Just got a text from Pools, not yet on the site. Eifion, Darren Williams and Tinkler are three of ten players released.

"John Brackstone, Darrell Clarke, Tony Davison, Carl Jones, Darren Williams, Michael Proctor, Mark Tinkler, Philip Turnbull, Eifion Williams and Craig Hignett have all been released.

Micky Barron, Jim Provett and Dimitrios Konstantopoulos have all been offered fresh deals, while the Club have exercised options in the contracts of Lee Bullock, Ben Clark, David Foley, Ritchie Humphreys, Michael Rae and Antony Sweeney to keep them all at The Vic."

it is on the official...

What about Matty Robson, Joel Porter and Michael Nelson?

I can't really argue a case for any of the released players......

Gutted for Eifion,but that's football and if it means wages for new players then so be it.

Very best wishes Taff for your future,please don't go to the Loids.

I'm surprised that Lee Bullock has been kept as well, I'm not sure he or Sweeney are good enough for league one. I suppose that time will telll......

Its a great shame to see Eifion go because he has been a real servant to the club. I wish him well wherever he ends up.

A few weeks ago I suggested that he was one of the players who deserved some recognition from Mr Mayor for his services to the club and the town and its a bit of a shame this anouncement was made after last night and not before it. He will be remembered as a great pro and a great role model.

Eifion deserves a place in Pools hall of fame

utterly amazed that eifion has gone. I can only think that since wilson only plays him for an hour that he's got some kind of injury?
Anyway the guy has been a legend for us scoring 2 goals that will live in the memory for a long time.56 goals in 198 full appearance(40 as sub) thats a damn good record and although he sometimes frustrated me I think he has been fantastic value for money,I hope he carries on,my torquay supporting mates would love him to go back there.
Good Luck Eiffion

Sweeney was more then adequate last time and I think he will come good again in a higher division

As for Bullock, gawd only knows!

Sweeney does a lot of running about like a headless chicken - he makes some good runs late into the box and gets a goal or two but he doesn't put his foot on the ball with anywhere near the same calmness as Liddle or Boland......

am very surprised BUT wilson is the manager and he works with the players full time we only see the players once or twice a week so we must respect his decision or would you like to keep Eiffion just because he scored a cracking goal against the loids.
as long as the players brought in are better than what he has let go then in a years time we will all be saying wilson was right all along

when their current contract runs out a year extension cuts in so they are retained for a year so basically they could have been released without costing the club a penny but they stay another year

I didn't say I thought Wilson was wrong just that I'm very surprised.
one thing that hit me from that list of names is the quality of them. (ok I know its rich calling proctor quality)There's many a season and not too far back where we'd have been over the moon to sign some or all of that list of players,so it strikes me that its a mark of the clubs ambitions. Of course it remains to be seen who comes in but I think it could be a decent summer

And Ali Gibb and Bullock are better footballers than Effions

I hope Mark Simpson puts a "best of" video on the official web-site as a tribute to Eifion. If anyone knows him give him a call to suggest it.

Put it this way, it says something about Eifion that he's the name that stands out as the one that could have gone either way. Personally I'd have said keep him, especially for his ability to do a job on the right wing as well as up front - but I can see the case the other way as well. Good luck to him in finding a new club, he's certainly capable of doing a good job for anyone in League 2 for a couple of seasons yet.....

Luckily for Taffy, he doesnt fit the Darlow bill does he?

He isnt old, crocked ,crap and injury prone, if he was any of the previous he'd be signing on the dotted line tomorrow

I thought that carl jones was promising? I remember he looked good when he played but then again I thought he'd played more than 2 first team games,remember he got a right bad facial injury. Has he just not developed then?

An amazing comment about a player who has scored 15 goals in a season only two years ago in league one....

Of course hes good enough!! He has already proven that he is.

gutted re eff, clarkey, jones (why no more chances), tinks and daz williams who was ok.

the feckwit who says sweeney it coudl enough is clearly just a total kock and needs to go and fornicate away with his mamma

The question that all the players need to answer is whether they are good enough to get into a team in the top half of league one challenging for the top 5 or 6. There are question marks whether Sweeney is good enough, would you have him in your team every week?

We where in the top 5 or 6 in league one, the season he scored 15 goals......

I think releasing Eifion is a mistake I'm guessing that there must be some good players coming in if players of the calibre these him being booted out. Carl Jones suprises me, the rest; well thanks for the memories.

Taffy was surely worth keeping as a utility player but then clearly Wilson knows a lot more than we do about who he has coming in. I'm assuming that budget constraints have driven this fairly hefty cull of players. I don't mean that we're skint just that DW has a budget to work to and in order to bring in the half dozen good players he wants then he has to free up wages.

Taffy will show up at a L1 club hopefully.

PJ - You normally talk sense but you really can't use that argument because Matty Robson played a lot of the season at left back and Darran Craddack played at right back a fair bit. Would you like to see them get their place...?

Sweeney has showed no where near the same sort of form since....

He scored 15 goals from midfield and played nearly every game, he was one of our three most influencial players that season, and you are comparing him with Matty Robson and Darren Craddock!?!

And you are accusing me of not talking sense?!

Sweeney has a lot to offer Pools, his enigne is unbelievable and IMO we are better team with him in it.

got to agree with PJ on this
Sweeny has an engine that the team have benefited from in plenty of games this season

No what I am saying is that just because a player did a job a few years ago does not mean that he can do a job now. As a footballer Sweeney is nothing special , he puts a lot of effort in but whether that is enough or not we will only find out next season.

I certainly would not have Sweeney in a team before Boland or Liddle thats for sure......

WOULD YOU KEEP A FIT YOUNG SWEENY TO COVER AN INJURY PRONE BOLAND?

It's a sad day to see Eifion go. It breaks my heart. I won't bother listing the memories, we all know what he's done. When Gordon Watson broke his leg, we need a striker to step up and maintain our promotion push...step forward Mr. Williams who to be fair became our biggest attacking threat.

When asked by Cooper to slot in at right mid, he did the job and made no fuss out of being played out of position and he did it quite well. His cross for Sweeney against Bristol showed just how far he'd progressed in that position. I'm devasted for him. He like Tinkler is a true legend.

I also thought Carl Jones was a good player and it's sad to see him leave, it shows the quality we've got. Carl Jones will stay in the game and will make a name for himself elsewhere. It's a shame for him that the form of Nelse and Clark kept him out.

As for Darrell Clarke...an absolute comedy legend. He said in his Rochdale programme interview that he likes to be optimistic and happy (or something similar) and boy is he. Nice fellar, not a bad footballler. Mansfield fans also view him as a legend.

A final note on Mr. John Brackstone, ok he's not played many games for us and has struggled to break into the first team. But he was extremely polite.

Have said my bit on Tinks as well on another thread.

I'd keep Sweeney but I think he will struggle and like i say whether he is good enough or not is questionable in my opinion.

He's apparantly off to Wrexham.

I can't believe the Sweeney debate. Has anyone seen those runs? When he was injured, I kept saying we're missing his runs and movement from midfield...but obviously nobody noticed.

Hello Mr.Headlander!!!!

But you could at least wish them luck etc!!!!

Forgot about Darren Williams, I thought he was poor last season but this season for the first team and ressie he's acted like a true pro and has played with a smile on his face. All the best Darren.

you're mad - pure n simple

http://boards.rivals.net/default.asp?si ... =529271078

but not as mad as the saddoes that live over there

So i am mad for daring to suggest that I don't think that he will be good enough to be in a team that is challenging for the play offs in league one.....?

So does that mean that if Pools finish in the bottom half and he plays most of the games then you are barking for suggesting that he is good enough.?

i hope all of the lads find clubs but none of them who have been released are good enough consistantly to re-establish HUFC in league one. IOR/Danny could of done the charitable thing and gave them all another year but it would mean that we would probably struggle to stay up next year......

go away tool

it also does not not make him a tool in my opinion

i hope I am wrong Chip, i hope he scores loads from the midfield next season and contributes massively in a play off push. I hope he becomes one of the most sought after players in the coca cola league and hope to be eating humble pie next season.

In future maybe we should just all agree that every footballer in the Pools' squad has a flawless game and their abilities are beyond any sort of questioning.......

thats strange i could swear i have just read this ?

just in from work dibbs phoned me with the list, efion was a shock for me thought he had done enough to get another year, hopefully it will work in his favour and get a longer contract somewhere,
bye son good luck you will always get a welcome at the vic.......

But Chip it isn't the best Pools team ever - that was just Drummond talking shite. The lads have done very very well and we have some exceptional players and its obvious the team spirit is pretty good. But the fact that all 4 relegated teams did well in Division Four suggests that the league is of poor quality. Some of the teams we have played have been dreadful or worse.

And when you look at many in the bottom half of Division Four the teams are generally cash strapped, witout wanting to sound too disrespectful to the likes of Accrington Stanley, Macclesfield, Hereford and even Darlo but Pools' are bigger than that now. We have big thinking owners who will invest and we are streets ahead of a lot of teams now......

I think I offended Mr Costello although I didn't mean to - i like the other version of NSD that came on the CD - the more jazzy one but even that's not as good as the origional. I think it's because NSD05 it reminds me of Martin Scott and dropping down the league. Mr Costello did a very good job with 2 little boys though - I never get sick of that.

I don't mind the mayor - I voted for him last time - he was the best of a very bad bunch......

it is irrelevant whether this is the best ever pools team or not
you just can't compare one with the other as so many factors would come into play
it is fair to say that this squad is probably the most successful as most have been here over the most successful period in our history
the king is dead long live the king

On the "Best Ever" debate, I refer the right honourable gentlebeings to my article in the last Bizz.

Can't believe what some of the Rivals shower are spouting, it seems that as far as some on there are concerned Eifion should have packed in playing two years ago and apologised to Pools fans for not being a better player.... mind you, there's also a thread on the same board that effectively says Boyd was a one season wonder! We could have had Fowler up front knocking in 30 a season, and some of them would be moaning that he wasn't a team player or something.....

I hope Eifion doesn't read any of their rot - he's been a fantastic servant for Pools over the years, and while the time has come to part company he can still hold his head up high for the part he's played not just in previous seasons but in this last one too.

Those are wimps' choices. REAL men quote the likes of Luke and Johnson or Phythian and Mulvaney when referrring to past Pools goalscoring duos!

You know, there's a question I would love somebody to answer for me. I've asked it on various football forums and nobody has managed it yet.

What defines whether a league is good / poor?

You get people who say a league is poor because one team runs away with it & others who say it is poor because no team stands out.

Maybe it's just because people are whingeing gets.

Good point Spiff, I think the only way you can say a league is "poor" is if the standard of football played by the majority of teams in it is awful. Not sure if that applies this season, there have been a few poor teams but look at the way Rochdale have been playing for the second half of the season for example and there are some decent sides in the division that like to get the ball down and play. It's not as poor a division as it's sometimes been made out this season, but it does look like there's been a genuine gap between the two divisions - maybe that says something about the quality of managers some of us had last season, ie Scott screwed us, Merson screwed Walsall!

What is easier to tell is if it's a tough division as in anyone can beat anyone on their day. There were times in League 1 where even towards the end of the season a team in the bottom half might have a good month and then be in the playoff hunt, or someone mid-table go on a bad run and get sucked into a relegation battle - that to me is a tough league as you've got a lot of teams with not much between them. Doesn't say much about the actual standard of course!