So we find ourselves 11 pts from the playoffs and 11pts from the drop.

Which do you think will be closer come the end of the season.

gray....dont care...as long as we stay up...

Yep. Any pre-season dreams/hopes went when DC left, even though our away form was crap back then.

Got quite a few difficult away games left.
I hope Scunny cant catch us going into our last away game at their place.
Deffo take 3rd bottom.
Plus a papajohns winning pizza at Wembley.

We'll survive based on how poor some of the sides below us are.

Having two relegation places has essentially made league two a dumping ground for unambitious clubs.

only pre season dream i had was staying in div.2 at the end of the season. how could anyone dream of re with pre season recruitment. if we finish where we are about now i,ll me more than satisfied. expected this league to be much harder really and we are suffering only because we were behind the pack for signings we really needed.

The only reason we are suffering is because we won't bring division 2 players on division 2 wages, no way will we finish where we are now we are incapable of winning away and now we can't beat the bottom teams at home, this Russian roulette game Singh has played all season is starting to bite us on the arse. We have two cup games that could somehow save the season, god knows how we win one of them playing as we are, but somehow were going to have too.

It really depends on the calibre of the players that are signed in the coming week. There are bound to be a couple of new faces - a more experienced back-up for Killip is the minimum requirement - but will they improve the team?

Pools have the basis of a competitive squad and a flair player knocking in goals fairly regularly - as Burey was doing right at the start of the season - would make a hell of a difference. Raj's programme notes struck the wrong note for me. Summer recruitment was poor and "wasted a lot of money." What happened to all the talk of their being money available now to spend on the right players? We're "in talks with Arsenal and Manchester United trying to bring in attacking players from their Under-23’s"- along with every club from the Championship downwards? Nowt wrong with aiming high but seriously, does anyone believe that that will come off?

Counting on Oldham and Scunthorpe to stay terrible when there's another 20-odd games in the season is bloody dangerous. Pools have got to start winning games again.

It did waste a lot of money, DC should have spent his money on quality not quantity, better deals for a fewer decent players wouldn’t have us where we are.
Question the managers decision, not the backer who finances it.

was there quality available or just DC signed the best of what was left. if raj does think summer recruitment was bad or a case of putting the boot into challinor now he has gone. come on raj put some bones on a vague statement. who did we miss out on and why.

Snowy, you have to question decisions of both manager and backer. If DC identified a player and as has been quoted Raj then offered poor wages who is to blame? As things stand a lot is resting on what Lee Turnbull can come up with. Now after saying it in his programme notes will Raj produce the goods or will things fizzle out as they did in August?

Imagine being one of those signings and sitting n the dressing room, reading the programme notes...........

We're not going down. There was far worse teams below us. It'll be like the overblown 'great escape' where despite trying really hard we couldn't get below Cheltenham.

The trouble is I don’t know, but nobody else does.

Raj openly stated he held back a lot of the budget from challinor, so he can't blame it all on him.

so whats his excuse and reason for doing the same thing now to lee.

Raj was deflecting attention from the here and now by referring to money wasted in the summer, as you did just now by quoting selectively.

I've put the bit back in that you left out Lee has been saying almost since the day he was appointed that there was money available in the January transfer window, Hobin said the same thing only last week. Suddenly Raj wants to talk about what happened in the summer. Why?

Graeme Lee will carry the can if this window is a damp squib and Pools spend the rest of the season in a relegation battle - Raj needs to back the manager he appointed not rake over old coals.

Rumours flying about he has taken us as far as he can and that he has stopped spending. Like I say they are rumours but they are coming not just from fans about the spending bit.

Non-fan sources? Need to substantiate that statement.

But agree, on the basis of the available evidence (as in what one can see with one's own eyes), it does look like his purse has been padlocked shut. Perhaps with good reason.

As for the programme notes, does he really write them? As he isn't reading the room if he does.

Didn't he also say no matter what manager was in place we would still be in same position in league? I must of dreamt our home record that we had until we made a rather strange managerial choice.

Now lee is in charge he needs help, he won't make the end of the season if he doesn't get funds this week.

[quote="billinghampoolie1908"]Didn't he also say no matter what manager was in place we would still be in same position in league? I must of dreamt our home record that we had
bet raj and challinor didn,t send each other christmas cards. think there is more than a bit of animosity on raj,s part.

We're all angry with Challinor but to say we wouldn't of done better in the league with Challinor over these two lads is ridiculous and he probobly knows that deep down. We might of been out of the cups but league wise we would of done way better at home.

I know one thing apart from 45 minutes against Blackpool and 15 minutes against Rochdale, it's been rubbish to watch. It makes nearly 5000 turning up yesterday and selling out at palace even more remarkable.

think the win at shef wed was a good watch but for me the main problem seems to have started with that pre christmas bore against scunthorpe. that was garbage and every league game following the same pattern. yesterdays gate really surprised me as it was the type of opposition that you would decide to swerve the game for. way the fixtures have dropped it was yesterday or nothing till well into february for me.

I’d have loved it if he’d stayed but he didn’t, get over it.
There’s no mileage in fantasising about what if’s, we are where we are and need to concentrate on what’s in front of us.

I'm more than over the fact he has gone, why would we want someone who doesn't want to be here, but for the chairman to come out and basically say we would still be in the same position if he was here is rubbish. He is deflecting attention from his own rather strange decisions.

The end of the window will decide for me. It’s been held up as the milestone, the lifeboat to bring in ‘reinforcements’, the cavalry riding over the hill to save us, trouble is, I can’t see no dust cloud on the horizon though.

It's strange that last season, when Pools were genuinely skint and had no gate income because of the lockdown, Challinor kept asking to be allowed to sign this or that player for team strengthening and Raj kept finding the money. I doubt their relationship was anything other than abrasive at times, but there might be a lesson there for Graeme Lee.

It's Lee's first managerial appointment and though I'm sure he's well capable of reading the riot act to his players, how far is he prepared to push things with the man who pays his wages? It might be time to take a leaf out of gobby Dave's book and start pushing really hard to get the right players through the door. Raj won't thank him for his forbearance if the season goes tits up.

Pools have had nice guys from the Boro before as manager, and it didn't end well. Colin Cooper comes to mind.

I'll happily take survival over spending loads now to try and get into a promotion fight. The players we have are good enough to stay up and hopefully the better ones will be around after this transfer window closes.

We as fans don't know the terms and structures of who was owed what and the repayment terms of those debts before the rescue by Raj Singh. Those are commercially sensitive and confidential. I do sincerely hope that those debts are being cleared by the (unexpected) revenue boost this season. I'd rather take that over once more putting the existence of the club into doubt again.

Make hay while the sun shines and fix the roof while it is not raining..

trev....well said mate

imagine come the end of the season Raj makes it public that hes cleared the clubs debt - we are still in L2. there is a small transfer kitty for 2 or 3 really good players plus some loans. Who knows what is happening but it could be things to better the bigger picture and keep the football club alive. Im sure then we would be having different ramblings to the ones we are having now.

Let Lee have a full transfer window with Turnbull and continue to get shot of the players not good enough. Could be alot rosier next season who knows. At least we still have a club to support in the football league thats all i keep thinking. It could have been alot worse lets not forget.

This debt.
Looks like its being fast tracked to a shorter period of time.
Given only a small % of this seasons excelent unbudgeted income has gone back into the team.

As for the debt being sensitive n confidential.
Id say we the fans should be kept up to date about any changes.
Yes we all have different views.
Some will take 3rd bottom forever.
Some want instant success.
Id be over the moon if this so called project25 comes off n we back to holding our own in league One.
But at this moment in time it looks like we gambling on Scunny n Oldham staying in poor form which could come back to haunt us.
UTP.

I assume the debt is from the dark days that Raj inherited? If so, I believe Raj took that debt on last season from Blackledge(?) so the only money we owe is to him.

I can only assume he’s started taking this back when previously it was relative to the success of the club. This may be a reason why we don’t have as much cash? Just speculating like.

Also, maybe there is a takeover going ahead? Rumours feel weak but I was told when Bevington came in that his purpose was to sell the club.

bottomline is... the team has to improve for next season. Because there wont be a Scunny or Oldham to rely on being worse than us next season. Dare i say it but Stockport are steamrolling their way through the NL looking likely to finish top. We all know they would hold their own quite comfortably in this league in their current standings never mind what incomings they make should they get into the League. Chesterfield again would come comfortably should they get up. Only Halifax really I couldnt see doing much and go straight back down out of the likely candidates.

Where have these rumours come from that Raj is selling the club ? is this Bevingtons prime role - is he some sort of Football real estate agent touting us to foreign investment ? Or have people just took the comments Raj made about the club always being for sale a while back too literally and presume any day now a consortium of North East business owners are finally going to lump up some cash and take us to the Championship ! The latter i hope is true, only for the wealthy new owners to be actually wealthy and have an interest in the club and not what they can propose to the council of how many flats Vicky park could accommodate shout it be levelled

Promotion fight? That ship sailed about a month ago, around the time Pools were drawing 0-0 at home to Oldham.
There's no question that Pools play better football than some of the other teams in this league but they've got to score enough goals to win games and there's been precious little of that going on since the back end of October - 3 months ago!

Pools record in League 2 since then is Won 1, Drew 4, Lost 7. That is nailed on relegation form if it continues.

During that 11 game run our forwards have scored 3 goals between them - 1 apiece for Cullen, Molyneux and Grey.

Somebody tell me where the signs are on the pitch that any of this is going to change, especially now we know Burey isn't coming back?

Pools need a couple of decent signings TO STAY UP. It's that simple.

eiphos....."The latter i hope is true, only for the wealthy new owners to be actually wealthy and have an interest in the club and not what they can propose to the council of how many flats Vicky park could accommodate shout it be levelled"

....same old snide ludicrous allegations again from you against the chairman...without him there would be no club...is eddie kyle your dad by any chance ?...

https://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/news/r ... ett-389328

Nobody has ever said we want promotion, what we do want is a chance to compete in this league, we are in freefall, the signs are there it only takes one or two to pick up and we are in trouble, we have been told decent money is available so why are fans
now trying to make excuses now as to why were not bringing in any sort of quality?

I

billyboy..."nobody has ever said we want promotion".....dont know how you dare !

Once again your trying to make things up. When have I ever said we should go for promotion?, I've said many times take advantage of the feel good factor from Bristol, keep the 5500 to 5800 crowds we had, this could easily of been achieved by one or two reasonable signings and a manager with some sort of experience, with plenty of contacts.

We certainly didn't want to be getting promoted this year, if the only players were looking at are non leaguers or under 23s.

I was referring to the previous owners before Raj... If you read alot of what I have previously stated, in fact only earlier today I hold Raj in high regard for what he did and has done for this club, my rumblings of him maybe not spending cash are just general fan comments as most post on here. An Allegation it certainly is not. My statements refers to that if ambitious owners do come in and Raj does sell up, that we would like them to be wealthy enough to do what say the Stockport / Wrexham owners are doing. Again ill reiterate my comment... i was referring to the worthless cretins that walked in before Raj, gave it the biggun and nearly left us without a club.

I’ll br brutal..... it’s a business, not a fellowship...... we’re basically customers.
You can be a totally devoted mad keen follower of a band, but they ain’t gonna invite you in to approve or have a input into their ‘business’.
If you are a customer of Tesco, they want your custom, for life preferably, but they ain’t gonna share their books or ambitions with you.
It’s about time we realised that.

Rather reminds me of this Snowy

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NUHk2RSMCS8

Was that Lee the Leader?

The debt is noted in the latest HUFC accounts from 2020 on companies house. Which are oddly enough not audited nor are they verified from the accountants, as per the wish of Mr. Singh.

[quote="poolie1"]eiphos....."The latter i hope is true, only for the wealthy new owners to be actually wealthy and have an interest in the club and not what they can propose to the council of how many flats Vicky park could accommodate shout it be levelled"

....same old snide ludicrous allegations again from you against the chairman...without him there would be no club...is eddie kyle your dad by any chance ?...

problem with all clubs like pools is that getting an owner that most fans would be totally happy with is even harder than finding a manager to bring success on the pitch. for me raj has steadied a sinking ship but just cannot see the club pushing on with him. if he does sell at the best its a toss of the coin to whether the new guy is a honest joe or another fraud.

whilst that may be true pools are to many people more than a shop. after their families and possibly to some even more than their families pools are the most important thing in their lives. all the hundreds that go away watching more in hope than expectation watching a team with the worst away record in the league need and deserve some information. amongst our fans there will be many that scrape and save for a season ticket or the actual admission price for games that they can make it too. these customers deserve more info but do not expect a seat at board meetings.

All this talk about debt is stunning! Why don't folk look at the published accounts? Most of the debt is to Singh - and some posters keep making the point that this is proof that he saved us - it is - but is he now focussing on repaying the debt to himself? If he is there can be little complaint - but that is obviously at the cost of team and ground improvements.

i think thats the answer right there isnt it - the debt is slowly being repaid to Raj. Maybe there is a contractual obligation should Pools gather cash of X amount over what was predicted then said cash is to be paid back to Raj. Its then upto him wether he puts it back into the club or other business interests. None of us will ever know - all im bothered about is still having the blue and white to follow !

Looking to get out is raj so I'm sure he is trying to recoup as much money as possible, fair enough after he saved us, but don't be lying to us about having pots of money to spend at the same time. Fans aren't daft or the vast majority aren't, we can see he hasn't invested since the play offs . He probobly would get his money back quicker though if he had invested in a few reasonable players.

Totally agree with your final comment.

Mr I has written on numerous threads that Raj always said that we don't have deep pockets - he saved us - and can do whatever he wants with his debt - sure his CEO announced that it was a donation but the accounts have always shown it as a debt. Is the debt being reduced - we'll see when the next accounts are published.

Will we ever find out what has being on with regards to budgets for wages and transfers? Probably not. So we've all got smoke and mirrors to complain about, conspiracy theories to concoct - and pretty dire football to pay for! But at least we're still here.

The big question is what will raj be like when it comes to the end? As darlo found out a very stubborn man.