I have criticized him in the past, but for the money spent on the squad we have, more questions need to be asked of the manager than the chairman

I said that twice during the week.
I'd say Sarlys 140 mins away from the sack.

Have to play with only 2 of Sloggett Sheron and hunter
Sloggett looks a lot better playing deeper already

Arghhh missed a sitter after some nice play by Campbell madine and new winger

Fair comment.

There is no way that Sarll will be sacked with us in the top half and with the improvements that he has made to the squad. We’ve conceded 4 goals in 7 games and had more clean sheets than we had in the entirety of last season.

We need to tweak the formation to make us more of a threat in the box, but it will come. It was obvious that he wasn’t happy when we started to resort to long balls towards the end of the first half and at the start of the second half, so he changed it. We’ll get a balance that works.

The team should be doing better. I have to agree with you.

Agree, can't see him being sacked unless we're cut adrift from the play off places.
I thought today's football was a bit of an improvement on the 1st 3 home games with Mancini looking something like the player he was last season.
The kid from Palace looks a real quality player with pace, fast feet, and strength. Think he's going to be really important to us.
We need to be finding a way to beat teams at the Vic as there's going to be a lot more coming to frustrate us.

Need to drop one of sheron, Featherstone, sloggett or hunter and add either mancini or Campbell to the centre. Need more of a spark from that area. No creativity with the 3 he keeps picking, yes it makes us more secure but it makes us less of a threat.

Why take off two men who between them scored nearly 40 goals last season .Mani D is this season being used more as a target man. It took two central defenders to mark him surely it would have made more sense to bring on Madine along side of him as feel the two same defenders could not have cop[ed with them . The way things are going both Mani D and grey will walk out as Free at the end of the season.

I also felt he would play Madine and ManiD together at that point of the game. And agree the big lad at the back would have struggled with the two biguns up top.

Sloggetts the best of the bunch.

Mancini in first half was only one taking any risks or trying to make stuff happen, the
Rest were doing what they had been told to do, punt it into certain area and fight for the scraps….its fucking awful, we may put up with a bit of it if we are winning….but we’re not!

Well Rob Elliot of the Heed missed today's game. Was he at Pools anyone Much more likely at Carlisle or maybe not well

Slight correction… Raj has backed us but with our money. It all goes on the bill and we just get deeper and deeper in debt.

Truth

Your truth. None of us know the money situation. What we do know is that we have better players than last season.

Not this year anyway. Just every one before that. Not the trickiest pattern analysis to do.

My understanding is that debt has fallen over the last couple of years. I'd be interested to know what pattern you're referring to.
And even if debt was rising, it's still Raj's money that would be funding the loans, still more of his money at risk, the more he lends the club the more he is risking as there's absolutely no chance of him getting it back unless we're successful or a white Knight with cash to burn wants to buy him out.

that would be great if we were creating chances for them but we are not. if decent balls were coming into the box then its worth a go but 2 big lads up front rarely works.

might get even deeper if crowds drop to 3 or below rather than 4,000. fans are not going to roll up for goaless draws even if we manage to win away. a team that looks more set up got results away rather than at the vic.

id things do not change quickly i feel both will be on the phone to their agents wanting them to get em out of this place if its the last thing they ever do.

Difficult to fathom the way crowds are at the moment imo. We've had 4 home ga.es which due brought a total travelling support of 600. Together with an unprecedented run of 4 consectutive Saturday home games which will have been a struggle for quite a few to afford.

Except it's secured to the club. So it's our risk not his. It is parent company debt.

Massive gaps behind the goal from day 1, so its not really just because we have had 4 games in a row. Fans are being priced out, eventually it will hit premier clubs too fans are getting sick of paying out large sums. Unfortunately at pools the quality is dire, so cant see crowds picking up anytime soon.

fans will use excuses not to turn up but would equally find the money from somewhere to attend if the team was winning and playing the football they wanted to see.

These next 2 budgets.
I expect to eat into football crowds.
Major recession on its way.

The debts are against the club not the fans, if the club goes tits up the fans don't lose a penny Raj loses everything he's loaned the club. Who funds the parent company the fans?
The only people who are at financial risk are the investors. The risk to the fans is the loss of the club.

thought we were in a permanent recession anyway. remember hearing the words of they always find the money for drink somewhere. for many football will be the same.

Think we'll see a truer picture of what's happening with crowds when the weather turns.
At the moment club vs club the comparisons between last season and this seasons crowds don't look massively different. Yesterday was down 300 or so against the crowd against Halifax last season but they brought about 150 less this time and last season it was Good Friday Bank Holiday.

true, and the main thing to see how the interest is are the tuesday night fixtures against fylde and altrincham if its cold or pissing down with th way we are playing.

Agreed, I may give games a miss myself when the weather turns if the entertainment doesn't improve, and I consider myself to be a die-hard.

Fook the entertainment, I want wins!

why cannot we have both. it should not be a situation where it becomes one or the other. feel football in general has become that and not just at pools. its always been a results game but fans are possibly becoming conned into parting with their money by just wanting 3 points no matter how they are obtained. managers more than anyone are responsible for this and their descriptions of bang average players as being technically good that would not wash in other spectator sports. fans constantly being preached at for not understanding a game that most have played at certain levels in their life but for reasons never reached the top.

One of the reasons for crowds going down especially in lower leagues may well be the streaming of games particularly away support. Why travel hundreds of miles when you can sit in front of the tv at home. I recently spoke to a Pools supporter who with friends travelled to every away games but now pick and choose and stay at home watching games streamed. (suppose he means fire stick).

Ideally we'd get both and particularly where it matters most at the Vic.
If we can't have entertainment we need to be better in the way that Arsenal or Liverpool were back in the day, boring boring Arsenal or the Liverpool that always seemed to get a 1-0 without being very good on the day. Given our defensive record at home we're going to see more and more teams coming here for a 0-0 and it's down to us to find the goals that turn those into 1-0 or better wins.

Raj hasn't loaned us owt, the parent company has. Have a look what happened at Darlo. I think you'll find that Raj remaining wealthy and Darlo now being deceased is indicative of the risk balance.

Derwent on here has always feared Raj pulling the plug. That's cos he knows Raj could do it quite easily and for Raj the world would keep on turning quite nicely.

Well im going to boston Tuesday because my dodgy stick freezes every 20 bloody seconds. Find out Tuesday whether ive wasted my time.

So who owns the parent company? Answer Raj so it's Raj's companies that are loaning money to the club and therefore Raj is carrying the financial risk.
If the club goes tits up Raj might very well carry on much as normal but he'll have lost whatever he and his companies are owed.
How much will you or I lose as fans? Answer not a penny because I haven't invested any cash.

do not have a dodgy firestick but watch every game thats available normally on the channel. Even the way we are playing i,d have come up for yesterdays match if it hadn,t been an international window where i saved money by staying at home to watch. all you miss is the atmosphere which isn,t that great at he vic the twice i have been this season once games get going. might be ok going to boston on a tuesday night but its coming home thats the problem with pop up diversions and road closures they love after 10 at night.

Yeah im more worried about the fog been really bad last few nights.

Fans will of ploughed in around 700 k in season ticket money then 22 times 1500 a game so if fans dont invest in the team their will be no team.

Agreed but we'd not be creditors if the club goes tits up would we? The parent club and therefore Raj certainly would be.
Bottom line is that at the moment it looks as if the budget has been sufficient to assemble a better squad than we had last season. Who'd have thought we'd have players of the calibre of Campbell and Madine signed to replace the likes of Hastie and Wreh? Raj is keeping his word and keeping a low profile so far, not even sure if he goes much nowadays (certainly the Rolls and the Aston Martin haven't been in the car park this season). Any and all criticism at the moment should be directed at the manager who is not getting the best out of the squad at the moment.

I agree im not sure raj could do much more this sesson. This is now all on the manager, raj would get a hell of a lot of money back if sarl sorts his act out, promotion would bring in over 1 million quid, crowds would go up 1 k. Mancini manny d would be worth a fair chunk. But at the minute we are going nowhere but mid table, best players will go for free, cos he is making them look shit.

Well said. However I'm not sure it was wise for Raj to fill the vacuum he left with a some weird arse 'board of directors'.

What I'm saying is that funds are more likely (according to a well established pattern) to be lent to us, not donated. At some point repayment is expected.

The Finance situation needs promotion this season basically.
That dream needs kick starting with a new manager or new tactics.
Good talented team in a piss poor division.
Still time for rectification which will be the cheaper option.
Which Tuesdays result will most probably define.
Opinions hey.
UTP.

Raj was there at the weekend

If this bloke perseveres with the same tactics with a team (in my opinion ) totally unsuited to play them he could be committing career suicide, I do fear the players don't like the tactics and they may stop playing for him if the results don't improve with what's being employed.
Why do we seem to always employ Managers who are stubborn and have a single vision of how they want their team to play and a reluctance to try anything else.

I am pretty sure Raj has attended all the home games and a couple of the home friendlies.