Roy Hogan and look where that got us ....................... 8th in Div 4 once.

What we need is a midfielder who can put his foot on it and pass it simply - we have one in Boland who sadly will play 5 out of 46 games if we are lucky and Clark has tried to do that last season the trouble is we need one with a bit more pace than a tortoise with mud flaps!

I dont think we need someone who is hard at all. We need someone who can hold onto the ball in the middle, make space and has some pace. We have lacked pace in the middle for years now. A natural leader would also be good.

Healy would have been perfect by all accounts.

look i know it's probably dead and buried but could'nt the money they had earmarked for healy be used to get dimi back cos by the sounds of it flinders is on par with the hologram

I am continuingly bemused by successive Pools managers/DOS's instistance on signing forwards and midfielders. Last season scoring goals was not a problem, the issue was that we had to score three to get a draw because of our piss poor defence. I see no sign of any improvement at the back and unless that is addressed sharpish I forsee a worse season that last time round. We don't see to have any idea about our back four and we certainly haven't even considered the possibility of signing a left back as far as I'm aware. I'm no Capello and call me old fashioned but shouldn't a team have full backs?

We no longer have Porter to rescue points so Boydy had better turn up in scoring a 20 goals plus mood or we are already relegated.

well your obviously not very aware then are you!

Chip I for one moment do not advocate we buy a midfield hardman what we need is a central defender with pace who can mark and effectively clear his lines - the rest can be sorted with our current squad if Boland has a chance of being fit we should offer him a contract until 31 October 2009.

what hour/minute on that date

3 month contract on reduced wages as no one else will offer him owt !

Maybe he would like to give management a go?

Happily manage Pools, but you need a pro licence anyway I prefer my present job as greater security of tenure!

LOL, I was refering to Boland!

It's at times like this when you really appreciate how good of a midfielder Tinkler was.

and people still used to complain he was too slow

They didn't say that at his peak. Towards the end his legs had gone and the game really caught up on him.

That was a quality midfield 3 in Turner's 3-5-2 formation, Tinkler, Stephenson (who was class in there as a footballer) and Miller. Tinkler and Stepho controlled the game and played all the football allowing Miller to bomb on scoring some spectacular goals and making the headlines

I don't see too many recognised left backs joining Pools. Feel free to increase my awareness.

well your post suggests we havent even bothered trying, yet its well documented what has gone on in summer.

Tinkler and Stephenson were both class over the years, definitely. We badly need a player like either of those two - good footballers and excellent long range passing ability.

At the time we probably took miller, stevo and tinks for granted. How we wish we could have just one of them right now

Anyone remember that game Stepho dribbled from within our own half and scored into the Rink End. Total class, and Stepho joined as a winger before being converted into a centre mid player - hopefully that might work out for Freidrekson....

We have never found a suitable replacement for Tinkler. There were a few idiots who criticised him towards the end of his career when he was being played out of position but they seem to have forgotten the great seasons he had for us before that.

He used the ball well, could control the tempo of the game and could put in a crunching tackle when necessary. On top of that he also made a regular contribution with goals - I remember him scoring a great hat-trick against Wrexham. The contribution he made in the most succesful period of Pools history shouldn't be underestimated.

I dont remember him being played out of position? He may have played c entre back about twice but that was it

In his last stint the game had caught up with him bigstyle and he was so slow it was unreal. He couldnt even slide tackle, he just kind of layed on teh floor in front of them.

However at his peak he was simply awesome and no doubt about it.