Our opposition have won every friendly including on Sat vs Halifax 1-0 and we're our toughest opposition of our preseason campaign.

Overall we pressed very well, strong and fit. Sarll mentioned in an interview that 98% of a players game is without the ball and that's most important to him, that was clear. I haven't saw Pools press and tackle aggressively in a long time.

We played a 4231 formation.

The problem is we were poor attacking wise first half. Hunter and Sheron cover the ground, press and win the ball back, but struggle to get a foot on it when the game is tight.

Campbell then dropped deep to begin attacks but we needed him further forward, first half we did work the ball out wide well but our crossing and final ball was poor.

Joe Grey stood as with a strong performance and was streets ahead of Charman who seems to be behind fitness wise.


Featherstone helped change the game after HT when he came on for Charman. Featherstone looks fit and dictated play, he got on the ball in a 442 diamond formation and allowed Campbell to play further forward.

His play for the first goal was excellent, he was passing the ball forwards and getting stuck in with sliding tackles.

Hunter came alive in second half and hit a screamer off the post.

The subs in Onaraise, Dixon, Motley Henry and then Joe Augiers didn't weaken the team and helped us dominate the second half, there was only going to be one winner.

Adam Smith isn't worth signing and Motley Henry seemed to get a bad injury after scoring with the only touch of the game.

That Pools team won't get battered in the NL. We will win more than we lose, however we are fairly direct now and reliant on Mani D as a target, if he gets injured it will impact us significantly.

Thanks for that Mr Bosh 85

Featherstone played really well and changed the game. And yes Joe was brilliant tonight. Thought Doddsy was m.o.m. he is getting back to his real form slowly but surely. I thought we missed Slog and definitely Mancini.

Thanks for report, great to hear dodds back to best and I think Grey could be a revelation this year if he stays fit
Shame about the trialist injury, we are really short of bodies which is annoying as it’s the case every year

Think our first 11 or so sounds good but please Singh for the love of god sanction some more signings to give us a chance

From Sarlls interview Raj is not stopping him bringing players in so you're barking up the wrong tree.

Totally agree, Raj isn't the issue regarding signings.

Sarll is simply being very thorough in his due diligence before committing to offering anyone a contract.

I am sure we have made offers and been rejected, that's football.

Heard it all before, we've taken it on face value (what else can we do ?) And as time has gone on it has never materialised. This time it could be true but there are no signings until there are.

Taken what on face value? Sarll said he's trying g to bring 4 more in that doesn't on face value sound as if his budget is spent.

Of course there's budget left.
Cheap trialists.
Loanies depending on how much the parent club will pay.
And later on in the season the shit no one wants to cover injuries.

But no need to panic we got the best talking manager in football
. Party time in May so stop moaning at the Concernists. It's run its course.

UTP.

If everything Raj and his managers had said over the years had actually come to pass then our recent history would be very very different. We'll see quality new signings if and when we see them but you need quite a big dollop of faith to be certain they'll come just because someone in the club says so.

So face value means your opinion not the bare facts of what has been said?

unless they are the right men sarll and us do not want them. so if the bench is missing a couple of players in numbers then so what you can only play 5 anyway and thats not compulsory. i,d be surprised if we do not get at least one new player in before the season starts who isn,t a keeper but someone who can make a good claim for the starting 11. surely thats better than a few signed who we,ll only see off the bench in an emergency because they are crap.

One point on this, if we were going after cheap trialists, then we would have done it by now. We’ve had plenty training with us and playing in games, not a single one has been signed.

Sounds like they have offered a contract to Sass-Davis and that Mottley-Henry will be offered a deal too, but all of the others have been scattered.

I’m sure there will be a conspiracy theory raised saying that Sarll said to Raj that he didn’t have strength in depth, and he wanted to add 4 more names to the squad list, so Raj has said yes to Sass-Davies and Mottley-Henry.

Scrappy first half but some good play in the second half. I know this will upset some but the difference was Featherstone. Noticed Sass-Davis not even on bench personally no better than Many O.

Missed the first 15 minutes because it took me the best part of 2 hours to make a foreign money tranfer - something that normally takes 5 minutes. Impossible as usual to speak to a real live person at NatWest out of business hours - unless you want to report a stolen card AI can't be worse than "press option one if you want..." Can it?

Anyhow. Agree with a lot of what has already been said about the game. Scunny are a decent side and really got stuck in. We'll play some that are worse in the NL this season. And others that are a lot better!

As said, Featherstone made a big difference when he came on. Still think he'll be first change rather than a starter in most games, but this manager is giving him the chance to use his passing ability to prompt attacks. The people who claim he only ever passes sideways or backwards might reflect on the fact that Pools have had a succession of managers who wanted their sides to keep possession and build from the back. Wadda surprise, if you change the system Feaths is good enough to change his style of play!

Listening to Sarll's post-match interview I think it's clear from his comment at the end about what a tough 10 months Pools have ahead of them he does want more players. If he doesn't get more bodies in during the the next 10 days the questions about backing won't go away. A new keeper and a decent quality back up for Mani D are top of the list.

Point of order Mr Imp.
Don't you mean no MORE signings until there are, as we have already had signings.
Very profound statement on your part, though.

Challinor was in for all these top strikers on deadline day, he ended up with fondop. 2 years in a row we were looking at top strikers in league 1 and league 2 rumoured to be about to spend 100k we didnt get them, infact its come out we spent 10k on players in total 1 year, luckily for us might be the best 10k we ever spent if he is signed on a longer term contract.

The manager said he wanted the squad sorting nice and early, didnt happen, graeme lee had all these fantastic players waiting was sacked, phillips wanted all these great players in early sacked.

I think what the manager says can be taken with a bit of a pinch of salt. He might get these 4 players maybe by december or he may have to release more players.

Think Sarll's football with technically lacking but hard working and defensively solid centre mids works well in games where we are expecting to not have much of the ball (Gateshead, Rochdale etc.) but maybe doesn't work when we have the quality to dominate. Featherstone worked best with 2 people doing his leg work which it sounds like Hunter, Sheron, Sloggett can and will do, as well as having movement from Campbell, Grey and Mani up front to give him the forward passes we all crave!
Notice Mark Beck is now training with Gateshead with view to signing imminently so looks like we are on to Plan B for Mani D's back up!

And the sun might shine or maybe it won't blah blah.
Maybe you might say something positive by December but I won't hold my breath.

You never seem to learn do you taken in by what they say within the club very rarely happens. I fully expect these 4 signings to sign now by next friday.

I am not sure why people get worked up over what managers say in the transfer market and what actually happens.

Managers answer questions posed to them, it's an easy answer, they just say they want x number of players, potentially identifying positions.

It's rare that any manager gets the players they want in the time frame they want, unless you are a rich club who doesn't care about getting ripped off.

Recruitment so far has been good, but only about half way through with number of players with about 4/5ths of the way through time wise.

It's not 10/10 for the transfer window, it's not 1/10 either. Given how light we are numbers wise, I'd say maybe 6/10.

The thing is nobody knows how good these players are until they come under pressure at places like yeovil. Some players look great in pre season then look terrible in league games and vice versa. The players are starting to look way fitter and more energy about them than at any time of what at times we looked quite pedestrian last season.

But if we think we are going to get away with that sort of bench from last night even early in the season, then some are going to get another big shock. Especially if we cant get mancini fit.

I've learned not take much credence from the last of the summer whiners (c Snowy), if that's what you mean. The club don't take me in, wish they did, a free seat would be nice and maybe a bite to eat washed down with an ale or two would be most welcoming.
The internal workings and goings of Hartlepool United are never disclosed to me and until they are I'm neither taken in or taken out.
I'm a fan, nothing more and nothing less. I choose within the boundaries of my choice. I love it when we win and hate it when we lose. I like the ups and dislike the downs but realise that being a fan is a rollercoaster. I can either take it or leave it but never harbour any illusions that I can change or influence anything unless I suddenly become very wealthy, at which point I have the choice of whether to get further involved or not.
Over the years I have found this attitude is by far the most sensible one to take.
Each to their own. You like to find fault and whinge.

'Face value" from the Cambridge dictionary.

"to accept something as it appears to be rather than
studying it more closely:"

Let's go with this definition?

Plenty to find fault about isnt there? Least i dont sit on the fence like you do then. Or is that a get out for someone that has kept defending whats gone on for the last few year to the hilt and only stance now is to claim we are whingers and should support other clubs. You keep choosing to believe the club over anything, despite a few years of evidence to think well actually you can take what they say with a pinch of salt.

Sarl since taken over has gone from we need to get the squad in place early to now being the most studious manager ever in the space of a couple of month.

I guess its nothing to do with season ticket sales being down by 800 to 1000. Nothing to see here.

Point conceded Sir

As that great fictional philosopher of our time Popeye once said.. "I ams what I ams"

Exactly you are reading more into what the manager has said, in fact you are spinning it 180 degrees on the basis if your perception of history.
The managers statement appears to be genuine to me therefore I take it at face value. It may or may not turn out to be accurate but only he and Mystic Meg would know.

we will only know who signs for us and never the ones we missed out on or the ones who turned us down or the ones we turned down. sarll might have done all his work he wanted to do early as he wanted but circumstances not all made by the club has scuppered that.

I'm reading nothing into it. It isnt my perception of history, it is a common perception. Everyone knows what went on before. I've said we'll see. I've said things change but don't expect me to be doubt free when history suggests (not dictates of course) otherwise.

Well rumour has it and its a just a rumour 3 trialists we want to sign but they are struggling to sign to it off with the board.

sounds like Loan signing are coming in - which we all knew would happen once we bust the budget with a mighty 5 incomings. Its rinse and repeat and looks to be another transfer window just like the others only this time we have signed quality instead of quantity and kids. Hopefully Davies and Henry can both come in but sounds like only one can.
There be method in the madness behind all this im sure - DS doesnt just sign for the sake of it. But times a ticking ... players will also still be dragging heels too. Imagine end of august when we truly have got all the players in we can.

where is this busting the budget come from. first i have heard or again looking at the past and not being good at adding 2 and 2 up or looking for an agenda against the club.

There is merit to sitting on the fence insomuch that you can see both sides, whereas setting yourself firmly entrenched on one side gives you one point of view and nothing else, which describes you and your behaviour to a T.
However I don't see that I'm on the fence, I see that I concentrate on what I can control or influence.
How can you say I'm on the fence and then say I believe everything that the club says????
The club can say what they like and I read it and move on.
I can't ever recall saying I believe that or I don't believe it. It depends what they say for a start. A lot of what's said is just information. If I have anything to complain about I complain directly and not on here. My choice.
Managers all say much of a muchness and most of it goes in one ear and out of the other. They might be telling the truth and they might not, so what. It's what they do. Same as players usually come out with the same line when they are hired.

Just because I don't adopt your stance of whinging morning noon and night doesn't mean I agree with everything or I back everything.
I stopped buying season tickets some four years ago. It was between me and the club and that's the way it stays. I still go and pay on the gate both home and away but, as yet, haven't got into ST mode again.

My guess is budget assume Dixon and mani O out….sorry sarll they are still here so it’s one in one out.

We may get one more in (NLn motley) and a keeper on loan if we are lucky

The point is as usual the story changes from early recruitment to ‘being methodical’ people can dress up as they like but where we are now is not where Sarll expressed a desire to be when he got here

We are a club slowly circling down the drain with the current bloke in charge as reflected by the reduced season tickets and reduced budget

err where did you get that figure that season tickets are down 800-1000? We sold 2000 last season before early bird ended..

https://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/sport/ ... ne-4204796

We went on to sell 2300 max didnt we?

Correct.

We are 300-400 down. Me + 3 others are 4 of those, yet we will pay on the door for majority of games. This is 20% reduction.

Prices increased by approx 10%.

Therefore revenue is down around 10% from a season ticket perspective.

This isn't great but isn't significant at this point to change Sarlls budget, which was never 16 senior pros and 3 kids only. More like the 20 senior pros and 3 kids that Sarll has wanted from the outset.

We were at 4,049 average fans in home matches last year.

Let us see how many fans turn up vs Southend, I imagine 4,500+ which will demonstrate no real drop in attendances (first league game usually a bit of a bumper crowd despite being holiday season).

In life you don't always get what you want why would it be any different in football? So he says ge wanted business done early, there could be dozens of reasons why it didn't happen. Rumours and guesswork are bound to happen but they are what they are, rumours and guesses.

We will start off with 4500 500 Southend.
Big ask to stay at that ratio with the £22/23 entrance fee.
And a small squad to sustain wins won't be easy despite the cult reputation our gaffer has got already.
Yeovil £17 by the way.

Well actually have a good august as we are playing a lot of shite teams and injuries won’t bite, then everyone will act surprised when it turns to shit in October as we haven’t backed the manager with squad depth

We sold 2800 plus last year. Couple year ago it was around 3300.

Sass Davies ? Motley Henry ? Perhaps we're only interested in signing players with double barrelled surnames ?

What's your source for these figures?

I asked when i went to buy a match ticket for first game im sure the lady said over 2600 odd then went on to sell a further 150 but they may have been partly half season tickets. In 20-21 we had sold over 2500 well before the season and according to hartlepool mail and in 2018 we had sold over 2500 by first week of july. So we have a history over last 10 years or so of selling well over 2500.

Ah okay, half season tickets would indeed make a difference.

they,d sell like hot cakes if the team is playing well and we are in the top 5 at christmas. i could be persuaded to get one myself if fuel hasn,t gone through the roof by then.