which helps take the pressure off, Sarll saying in an interview this is not Antony Mancini FC but Hartlepool United FC seemed a bit direct and potentially aggressive, but it takes the pressure off Mancini.

Mancini starting preseason was fantastic, but pulling out just 2 weeks ago demonstrates the doubt even in his own mind, it seems it's both mental and physical. Listen to Dan Dodds interview, when he turned out against West Auckland his anxiety was through the roof as he hadn't played in almost a year, he's got through it but you could see him, during the interview, trying to convince himself he was prepared for Yeovil away.

The same may be happening with Mancini.

The positive is, it seems Mancini will almost certainly be on the bench tomorrow, giving us an incredible player to help create or score a goal out of nothing, should we need him - without there being the pressure to play him because our managers job is on the line as it was with Askey in the middle of last season.

to have him come off the bench as even an impact player for the first month will be unbelieveable and something i cannot remember pools ever having in their aresenal. He literally will change a game - he could even win it for us should we be drawing and need that bit of magic.
If he does have a full season and is ever present in thr side, then we need to enjoy him whilst we have him because there is no way he will be a Pools player next season. Shame as no doubt he will end up leaving for free unless his contract gets sorted before then.
Id imagine he could command some fee aswell given he has games like southend week in week out if fit.

anyways we have a strong squad and looks to be a good start tomorrow - there is alot of teams in this division carrying injuries and still without front me through the door - again like last season we start with what looks to be a good player in most positions. Albeit i reckon this team is much much better than the one that started last season too. Mani to probs hit 25 goals plus ... and Campbell will no doubt reach 15 plus goals too

on his day mancini is one of the few players around who is worth the admission fee on his own. to the point of many expecting him to be gone in the new year when the league transfer period opened. not holding my breath but it would be brilliant to see him involved the same in the vast amount of next season with us. he is an opponents nightmare as they like us have no idea what he,d do next. might not be the ideal team player due to this but most teams are improved by a player like that.

i,m glad he isn,t looking at the majority of these kids who have come in over the years. last season showed young loanees for what they were. no better than even what we had or better than our own kids who at least looked interested and did better in some cases.

i like DS' assessment of loan players he was absolutely bang on the other day - literally throwing a young kid into the lions den and expecting them to pull you out the shit < which so often we did. He knows we had a bad time with all our loanees last year and im sure Lennie and Nicky made him well aware of that. Luckily he isnt another manager who will just fill the squad with loan kids to pack it out. He knows how to win games and whats needed. Breath of fresh air ! like how he knew that getting a player in whos been sat on the bench most the season for a month and expecting miracles from them at this level is ludicrous.

That's how I see it Eiphos_3

yes and there are others who are opposite. think there is a nickname for them that i have forgotton. fact is many players who do train well moan about teamates that do not especially if they are chosen ahead of them. they never mention though that they do a better job on a matchday than they ever do and fell out with a good mate for a couple of weeks due to this.