...with the big clubs in our division, says Mr Wilson, but ''We want that quality of player who can turn a game with a bit of magic.''.

Doesn't that describe Adam Boyd, who you could of had for next to nothing last season?

FFS when will people move on?!

I think people have moved on but Wilson makes some daft comments sometimes. Hopefully the forthcoming season will see James Brown hit some real form and he can provide the magic.....

Seems a perfectly reasonable thing to say. We can't compete eith the likes of Leeds or Leicester on a financial basis so we are trying to find a few hidden gems.

It describes the Adam Boyd of 3 or 4 years ago, but I'm not sure it desribes the Adam Boyd of today...

Boyd scored less than Barker last season, and he takes the penalties!

Maybe he didn't wanna sign for us eh?

Boyd still has quality but that knee injury must have left a question mark over his long term future. Every single time he got the ball when he played for us, the whole crowd was anticipating a trick, a bit of unorthodox skill, a disguised pass or tee-up for someone to shoot, or a turn and shot - there was always an end product from Adam when he got the ball into his feet. It's a shame for him that the injury happened when it did because he had the ability to play regularly at Championship level at least - not to mention there is NO way we would have gone down that season if Porter and Boyd had been the front men week in week out.
However time has moved on and his knee is suspect - he's only just got his first full season in last time around for the first time in about 2 years, so he still has to prove he's over that injury. The hierarchy at Pools will know the extent of it and will be wary of signing a potential crock.
What I will say is this - I disagree with the sentiments about "moving on" and "not looking at him as a player to re-sign in the future", because IF he shows his old form again and proves his injury is behind him - anybody who says they wouldn't want Adam Boyd playing for Hartlepool United would be mad!!! Quite simply, Boyd was the REAL player of the Century for the last decade for Pools. Nobody won more games for us than he did, consistently over a 2/3 year period. Games are won at the sharp end of the pitch - goalkeeping/defending/midfield playing are positions where 95% of fottballers can excel, but the top quality strikers make the difference between winning/ drawing and drawing/losing - Boyd is in that bracket. Those are the players without which, people like Humphreys would not look as good. The pass to the forward is only as good as the man on the end of the pass - and Boyd is the best striker ever seen at this club in 40 years.

I include Watson in that as well. Boyd had more to his game, and more skill than Watson, who is probably the 2nd best striker in my time watching Pools. How lucky we were to have had them both on the pitch at the same time for 01/02 and 02/03

I personally would love to see Boydy back with pools. I think his time away will also make him want it more. Last time out I dont think he realised how lucky he was to have friends and family so close, and also coming through the ranks at pools. the move to the smoke will have made him wake up and realise what exactly he had at Pools.

YOu never know, never say never with football.

but the crux of my point still lies - he would have to prove he's still got it, because for me he's still got to show he can recapture what he was all about. I hope he does.

I agree ParmoPooly that we should never actually rule out a move for anybody, but Boydy would have to prove he is still worth another punt. I would find it difficult to believe that he would be the same player now.

I saw this happen when Bob Newton came back to us - funnily enough the club also knew that he was carrying a knee injury but decided to take the risk anyway. Unfortunately he was a shadow of his former self - I think the management then let their heart rule their head to a certain degree. I think IOR are too business minded and pragmatic to make the same mistake though...

Is there any evidence whatsoever that we had a chance of signing Boyd for next to nowt last season?
Welcome to the Bunker, football's revisionist history resource.

He went for a free but I reckon his signing on fee would have been hefty to cover the rest of his contract he had to pay off at Luton

There is very little evidence of the deals of those that we have signed so why expect evidence of those we haven't

Cos like it's sort of kind of traditional to back up your claims with evidence like noworramean?

Well I seem to remember Wilson denying he was interested in Boyd at the time, of course it was only reported on messagebords so can hardly be called a fact in all certainty but undoubtedly some truth in it?

However this is what Wilson is reported to have said, lets assume true.

1) Wilson says he can't compete with the leagues big spenders, which is a euphemism for I haven't got any money to spend and will be looking for free agents or low cost transfer deals.
2) Wilson also says I am looking for special players who have enough skill to turn a game. Hard to find any of them for free and even harder to find one that wants to play for Hartlepool I would have thought.


Thereafter is where facts grey a little

3) In my opinion (and of many others) Boydy was and probably still is a special player who could still win games for us.

4) It was widely reported that Boydy was being touted about at the end of last season, seemed that he wanted to come back home and for substantially less than we sold him for, but Wilson declined to take him on. I suspect this to be true but it can never be proven either way and this is the point you wish me to substantiate?

The subtle point I was trying to make was the paradoxical thinking of Mr Wilson and the missed opportunity in realising that paradox last season.

Hope that makes things clearer.

Geeting back to the original point, it's a long winded way of saying there's no money.

This subject DOES MY HEAD IN

Luton paid £500,000 for Adam Boyd, there is not a chance in hell that we could have got him back less than a year later 'for next to nothing' It is completely naive and illogical to think like that. May I add I think we did extremely well to get half a million for Adam Boyd at that time, for me, he was worth nowhere near that. A great piece of business on Pools part.

Saying that I would still love to see him in a Pools shirt again at some stage.

Well said that man.

There would have been no direct fee but someone would have had to pay his contract up, not to Luton but to Boydy, otherwise he could have sat on his arse and got the money anyway. At the time Luton were six/eight months off administration, but even then, wages are guaranteed to an extent unlike other debts in Administration. read the Leeds United story.

Put short, he cost, indirectly 300K.

I wrote all this at the time.

I think (hope) most people recognise that too!!! It was a non starter from Luton, but in a year or two things may be different - hence that last line may still have some life in it one day.

There you go

Absolutely spot on there, spender.

Yeah that was what I meant

Boyd is on 3k a week at Orient, plus bonuses for goal targets he reaches....

Luton and Orient came to some arrangment were they both paid up his Luton contract, he also got a 100 grand signing on fee as well..

Pools never even enquired about Boyd, and there is no way that they could afford him anyway....

I'm amazed that people even consider the possibility that we wouldn't welcome back the most skillful and exciting player most of us (if not all) have ever seen in a Pools shirt.

Do we need another forward? One of the top home scores last season

I think we should stop the ball hitting our own net first then see if we need more up front

We'll not do that as long as we have midfielders trying to play full back.