I'm disappointed that we haven't rectified any of the deficiencies apparent in the team last year, most glaring of which is a goal keeper, left back and right back and possibly a forward.

I am also disappointed that existing season ticket holders were disadvantaged over new ones in the offer.

I was disappointed that the quality of opposition in the centenary tournament was poor, so poor in fact I couldn't be motivated to go.

I am disappointed that the above three have demotivated me to the point where I am not sure if I will be attending the Colchester game.

Im disappointed with the negativity some people show on here.

It a new season and we should all have some sort of optimism.

I was happy with the season ticket offer having purchased mine for £207 the vast sum of £9 per game.

I enjoyed seeing Hamilton thought they were a good side. I was happy that we competed well with Huddersfield a team in our league next season.

Im looking forward to the first game of the season as I always do.

We have Brown and Porter for forwards next season, a combination most were calling for last season so why do we need a forward if thats what people wanted last season. We also have a forward on trial against York tonight (Haber) We also have a defender on trial (Forbes) So there's 2 of the positions you wanted sorted being looked at. Then again you probably have a go at them before you get to watch them.

And Barrett improved in the last 12-13 games last season and looked ok in pre season so why not just give the lad a chance before calling for someone else( and we signed Cook)

So 3 of the positions you moan about Keeper , defender, and forward, could all have been filled by the end of the week.Even by morning if the 2 on trial impress tonight.

And I dont see any argument within your post why Hartlepool fans are disappointed with the CE. Though we could all possibly think of some. A more apt subject title for this thread would be

APTID JUST DISAPPOINTED.

Apart from the goalkeeper, I agree with all of that twice over.

The chances of me going to the Colchester game really are no more than 50/50 at the moment.

It's a new season, fresh start, new optimism, last year has gone, it's over, we can't change it.

To rule out this campaign before a ball has even been kicked is just silly.

I'd give my right arm to be able to go to the colchester game, but i just can't afford it, moving house n tha, so if you have the opportunity to go then take it!

So APTID are you a season ticket holder then?

If you are and dont fancy the Colchester game, why dont you give your ticket for that game to Yubep? Give someone who actually wants to go but for circumstances (Moving House etc) cant make it

I'm not writing anything off, owt could happen this season.

It's just that I'm not excited by the new season in the same way as I have been in the past. I don't feel so much part of it having not bought a season ticket (due to them trying to take a lend of people) and I also feel put out that whenever somebody in charge down there, in this case Green, makes a cock up they turn round and blame the fans for everything. It drives a wedge between "us" and "them" which isn't good for anyfker.

Looking back I dont think the worst thing about the "Centenery Tournament" was actually the opposition. It was the total lack of information regarding it.

I dont read the Mail that often but generally take a quick look at back page at work. Not once did I see a price structure or times or how on earth the tournament worked (ie knock out or league or whatever) Maybe it was in there and I missed it but the publicity around the thing was non existant in my opinion.

Apparently the Mail reporter labelled fans "shameful" for not turning up? Im pretty sure that reporter would not have been there if he wasnt paid to do so. Did he pay £25 to watch that load of shite? I bet he didnt.

Shameful for not going? Fuck off.

shameful is the thousannds of so-called football fans in this town who have never even set foot inside the Vic

I'm afraid being a football fan these days means collaring the nearest premiership team that takes your fancy. The media have succeeded in brainwashing the masses.

As an example, last night a guy in the pub was saying how Hull had a huge catchment area since the nearest other clubs to them were Middlesbrough and Manchester City.

How true is this?

its simple..folk of hartlepool only go to watch pools when the opposition are an ex big team or if we are doing really well apart from that its just the die hard fans who show up. ... to be honest i dont feel as ecxited as i normally do about the new season simply because of wilsons comments saying he is happy seeing us finish mid table this season.

fookin hell

To be fair I thought that The Mail report was ok- didn't slate the fans as much as it has in the past and even the panderings to IOR where very subtle and limited.

I wish that all of Pools coverage in The Mail was as good.

So he didn't say that Pools fans are shameful for not showing up and Tree made it up? Why am I not surprised?

Read my post again, I dont read the Mail and said "apparently the Mail reporter labelled fans "shameful" for not turning up?" As this is what I was told.

But dont let the facts get in the way of having a go.

Wasnt aimed at you anyway Mutts.

I didn't have a go. I just said you made it up, which either you did or your source did.

This is an example of having a go without reading facts:

Apparently the Mail reporter labelled fans "shameful" for not turning up? Im pretty sure that reporter would not have been there if he wasnt paid to do so. Did he pay £25 to watch that load of shite? I bet he didnt.

Shameful for not going? f*** off.'

Notice the question mark at the end? Im asking a question regarding if he said it or not.

But do try again.....

If you are going to quote someone or something then make sure it is correct........

Once again, i asked if thats what he said.

Christ.

Haha. Reminds me of when those wankers on Rivals "burned" their shirts and season tickets the season before last. Funny because

a) it was, if real, a display only made so it could be bragged about on Rivals
b) they could've sold the shirts and season ticket and
c) we fucking went up.

Some people have no faith - too busy being utter doom mongerers. Weak as piss.

You are of course entitled to your opinion ginger but when the chief exec of HUFC criticises stay away fans, like I was, it was appropriate to respond in some way.

Your apparent lack of recognition of some of the things wrong with our team and at our club suggests a blinkered approach far greater than those you describe from rivals, (I do recall you having some protracted debates whilst over there in years gone past btw). It is on balance I suggest, easier to bury your head in the sand and hope and pretend everything is ok, when clearly it wasn't last season and it isn't now, because nothing has significantly changed.

I like all poolies want us to do well, unfortunately I do not see any signs of that being the case with virtually the same players and management that underperformed last year. Perhaps if you have been enlightened by something that can alleviate my sense of foreboding for the coming months, other than unjustified optimism because it is a new season, you may take a minute or two to share it with us all.

Well said Mr Aptid.

I'll second that and my response will be sent to Russ Green by letter. If you cut me I bleed blue and white and I was offended by his comments especially when last season I used my mortgage money to buy the season tickets, some may say I was daft going into arrears but I am a poolie and I only had enough for the mortgage or the tickets.... I've also sponsored players kits for years and other sponsership deals, not big ones to the club but massive to me in terms of money. Also at the time of the tournement we were away, planned late last year but we also bought 3 shirts and over £100 worth of t shirts etc for our holidays out of the club shop. Fans are, It seem an easy target if things don't go as expected such as az alkmar last year.

If the senior management actually asked what the fans wanted from time to time like how to ACTUALLY celebrate the centenary year then a lot more might be achieved. Hartlepool has always been known as the capital of appathy but who can afford £40 for a poxy brick that will get vandalised or have chewing gum on within days of being laid ? Why not put these INSIDE the ground? After the centenary year this IDEA could be turned into a memorial area for those poolies that have passed on.
Who can remember when season ticket holders got a discount in the club shop?
Why not join the scheme of other clubs who reward fans who travel home and away games.
Why not give the reduced £100 ticket price to the current season ticket holders as an actual reward for their loyalty. Pools will no doubt triumph the fact that they have more season ticket holders because of this venture but there will be a lot less next year whjen renewals come round. I don't often critisise the players or DW as manager simply because I can do no better myself but to keep fans on board through thick and thin fans need reasonable questions about team playerrs and certain selections answered.

I've stopped being optomistic about our fortunes since I reckoned Scotty would carry on where Cooper left off. Then I thought DW would do the business and for me he hasn't. I'm putting £20 a week away this season in anticipation of a good season and that money will buy our 3 season tickets for camerons seats next year but I fear the account will have £1000 in holiday money rather than season ticket money come May....

I'm disappointed too. Last season felt a bit of a let down after the previous season with its amazing unbeaten run. Even that season had its disappointments - we really should have finished ahead of Walsall and won something for the first time ever. But it wasn't to be. Anyway, back to the present.

After a season of great hopes which stumbled along from one anti-climax to another, it's tempting to think that bringing in lots of new faces and maybe even the odd big signing would put everything right, or at least move things in the right direction. Maybe it would.

But look at who we are. We're a small club in a small town which has never been renowned for its wealth. Our history of failure and propping up the football league is not entirely down to bad luck. We all know that now more than ever than before in football, it's not having money that matters, it's having staggeringly large amounts of money.

So in this climate, what's the best way for a small town football club to proceed? It's not too long ago that Garry Gibson brought a measure of success to the club, with Cyril Knowles, Jo Jo Allon etc. Most of us remember however that that success came at a price. The club was overstretched financially. the bubble burst and everything went down the plughole.

I don't really understand IOR's motivations for investing in my football club but I recognise that they have been constant in their attempts to improve it, increase revenue, achieve success and manage it within its limited means. In many ways we're punching above our weight by even being in League One but we're still there.

I think IOR realise that our best hope is "slowly but surely". I'm sure they want us to go even higher than League One but at the same time to make sure that we don't "do a Gretna".

So what does this mean for the present? It means we need to be patient - and keep being patient for a long long time. The chairman also gets disappointed with the fans from time to time, but the truth is that we need each other - including all of us who gripe and bicker. We HAVE brought in some new faces. Maybe it would be good to bring in more, but I'm not sure that we can afford it. Also there are plenty of old faces that we are privileged to keep hold of too though and who may have collectively underperformed last season but next season, who knows? We know the potential is there.

I love those games where the Pools fans get behind the team regardless of how they're doing. I hate it when the team falter, but feel more upset when fans start barracking their own players. There are certain players who I feel should not be in the team - but if the manger selects them (and I usually don't understand why, but he's got a better track record in football management than I have) I'll do my best to encourage them to do their best for the team.

I love this club. I love it when the Poolies are singing 'Two Little Boys' or keeping up the repetitive, relentless chant of "Danny Wilson's blue and white army" for half a football match or more. And when we're losing (and sadly that's a much more familiar situation to me than the winning), I love joining in with the other Poolies' defiant chants of "Hartlepool, Hartlepool" etc. I find it difficult to understand those who go to watch in silence or who seem to attend just to shout abuse at their own players. Don't they realise that they have a positive part to play?

I could go on. I already have, of course.

I think we all want the same things. We want to win matches, achieve success and we want to enjoy ourselves while doing it. Making as much some positive noise as possible when we can get to games, and continuing to do so even when the team isn't doing as well as we'd like, is our best way of helping to turn things around and/or at least enjoying ourselves while we're trying.

Come on you Pools!

Very good attempt at relativising, Mr Duck.
I keep telling myself those things too, but you know, I fear it's going to take a lot longer for supporters, myself included, to come to terms with our "natural level" than it did for us to acknowledge the new improved Pools of the first half of this decade.

Then all it needs is one good season before the fire goes out and we'll all be fired up again like we were in 2005, and we'll once again be unwilling to settle for being a mid-table 3rd division team.

Dear Mr Head & Mr Rules

Thank you for taking the trouble to read my post.

Mr Head. Forgive me if I have misunderstood, but your first comment did feel to me just a little patronising. However, I thought you went on to make a very good point. If I've understood correctly (and if I can add my own slant on to it, a little), you're essentially saying that we've been a bit spoilt and it's difficult to accept anything less than what we've now got used to - and that this is part of a roller coaster cycle. I have a feeling that that's the way that things have to be. Please don't get me wrong. I do share that sense of disappointment at where we are in the cycle now. Isn't the 'relativising' you speak of, actually quite a helpful way to look at things though?

Mr Rules. I apologise if my use of that rather cliched 'punching above our weight' phrase upset you in any way. I absolutely agree with you that we are where we are on merit. What I meant was that, because money (and lots of it) is the most significant factor in football now, if you were to rank English football clubs on a rough measure of income such as average attendances, my guess is that we would be placed a lot lower than our current league standing. In other words we're doing a lot better than our income suggests we ought to be doing - so well done us! I hope that makes sense.

Mr Duck, I'm not sure how long you have been reading this board; I assume from your post count it isn't that long - prehaps that's a wrong assumption.
What I meant was that many people in the past have tried, like you, to put the current situation in a longer term context, but the general response has been to shoot the poster down, saying those days are past and what we were prepared to put up with back then has no relevance today.
Yours is as good attempt as any I've seen to get the point home while avoiding the implication that we should all be thankful we're still not in 1980.

Don't tell me some realism is coming onto this board. I agree entirely with the sentiments echoed above. We all want to see progress. No one wants us to just stand still but being realistic the last 10 years have been quite impressive for a club with the resources we have at our disposal. Long may it continue.

The fact that clubs like Colchester, Crewe, Stockport and Scunthorpe have had limited Championship experience should spur us all on to try and match - if not better - what they have achieved. In the longer term though they are all back down where they really belong taking everything into account.

When cooper was in charge I put £100 on pools to be eligible to play in the premier league within 5 years and got 10,000/1 with william hill. last year I put £100 on pools to be eligible to play in the premier league within 5 years with william hill and the best odds I got was...... 40/1....

The odds there says it all.

They also say your a fool.

I wouldn't exactly call it overachieving. We had many of the same players we have now, the difference is we haven't got a manager like Cooper who had a great knack of getting the best out of mediocre players. Something Wilson can't do. Wilson, IMO can't even get the best out of decent players.

Another point, you said "Players who weren't up to it (Jordan, Walker, Anthony Williams) were quickly identified and discarded"

Cooper did that for the good of the team. Wilson leaves them in even when playing poorly. Jarrow Roofing have a better striker playing for them than we have at Pools.

I think a lot of folks have forgotten that Mr Quid!!!!

Play the best players in the best formation for the good of the team!!! Regardless of "reputation" or "stature" or being "a club stalwart" - it counts for nowt when we get pummelled away from home every other week.