yes

I never take anything the wrong way

I know exactly what you are implying

swindon maybe or stoke sunderland away in the cup

but that implies we will go on a cup run this year for the first time in yonks. As great as this would be, we are not the side we once were at the turn of the 90's playing Spurs, Palace, Arsenal, Sheff Wed (!!!!)

but does that include the auto windscreens thingy? We probably wont meet Sunderland or Stoke in that this season?!

Another question, Is their anything else Turner and Co can cock up? The strip, centenary tournament, friendlies, retention of players not good enough ( sweeney,foley etc) season tickets. I think we need to have a fresh start and get rid of Turner and Green. The club is going down the pan fast.

Strips- no problems as far as I can see. Going to be available several weeks before the season starts and the majority seem to like it.

Centenary tournament and friendlies- I understand Pools were let down by certain clubs. I am not enthralled by the friendlies but it all depends on what teams they send. They are friendlies though, who would you like us to play and how do you know the club didn't try to get them?

''retention of players not good enough (sweeney, foley)'- I don't even think Sweeney was out of contract and to be honest there are very few people that would have released him anyway. It'd have been mad to release a player like him. Generally the retained list was very good, we have kept the likes of Joel and Monkey who we were expecting to lose. If we keep these two and also means we keep David Foley then I can handle him staying.

'the club is going down the pan fast'- Rightho!

'I think we need to have a fresh start and get rid of Turner and Green'. Turner is fine. . Shall we get IOR out while we're there too, fuck it lets get a new starting XI and reform under a different name.

Palace was in the League Cup, on a Tuesday night and is the best part of 300 miles away. Sunderland was in the FA Cup, on a Saturday and 25 miles away. I reckon that might have something to do with the difference in away attendance!

The Arsenal away games were brilliant. Walking to the tube station afterwards we had Arsenal fans stop us to say we were the best fans they'd had there.

'Merson, Merson give us a sniff'

'Nayim from the halfway line'

'If Lee Dixon can play for England, so can I'

I might have put this on before but a Pools fan went in the bog before the match and remember him shouting 'f**king hell, these bogs are nicer than our house'.

Until they got trashed at half time...

The last ten years havent been crap but they have hardly been successful either. A few play offs which ultimately led to heartbreak. We have still won nowt. 100 years old and havent won a title and as far as I know only ever beat one club in first or premier division, how bad is that.

Mock all you want, but none of you can tell me what we have won. It is only success in comparison to what went before. Thats what lets Hartlepool down as a club and a town, the people are gratefull for any crumbs of comfort.

We must aim higher.

Rome wasn't built in a day,like. The first 90 years of Pools was such that we COULDN'T win anything - because financially and geographically we couldn't compete, even against the likes of Halifax (Billy Ayre and Spike Robinson left Pools for Halifax FFS)!!!!.
Now we can compete - at a higher level than we all have ever known. It's effectively only been 10 years of being able to compete, so in essence the club as we know it today is only 10 years old. The fact we had the opportunity of winning something going into the final day, twice in four years, is unheard of in the history of HUFC. By the end of 2008/09 we will have spent five out of six seasons in the third tier of English football - unprecedented success for us. By rights it should have been a sixth straight season!!!
Pools are now highly respected in the lower leagues, and we are now too big/too good for Division Four. Who would ever have believed that when they were growing up watching Pools all those years ago? Not me.
The only gripes we have these days are about petty selection squabbles and poor tactics from the manager - back then it was about having a club at all by the following Saturday!!!!
IOR have been superb, nobody in their right mind can criticise them. The only thing they can be accused of is not spotting a chancer such as Scott soon enough, and maybe not putting enough pressure on Wilson last season for letting himself down so badly, compared to the previous season's success.