The promotion back to the league did mean we can afford a promotion side technically but we needed an exceptional, once in a blue moon manager to make bog standard NL signings into winners.

It is plain absurd to believe that a chairman/owner has no effect on a clubs fortunes on the pitch. You cant absolve Raj of any guilt for the way the season has gone. In the same way you have to acknowledge that the signings he made permitted and the manager he appointed made a difference on the pitch which we witnessed on Saturday.

Which bit of everything needs to align is so difficult to understand, of course Raj has made mistakes with Directors of Football, Managerial appointments, and Heads of Recruitment and he's acknowledged that and so has everyone on here, in fact he's even publicly done so and apogised for his mistakes.
Now to blame him for the signings or contract details is ridiculous, why have a DoF, Head of Recruitment, Manager if you're going to do it all yourself? It may be a surprise to you but he actually has other money making businesses that I would imagine he's far more involved with.

I would not do it myself no. I would make sure I offered the right incentives to attract the right people with the right skills and competencies to handle all these matters. I would make sure these folks would have the right tools and resources to do their jobs. If I didn't do this properly, then my business would perform poorly and it would be my fault. We have undoubtedly performed poorly. If he cant manage HUFC, I know where there are some buyers. However, I think he has come to the realisation of where he went wrong, the consequences of that and what to do differently.

I don’t think any owner can resist tinkering…it all depends on the amount and nature of the tinkering in the end.

We are were we are and he's decided to stay put.
So it's fair to say he owes the Poolies major style Redemption.
I firmly do believe we've got a proper manager who won't take no shit.
Fancy us big style for promotion next season.
And then the next part.
Well we take it from there.

UTP.

He certainly does owe us. I said at the start of the season that Pools had a good 1st 11 and nothing behind it. There were too many players signed by other managers that Askey didn’t want and couldn’t find a use for even in an injury crisis.

Him and Monks were allowed to sign 7 players mostly on loan before Christmas but none of them apart from Featherstone improved the squad. The signings last month are literally in a different league to what went before - and pretty much in the nick of time. The change of manager was inevitable but not even KP could have made a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.

There’s no question now that Pools will pull away from relegation and finish in mid-table. Maybe even a bit better IF we’re luckier with injuries.

We signed dan kemp last season who was also a class above, lets see if the same sort of signings happen in the summer and its not another false dawn.

Gateshead losing.
Gateshead n Oldham in far trophy Sat.
Could close the gap to 3 points Saturday night.
Mancini back soon.
Live the Dream

Mancini been back for weeks. I appreciate he is recovering from a serious injury but has not reached the heights before injury.

Speaking of chesterfield, they’re on track to end up with 118 points. 80 from 31 games (2.58 PPG) already. That’s some average over a sustained period.

had

Is he another Dan Kemp who started off like a house fire hat trick then faded away. Mancini was being played on the right, I can’t see where we could accommodate him in midfield I think he will be a good impact player to come on as sub.

Kempy played against 11 players on his own. Mancini is the best attacking midfielder we have had here since Jan Ov Pederson

Results around us werent too bad i guess, its brought teams like Halifax within our range, few teams below us didnt take advantage of 1 of their games in hand.

I certainly hope Mancini can regain his early season form but you have to be honest apart from his goal he has disappointed. As for Peterson he was never really our player he had a short term loan as a result of IOR contacts.

Not sure where Mancini fits in to the team at the moment, who would make way?
He's not a wide player so Crawford (midfield workhorse who can win the ball and attack), Cooke who surely is undroppable at the moment (great passing ability and vision, working his socks off since KP took over), or Fev who is steady Eddie sitting midfielder.
For me he has to sit on the bench and wait for injury, suspension, or loss of form of one of those 3.

for me you need a mancini in a team. he is unpredictable and can do things others cannot do on the pitch. you need one like him but certainly not two. can understandwhy is is with us in todays game where a lot of it is about players having to be jack of all trades, stopping the opposition and working to a plan.

By all accounts Joe Grey had a decent game against Bromley but if Mancini is fully fit you’d imagine he’d be the one to make way with Cooke and Mancini playing behind Mani D.

Everybody is talking about a pre-injury Mancini. Let’s see if he gets over a serious injury. Before his injury he always reminded me of the way Rodney Marsh/Stan Bowles strolled around the pitch.

possibly with it being a 14 man game at our level its who the manager thinks makes the best sub. something not all players are good at or can make an impact off the bench.

is Mancini injured again though, whats the injury he picked up during training ?

dont change a winning side for me

Mancini slight groin strain.

I,d like to see him play closer to MannyD

Apart from DCs promotion season to have a little sniff of play offs.
We Gunna have to conquer a major problem going back to the £100 STs about 12 years ago and win back to back home games sharpish.
Lost count our managers have said 2 home games n 6 pts needed this week.

Maybe KP can end this home sickness because it's getting beyond debacalous now.
UTP.

It is some average but like we said back in june they had basically bought the league back then.

Plus they already had a side that had achieved over 100 points the season before so a few tweaks for them not a huge rebuild required by the likes of us, additionally hamstrung by having so many duds on long contracts that we couldn't replace.

Maybe we can have a run under KP for the rest of the season and after the long term duds contracts run out we'll have a good base to build on?

Apologies 84 points in 3rd place last season, but still a great base to build on. Especially with plenty of cash to spend..

Couldn’t agree more Billingham. To be honest I like everyone of the new players
And the back line are tough bas**rds

Agree

To be honest Hogan I literally googled his number because I thought it was Cook. When I saw it was Gray I honestly thought someone had spiked my drink with cannabis. The highlights don’t do the performance justice. Some complained we were a bit of the pace in midfield. However, you got to take in to account how quick Bromley are. They play high press fast tempo, hustle and bustle and are in your face. They won’t lose many. So how did we beat them? We did the same only better. Honestly, I have never in my life seen a Pools team play with such determination. I don’t know what Philipps does pre match but Pools look so positive now. Philipps said in one of his interviews about 3 weeks ago he could not believe the negativity around the club. As a player he was top draw even played for England. Scored tons of goals. One of my mates in England who worked with me in the DWP raved about him. He was a big Sunderland fan. If you have a winners mindset you never lose it. If you sliced open the belly of this current team it would say Kevin Philipps. I don’t like to be too optomistic but this based on last week is a natural.

I also forgot to say our passing was great, fast paced and playing the triangles. I think Philips said play without fear. They did

And finally not many teams will beat Bromley

agree, but its quite easy for them when you compare them to what they have replaced. poor players that were hard to like and would have the piss taken out of them if they had played against us.

The new lease of life the team has currently is a new manager bounce ive not seen in a long long time. Not often have we had a new manager suddenly come in and also bring in with him some very very good players. DC didnt have that luxury at all (if ever during his tenure tbh). Curle did with the Jan window but again fell fowl of how bad a manager he was !

Its simple to see that having a manager with belief, enthusiasm and some good knowledge of the game can make such a difference. He will go a long way KP should he keep this up! Hartlepool is the right job for him especially now !

Beating a top 3 side away from home in only what your second game in charge is class. This too will lift the roof off the place within the camp aswell id imagine. Like Cooke said in his interview, we know we are one of the better footballing sides in the division and we know we have the quality to be able to play... showed it today and long may it continue! (words to those affect). Get a winning mentality going - get the likes of Cooke and Grey and Crawford playing out their skin week in week out and a promotion push isnt just a dream anymore.

we have to be consistent though - and these next 2 home games need to be ones we put to bed and hopefully get early leads and keep the momentum going all game. Another body through the door also will be a welcome and hoping Mancini and Khan are both fit as tbh we will have the best Pools team we have had both on field and bench in probably over 2 seasons !

yes, momentum is a big thing in football as it breads confidence amongst the players and fans alike. the play offs might be a step too far this season but ending the season how it started will also help in summer recruitment as all players want to play for a club that looks to be going in the right direction rather than one where they might feel they,ll be involved in a relegation battle. if the money offered is more or less the same i know the type of team i,d want to be involved with.