They are now playing at their highest level, the lower reaches of League One. To many fans that represents success, and the club couldn't possibly survive in the Championship, so what is the point of developing further?

It's absolutely shiit anyway. Who in Hartlepool reads this paper?

It's absolutely shiit anyway. Who in Hartlepool reads this paper?

I get it during the cricket season but will no longer buy it during the footy season.

It's absolutely shiit anyway. Who in Hartlepool reads this paper?

Even if Sky sports broadcast every game live for free,

As I've already said, if ever the Predeterminedship sickness causes the annihilation of all the other clubs, à la NFL, I'll simply follow a different sport, or maybe none at all.

Nothing - and that's a really miniscule nothing - attracts me about that soulless division. Even if Sky sports broadcast every game live for free, I still couldn't work up the energy to pick up the remote control to switch to the channel it was on, although I sure as hell could work up the energy to switch said channel off.

NFL....big girls rugby, they talk up the most boring game in the Solar system and then all wear enough body armour to to take part in a remake of Agincourt emulating fridge freezers being catapulted at each other, Cack.

The 'Hartlepool Steelers'

Enough said

When did the NFL annihilate all other clubs? The system is completely different over there...

What I meant was leaving behind a system akin to that of the NFL. How many clubs are there in the NFL second division?

The NFL is based on the collegiate system and despite the lack of tiers it's probably the fairest league in the world, particularly for the amount of money in it. Salary caps and a draft system to match ability, which I think makes up for its cap of 32 teams. Besides, it can still expand and probably will soon.

It never annihilated clubs though, it's always been like that. How can you miss something that was never there?

I do love the guff people knock out against the NFL though, it's borderline xenophobia

Oddly enough, after the Stoke game I saw it in the paper shop with Pools on the front and bought it for the first time in years, then realised why I hadn't been buying it, we had beaten Stoke and got less coverage the Darlo. whereas Blyth got three times as much coverage for the preview of their game with Blackburn.

Next GP will be extolling the virtues of the "World Series" in baseball ! how can you have a "World Series" when all the participants are from one country!

Baseball another name for rounders and we all know who play that.....

The NFL is based on the collegiate system and despite the lack of tiers it's probably the fairest league in the world, particularly for the amount of money in it.

Yeah, sure TGP. Thing is if you live in some town, let's say Duluth, and you want regular, grown-ups' football, where do you go?
OK, they're used to supporting some team they've drawn out of their arses 'cos it's always been like that there, so it's no big deal for them.

But we aren't used to doing that here. It could end up like that though: hey presto, another 100 years of culture swilled down the drain and the world's a better place without the Hartlepools of this world clogging it up. We could slay a few poor families' kids too while we're at it and make the poor look after rich people's kids.

Well i've decided to reply to the idiot - told him he is very narrow minded & ill informed.

Asked what he concidered a 'big' club cos if it's premireship - then isn't there three in north east!

Also told him grateful he's never considered Hartlepool as his second team cos we don't need pratts like him!!

Wonder if they'll print it?

it can still expand and probably will soon.

That maybe so but it's not fan friendly, who many teams have sold up and sold out and moved thousands of miles away without so much of a thank you to the fans. It would be like Boro getting sold and then moving to Plymouth under a new name.

The NFL is based on the collegiate system and despite the lack of tiers it's probably the fairest league in the world, particularly for the amount of money in it. Salary caps and a draft system to match ability, which I think makes up for its cap of 32 teams. Besides, it can still expand and probably will soon.

It never annihilated clubs though, it's always been like that. How can you miss something that was never there?

I do love the guff people knock out against the NFL though, it's borderline xenophobia

Players are tiered into three different levels with regards to their rights to negotiate for contracts:

Each April, each NFL franchise seeks to add new players to its roster through a collegiate draft known as "the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting", which is more commonly known as the NFL Draft.

Teams are ranked in inverse order based on the previous season's record, with the team having the worst record picking first, and the second-worst picking second, and so on. Regardless of regular season records, the last two picks of each round go to the two teams in the Super Bowl immediately preceding the draft, with the Super Bowl champion picking last.

The draft proceeds for seven rounds. Rounds 1–2 are run on Saturday of draft weekend, rounds 3–7 are run on Sunday. Teams are given a limited amount of time to make their picks. If the pick is not made in the allotted time, subsequent teams in the draft may draft before them. This happened in 2003 to the Minnesota Vikings.

Teams have the option of trading away their picks to other teams for different picks, players, cash, or a combination thereof. While player-for-player trades are rare during the rest of the year (especially in comparison to the other major league sports), trades are far more common on draft day. In 1989, the Dallas Cowboys traded running back Herschel Walker to the Minnesota Vikings for five veteran players and six draft picks over 3 years. The Cowboys would use these picks to leverage trades for additional draft picks and veteran players. As a direct result of this trade, they would draft many of the stars who would help them win three Super Bowls in the 1990s, including Emmitt Smith, Russell Maryland and Darren Woodson.

The first pick in the draft is often taken to be the best overall player in the rookie class. This may or may not be true, since teams often select players based more on the teams' needs than on the players' overall skills. Plus, comparing players at different positions is difficult to do. Still, it is considered a great honor to be a first-round pick, and a greater honor to be the first overall pick. The last pick in the draft is known as Mr. Irrelevant , and is the subject of a dinner in his (dubious) honor in Newport Beach, California.

Drafted players may only negotiate with the team that drafted them (or to another team if their rights were traded away). The drafting team has one year to sign the player. If they do not do so, the player may reenter the draft and can be drafted by another team. Bo Jackson famously sat out a season in this way.


Players who have been drafted, and have not yet played in their first year, may only negotiate with the team that drafted them.If terms cannot be agreed upon, the players' only recourse is to refuse to play ("hold out") until terms can be reached. Players often use the threat of holding out as a means to force the hands of the teams that drafted them. For example, John Elway was drafted by the Baltimore Colts in 1983 but refused to play for them. He had a fallback option of baseball, as he had played in the New York Yankees organization for two summers while at Stanford. The Colts traded his rights to the Denver Broncos and Elway agreed to play.Bo Jackson sat out an entire year in 1986, choosing to play baseball in the Kansas City Royals organization (and ultimately for the Royals themselves) rather than play for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the team that had drafted him. He reentered the draft the following year, and was drafted and subsequently signed with the Los Angeles Raiders.

Players that have played between 3–5 full seasons in the league, and whose contract has expired are considered "Restricted Free Agents" (see below). They have limited rights to negotiate with any club.
Players that have played 5 or more full seasons in the league, and whose contract has expired, are considered "Unrestricted Free Agents"(see below) and have unlimited rights to negotiate with any club. Teams may name a single player in any given year as a "Franchise Player"(see below), which eliminates much of that player's negotiation rights. This is a limited right of the team, however, and affects only a small handful of players each year.