it would not be pools but more likely AFC United of Hartlepool where at best if the vic is still available to rent we,d be down to the 7th tier or lower if we had to groundshare like bury. Could be Hartlepool Nomads then.

Course it would be Pools. It comes from the word Hartlepool after all

Wouldn't be my Pools anymore though would it?

a lot depends on what period of pools history you are comparing it with. not much of a difference to pre cloughie 60,s or the70,s but only in a lower division and like it or not with better results. there are a few who we played regularly over the years in a similar situation to us and far worse. know its nowt to brag about but it is what it is and we can do sod all about it but hope.

What's irrational about it? You lose something you're passionate about doesn't mean you have to be passionate about a replacement does it. You must have heard it said plenty of times that somethings are irreplaceable by many people, for me one of those is HUFC.

Yes and Pools 2025 will be a new entity not Pools.
My opinion and my choice to go or not, others will make their own choices and that's fair enough by me.
Hopefully it never happens and I can continue to support my Pools for the rest of my days.

Where did I say they'd be vilified? Just that it wouldn't be for me.
If I was going to change my allegiance to another club I could just as easily choose Sunderland or Boro or any of the number of tier 6 to 9 clubs in the area.
My Pools refers to what the club means to me.
I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that every liquidated club has suffered huge drops in their fan bases.Why would we be d9ifferent.

Since the name "Hartlepools United" has been defunct since the late 1970s, couldn't any Pools phoenix club simply use that name?

Just wondering like...

They had 3 years without any team at all and then when they were reformed their crowds were down massively compared to pre-expulsion levels. So I'd guess that they've grown a new fan base which is what would happen to us if the new club was successful.

a new fan base!

Wouldn't be my Pools anymore though would it?

Wonder how many of the 8500 Bury FC fans that turned out for their 9th tier match today thought 'nah, not my Bury'....

Some of it will be the original support, but that number was significantly decreased and their 1st season average was well down on their previous levels. So yes new fans (or the stay-aways came back) to bring the numbers up this season.
Does anyone realistically believe that our crowds will not drop if we end up in tier 9?
There's no guarantees that a new club could be even formed and accepted into any league for next season, no guarantee of a ground to play at, it took Bury 3 years to reform.
I'm hoping the silence from the Trust means that a take over is happening and talks are progressing well. There's been no reassuring statement from them to say that they're planning to step forward in any way so hopefully that's a good sign.

Yes and Pools 2025 will be a new entity not Pools.
My opinion and my choice to go or not, others will make their own choices and that's fair enough by me.
Hopefully it never happens and I can continue to support my Pools for the rest of my days.

This is crazy with all due respect.
A change of paper work changes nothing…just the paperwork.
Sorry ….but paperwork never defined a club to me.

Of course it's more than paperwork, why has every liquidated club starting at a lower level as a new entity has seen huge drops in their attendances for their 1st season at the reduced level.
I don't want to travel to watch a new club playing tier 9 football, I want us to start next season in NL under new owners.
And by the way I have never considered any of our owners as hero's.
Any craziness is the notion that a phoenix club would be preferable to where we are now.

It's not as simple as urgent change, we need money, competence, and a slice of good luck too.
People elected Starmer and his shower because they wanted change, well we're getting change alright but in the wrong direction.

its just like league clubs who drop out of div.2 to non league without them being a pheonix. Its years 2 and 3 that matter more as the stay aways will come back to see something they have been starved of, a winning team where 3 points are expected rather than the faint hope of getting them. however once dropping to say level 9 and still all they got is consolidation then its best to do a new brighton and just pack up.

There's also enough evidence of Phoenix clubs never reaching the levels their forerunners reached, so hardly irrational to be fearful.
The Starmer comment is quite pertinent in highlighting the fact that change for change sake is not necessarily change for the better, it wasn't intended to change the direction of the thread just to give an example.

Bloody hell, I didn't want to believe Hartlepool was full of a bunch of bloody miserable buggers but wow. Do we even deserve anything good happening to the town if we are that downbeat and negative about it and the loyalty of its football fans?

cannot see anything more downbeat as anybody who proposes their club goes bust and reform it. doubt the ones where it happened to were wetting their pants over that decision. its more or less a final option and not something to aim for.

But the point is that there's no guarantee that the perpetual drudgery of the current regime will continue is there? In fact it's pretty negative to suggest it will isn't it, touché.

To say that what happened this season will inevitably happen again next if the owner doesn't go is 100% irrational and negative.
I totally agree that it's been a hard slog since DC left, and there's been some bizarre delusions made by the owner along the way. But hopefully he'll have moved on soon, and if he hasn't hopefully he can get lucky again with a managerial appointment.

Good idea that Bottles....I like it.

As the fan owned club was unable to agree a creditors voluntary agreement it was expelled from the Football Association (FA). A new club was immediately formed and moved to Blackwell Meadows stadium but the FA ruled that, as a new club, it must have a different playing name from the expelled club. The name chosen was Darlington 1883, and that club was placed in the Northern League Division One, the ninth tier of English football, for the 2012–13 season. They won three promotions in four seasons before the FA approved their request to change to the traditional Darlington FC name.

But I think it was early 70's.

They were founded in 1908 as the Hartlepools United Football & Athletic Club Company Ltd. West Hartlepool won the FA Amateur Cup in 1905 and after the club was dissolved in 1910 its assets and liabilities were subsequently taken over by Hartlepools United, who were then playing in the North Eastern League. Hartlepools United were elected into the Football League in 1921 and spent the next 37 years in the Third Division North, at which point they were placed into the new Fourth Division. In 1968, they were renamed Hartlepool due to the merger of West Hartlepool with the town of Hartlepool and the village of Hart, forming the new Borough of Hartlepool. The club won promotion in 1967–68 for the first time, though were relegated out of the Third Division the following season. In 1977, they were renamed again, to Hartlepool United.

Nobody at all is saying that it's the best. It's just not the end of the world and clubs live through it. Lots of examples around of them doing so. Clearly there enough people about who are without football snobbery, drawing lines in the sand for what level of football they will and won't watch.