At first I was going to be dismissive about the option of playing Parker but I suppose it would make perfect sense as we have nothing to play for ( ) and we may aswell have one more look at him in case may be worth signing.

A disappointig end to a great Hartlepool career.

I hope he still travels with the team to Bristol so he can get a good send off from all those Poolies at the game on Saturday.

why he got one of the proper supporters at home on saturday

Yeah, the last thing I heard was that hardly anyone stayed behind to thank the fans after Saturday's game.

If that's the case, some people really need to take a look at themselves.

i wish you didn't support pools

And people who wernt at the game also but listened on the pc

Well, I do, so there.

I have a perfectly valid explanation for why I wasn't there.

Rest assured though, if I could get up there, I would.

Also why would the fans thank themselves

Sorry, I'll post that again, I meant to say:

Yeah, the last thing I heard was that hardly anyone stayed behind to thank the TEAM after Saturday's game.

If that's the case, some people really need to take a look at themselves.

Leave PoK alone. He may be a ding at times but we neeed all the fans we can get.

The part of that post about needing all the fans we can get is absolutely right, Obafemi.

You never go to the match though! And on the odd occasion that you do, you start loads of pointless threads pertaining to that match just to let people know you're going!

"Hardly" is hardly the word I'd use. Maybe half the home crowd stopped back.

Yeah, I only let people know so that I can find out who else is going to a particular match so I can get a good idea of large the away support will be.

I go to the match when I can.

I stayed back after the game, I told the big nosed Aussie fooker to welcome to the board back to where he come from on the nearest Quantas plane. I also called the rest of the playing squad not nice people. I reserved my loudest expletives for Chris Turner and Hodcroft.

I'm a proper fan, me like.......







I obviously didn't but to suggest that people who didn't stay behind need to 'have a look at themselves' is Joel got standing ovations when he won POTY, when the teams were read out, and when he was subbed. We'd just been beaten disappointly, without much of a performance, I can perfectly understand anyone who didn't want to wait a good ten minutes for the players to come back out. I did stay back and gave them a muted hand, mainly out of curiosity. I wouldn't use the people who stayed and the people who didn't as any sort of barometer of who are 'the best fans'. You do talk an unbelievable amount of gubbins POK.

POK is the Private Pike of the board. Optimistic and full of good intentions ..... and not yet burdened with cynicism.

I don't believe that being negative in difficult situations is going to solve anything - I believe in constructive criticism.

I believe that being cynical or overly negative about something that you don't need to be too critical about can make you feel bitter - and God knows I don't want to even go there, because that makes you feel depressed in the end.

After reading Turner's comments against Leeds :

http://www.hartlepoolunited.co.uk/page/GafferTalk/0,,10326,00.html

If the lads gave their all on Saturday like he says and we actually performed badly, I wonder what we'd play like it we had actually put in a great performance. Surely Turner wouldn't turn around and say we were plucky and gave our all and Leedshad that extra bit of class that won the game when in fact we performed badly during the match

"I believe that being cynical or overly negative about something that you don't need to be too critical about can make you feel bitter - and God knows I don't want to even go there, because that makes you feel depressed in the end".


Listen POK, life in the lower divisions is all about criticism, bitterness and ultimately depression. You might feel immune in your Kent mansion but in the end the nether regions of English football will drag you down to their own level.

Bitterness and depression are perfectly normal for any long term Poolie over the age of 30 and are things you should look forward to and, eventually, embrace. Self medication with Strongarm, powerful Belgian lagers and an extensive range of hallucogenic powders is the only solution although watching the video of our last "derby" can also help.

But actually, that's why I love supporting a Football League side as opposed to a Premier Leaague team, because in League One there is hardship and challenges and pain and depression, as opposed to the Premier league whereby if you have loads of money, you'll win cups easily.

Where would be the fun in doing that ?

I prefer challenges in League One than going off with all the other lads in this town who get the train up to London to watch the Gooners, Chelsea, Fulham etc.

Winning promotions with 'Pools, suffering relegation, winning play-offs is much more sweeter than watching Arsenal win all the time because a win is made all the special by the fact that it doesn't come around all that often.

'Pools have a proud identity and history, now Chelsea have money they seem to have lost their identity and Arsenal have become from French than Paris itself.

Is French the new English?

PoK I am going to tell you I didnt stay for the lap of honour, mainly because I clapped them off at full time and clapped Joel off when he got substituted but mainly as I wanted a pint and went to the King John's. They you have it I need to have a look at myself as I left after full-time but you know what I was there for the other 90minutes

Well, don't you think it's right that everybody, not just you, but EVERYBODY should have stayed behind to thank the team for all their efforts and thank Joel etc?

Wasn't there a way in which you could skip having a pint after the match an stay behind just a little bit longer?

Why when I clapped them after the match and Joel when he got taken off, were you clapping to your radio / pc? I wanted a drink so there you go I thanked them in my own way with a pint

I thought there was a certain symmetry, myself. Some fans stayed behind, some didn't. Some players looked pleased to see us, others didn't bother looking our way.....if you get my drift.

For me, no there wasn't, i had a child to go and pick up, who was waiting for me over the other end of town.

So was i supposed to keep her waiting?

not everyone can stay behind, just like you can't make games

different circumstances for different people

Couldn't agree more with you, Yubep.

In my mind, those who can stay behind after the game to thank the team should really only if they can. It's only what I'd do if I'd been up there.

And ALL of the players should have been interested in taking applause off the fans IMO.

Oh for gods sake shut up.

Sorry like but this thread is now so dull I may be forced to kill you all.

Who do you think you're talking to, youmiserableunsociableintolerantlittleabsenteewhoonlycomes hereonFridayswithdubiousjokes?

Hmmmmmm. I could be physic, or maybe I'm getting totally the wrong end of the stick. But I'm sensing a tiny bit of pissed off anger with POK there Grave.

Plus isn't the whole point of the so called 'lap of honour' for to the players to THANK US for supporting them!? Not the other way.....

'Thank them for their efforts!!?' I'm guessing you've never walked through the car park before the game at the Vic and counted the BMW's and Range Rovers, they get WELL PAID to play for us 'efforts' are the BARE MINIMUM we should expect. How dare you criticise people who spend HUNDREDS OF POUNDS over the course of the season to support them from your computer desk 350 miles away.

Exactly right. We pay the feckers wages, surely that is thanks enough. Like I have said before I dont think that many of the players have given their all this season and therefore I fail to see why we should applaud them. I have stayed back most seasons since I started watching Pools even when we struggled (mainly because the team had little talent and mere hard graft kept them up). They deserved credit. A good number of the current squad deserve bugger all.

That would involve him actually going to a game at the Vic