I don't know what's happening at Carlisle, they got dicked today and Luke Armstrong was on the bench, never got on until 88 minutes. Hasn't really done anything since he signed for them.
Wonder if Carlisle fancy loaning him out, we have a vacant no9 shirt...

Nothing is impossible. Hopefully he has fallen out with the manager. Probably the only club he would go to would be Betty's lot because they probably still owe Harrogate some of the transfer fee. Doesn't look good for Simpson ...spend quite a bit and still dog shite after being relegated.

They've got Charlie Wyke who is a very similar type of striker, not sure they'd work as a pair.

Thing is, he’s had a lot of turbulence since he left here and doesn’t seem a happy feller.

He's never been prolific although hes without a doubt a great finisher, I think his best ever season might have been with us and paired with Rhys Oates. As a strike pairing they just worked so well together, maybe it's a case of him working best with the right partner and in a system that suits him.

just thinking the same. wasn,t happy at salford. things seemed to turn sour at harrogate and now carlisle. only the first game of the season so you cannot read much into it i suppose. if we had still been in the efl he might easily have been a poolie again.

Sometimes everything clicks for a player like it did here for Armstrong and there’s always a lot of factors at any club that can unsettle a player from the manager and team mates to the fans and atmosphere…seems he hasn’t found the right place and the problem at Harrogate won’t have helped.

He has not got over not going to Wrexham

Time to grow up then, buckle down and rebuild his own career…..?

imagine we got him back - HMS piss the league in full swing ! Honestly think him and Mani D with Campbell would hurt teams at this level.

Thats a league strike force right there for me and one that wouldnt look out of shape in the L1 or very good L2 sides

not sure about L1 but we would not need to spend much if he got us promoted along with a lot more if we kept them.

This

In fairness to him that was life changing money that he burnt bridges with Harrogate to get only for wrexham to f up the admin, and he knows that was a unique chance he will never get again…will likely haunt him all his life

Would we get the same player back though…that’s the problem, lot of water under the bridge for him since then.

not really as he started off well at harrogate until something went a bit sour for him last season. do not know how popular he was with the fans but cannot imagine it was better than with us. for some people they thrive on being liked where others aren,t bothered.

I can remember him playing against us for Harrogate in the game we came back from 2-0 down at HT to win 3-2. He was stood in the box at the Town End clapping the fans & by the look on his face you sensed he was thinking to himself that he wished he was still playing for us rather than Harrogate.

I would be wary of bringing him back just in case he isn't the same as before.

Remember when they scored in the Town End, all their players rushed over to celebrate with cocky scorer….but Armstrong reluctantly trudged over looking distinctly uncomfortable.

Yes that's right Snowy, I remember that now you have mentioned it.

He will be way out of our price range wages wise, unless we get a loan that Carlisle subsidize

I honestly think he would thrive coming back - he knows hes loved. Probably try hard and give his absolute all under DS and infront of the fans ! we would have him fit and hungry. Even if its just for a season for himself to put him right back in the shop window, i doubt he would finish the season on less than 20 goals and probs a bag loads of assists

So Sarll would have to go with 2 out and out CFs or would you drop Mani D?
I'm sure Armstrong would not consider a drop to a place on the bench at NL as being a good career move.

Maybe that Derby County kid Brown who did well on loan to Gateshead last season would be a more realistic target for a season long loan?

Yeh tried and tested at this level in this league would be a sensible approach to any loan signing like - especially a forward

think though with those type of players - Derby will have monitored how well he coped with this level so may want to try him another level above and get him a move to L1 or Scottish Prem etc...

Imagine them playing together….mind you that’s all we can do.

he would not be the first player whose heart was still at another club even if they were succesful at another. somehow i can see him back at pools before he packs the game up.

There's been at least one Luke Armstrong thread every season since his loan period with us finished, so if Poolies have their way he will be back at some point - which side of 30 is the question

Funny how many good players leave Pools for pastures new and find things don’t quite work out.

Armstrong and Oates had something special at Pools but couldn't see it.
They were idolised and playing well off each other but didn't want to preserve that unique association. Such a shame but that's football.

it is when more by luck than anything else that could be the one and only time in their careers that happened. plenty of manger think they have signed a dream team up front when it quickly turns into a nightmare for both even if they are pals off the pitch.

Think Rhys Oates has been happy enough with his move to Mansfield but he's missed a load of games through injury in the last two seasons. I imagine he's well down the pecking order now they're in League One.

Oates seems v highly rated at Mansfield, and has a new contract--but been unlucky with injuries

Lot of time for Oates as a player who really improved himself---Put Challinor nose out of joint by not signing up for us again---maybe he knew his boss was a snake who was going to slink off at the first sign of a better offer though

Oates still only 29, seems to have been around for ages...https://youtu.be/ZesX_TpttXk?si=nmEsD2t3knMAxMSA

Aye, I do rate loyalty over ambition.
Rare nowadays though.

I lost any respect for Oates for the way he left, never turned up for the victory parade and left the club in the dark, even more shan was that we gave him a second chance. I watched his interview for Mansfield when he signed for them, when they mentioned pools he looked liked a kid caught stealing sweets from a shop.
Ryan Johnson and luke Armstrong at least went about it the right way.

Oh, grow up.

Darren Sarll reminds me a lot of Dave Challinor. He's had a reasonable amount of success with smaller clubs, knows his way around this division and has a plan to get us out of it. Like Chally, he's putting a ton of emphasis on bonding with the fans because he knows how important they can be to building an aura around his side.

If he can emulate Challinor's success and win promotion with Pools he'll be like a dog with two tails - the closest he's come previously is a play-off quarter final. He'll be ever so proud to lead us back into the EFL - but if a much richer club with more potential than Pools makes him a great offer what do you seriously expect him to do??? It's what happens 99 times out of a 100 with ambitious young managers.

In the event of success, if Raj has Sarll signed up to a long term contract Pools will at least collect a a nice amount of compo for parting with his services, as they did with Chally.. Raj screwed up by not finding a suitable replacement for DC when he walked. Hopefully the club has learned its lesson and will have a proper succession plan in place next time around - whenever we're lucky enough to see a 'next time.'

pools like the vast majority of all the clubs is a selling club both players and managers. its what clubs do with the money they receive thats important. bigger fish eat the smaller and so on and we still have a few teeth left ourselves.

Spot on.