,, Trying to look at our success rate from recent examples of players we signed who were playing in the league below...am sure have missed some, and others may have different opinions..

Umerah - Hit and Miss
Mo Sylla -- Excellent, shame about the attitude.
Lacey--Failure

Burton--Seemed to have potential but ultimately did nowt and went back down to regional level

Nsalia--Made a lot of mistakes but ultimately went on to higher level
Almond--Relative success
Deverdics-Failure

So v hit and miss--hopefully the 2 new defenders ae More in the Sylla than the Lacey category in terms of how they do.

Carver- from Southport- shite.

Sterry, kioso, jack Baldwin...

Ryan Johnson

Podge Almond

Johnson a good shout, I suppose Ferguson too.

Baldwin I think a bit diff as just a kid, one of those examples of when we had a good scouting system, think we pipped Gillingham to him, imagine that today !

it is alright getting players from a lower level if they are checked out first, and a good sign is if other clubs are interested. Ruben Bartlet Antwi is of interest to Orient we are told. Lets be honest he would be lucky to get a game in the first division, were if good enough he would play at Pools. If Orient are in for him why is he doing the rounds on trial?

More failures than succeses. NLN/S not exactly a goldmine of recruitment. If we want to do well we need to put together a league 2 standard squad where your NLN signings provide compensation, (and maybe occasionally a new star player), perhaps sign them as key players?

Doesn't matter too much where they come from, too many come here and fail. Recruitment and squad building seems amateurish - starting last season with Fergy being the only choice for LB being an obvious example imo.
Historically we've struggled to bring players here because of our location and the towns reputation being in an economically struggling area of the country. But recent history and reputation footballing wise won't help, who'll want to sign for a club that goes through 3 managers a season and expected to struggle? Even worse with the farcical ownership issue, without which Mani and Joe might still have been our players.

Neill Byrne

Players come to clubs with ambition……..not the area…or the socio economic state…(some Poolies do sell themselves short at times)…..if that was the case most Premiership clubs would be in this division as well.

York signed ollie Pearce from Worthing and he did pretty well last season. All about getting the right ones. Been a lot of players stepping up from non league to efl this summer so plenty clubs are at it.

This.
If players didn’t want to sign for teams that are struggling economically/a bit rough round the edge,teams like Walsall,Grimsby, would have no chance.

The area has always been cited as a reason for difficulties in attracting players, not just by Pools.

Recruiting from the league below.
With two year contracts planning for 2026/27?

We've signed 6 and 3 have come from EFL, 1 from NL and 2 from league below.

I reckon it’s bovine excrement nowadays….you wanna see how many ordinary people are moving up this way especially from London for a better life.

It's probably less of an issue as it once was but historically all of the north eastern clubs have said in the past that it was an issue.
Having said that Barrow seems to be doing ok but don't they train somewhere else so the players are only in the town for match days?