He does actually exist doesn't he and isn't a figment of my imagination? Its just that he seems to have disappeared. Some sore back isn't it.

Got to agree with others. Today's team selection was quite depressing after the recent introduction of the you guns. Disappointed in Coops today.

Still the 90 mins of fish puns we had kept us entertained,

It's probably my fault ...

We just seem to be cursed with injuries to newbees.......even in Boydy and Browny's day it was the same.

On a slightly plus point, if he has an injury it may well stop potential vultures from the higher leagues, thus Luke can spearhead our promotion season next year.

or maybe its a ploy to keep him fully fit for next season after his massive impact, keep him as a building block for next season. After all, coops admitted the playoffs are gone, so why risk and I'm sure cooper knows what he's doing preparing for next season and an assault on League 1

You've changed your tuna

Time and a plaice Mr Grave...

For Cod's sake....

Do you not think Dan that its because we in most cases get players no one else wants? weak , spindly legged, bad attitudes and weak characters etc. Have you noticed when you get fruit from the bottom of the basket in the supermarket it is invariably bruised?. Maybe other clubs who release players before they come to us can see this and thats why although these youngsters show promise they fail to realise it or ar injury prone or both, Boydy,Brown, Mcguckin, Halliday etc from down the years. Just a thought like.

Darlo have a large stadium but will never fillett.

"Weak , spindly legged, bad attitudes and weak characters," seems a bit harsh. Boyd when he was first here was a good kid, lost his way a bit and then returned in superb form before getting a nasty knee injury that was aggravated by being forced to play on by somebody who thought he had a bad attitude. Brown has shown exceptional character by battling back from a series of serious injuries that seems to have come from being kicked a lot rather than having spindly legs. You could argue that Halliday had a bad character but he also seemed to have loads of skill but no football brain and that meant a lack of end product even though he could skin people and run quite fast. Not sure why you've got McGuckin on the list but it certainly wasn't to do with being spindly! Anyway he played 155 matches for us, won Player of the Year and then we got a fee for him when he left. Far too early to judge James Poole or Luke James yet.

I was down training last Monday Luke was just slowly jogging around the place with Holden. The only few first teamers that were training were Brown, Liddle, Haslam, Luscombe and Boyd.

Just a thought?

A fkin stupid thought in my humble opinion like.

We probably suffer from the Northeast syndrome, similar to premiership clubs, they would rather move down south than oop north

Yeah I think you're onto to something, I reckon Brownies cruciates only snapped because of his weak character and bad attitude. His knees just though "Fuck it, I can't be arsed to carry around this spindly legged twat anymore, with his bad attitude"

Now where's my glue bag.....

Seriously you couldn't even make shite like this up....

That's bad even for you that ronaldo

I think you are missing the point you idiots! At least born toulouse had the decency to try and explain why he didnt agree with me. I never signalled out one particular player did I? spindly legged was just a bit of poetic licence used to help explain why we seem to have had players over the years who in nearly all cases have proved to be physically inferior to players from other clubs, and to add to that some have had other issues like bad attitude , injury prone etc. This may explain why after 100+ years of existence we have won nothing.This maybe explains why we have never sold a player for a fortune and why hardly any of our players have went on to play at the highest level. Brown I have always rated and would say in my time he is the most gifted player we have ever had, but he is injury prone and wont become the player I once hoped he would be. Mcguckin was good for us but his career went into freefall when he left due to injury, proving my point, thank goodness we sold him first. FFS!

Ron, obviously "some" missed the point you were making, but we can remember the days when we gave opportunities to players no-one else would. Big Bob was one of the few we got at a steal who could put himself about, unfortunately we've not had enough like that....hence we've never progressed further than the 4th round of the F.A. Cup which for a 104 yr old club is appalling really.

You don't have a point, you're talking utter nonsense.

'Physically inferior' You have signaled out Brown you keep mentioning him, you're cruciate ligament snapping even once has got absolutely nothing to do with any physical attribute or strength, it's damn bad luck. To do both knees is beyond cruel. I wouldn't even say he's injury prone he's just suffered just about the worst injury a professional footballer can suffer, twice. It's a testament to his mental strength that he's still playing league football especially when you've got people like yourself saying stuff like this;







Don't you think the most frustrated in the World about his two knee injuries will be Browny himself? He's not been injured since he got stopped being wrapped in cotton wool since Cooper returned has he? Yeah he's not going to become the player he would have but that is absolutely not down to anything the lad has done wrong. He's had an injury that if someone suffered once as recently as 15-20 years ago they were finished, twice.

As for Boydy he's the 7th highest goalscorer in the history of the club, and we've sold him once for half a million He's hardly been a complete failure in his career has he?

This is one of my favorites ever;



I don't even have to add anything to that other than laughter. What are you on about!?



Onto you're wider 'point' about being weak minded which you've made consistently over the years, even suggesting the fans have a 'lack of ambition' and that's another reason we've never won anything. I'll tell you probably the main reason we haven't satisfied your 'ambition' over the years, because for the large part of the first 80 years of the club we were a shambles. Battling every season just to survive on and off the pitch, apart from a couple exceptions when we had a decent team, even then the next financial crisis was just around the corner. Now though that doesn't apply though and we're in a much better state than lots of clubs in the football leagues, clubs with better grounding and history than ourselves and we have come perilously close to bringing home that first trophy. We haven't for no other reason than small margins on the field, an offside goal, a dodgy penalty, a missed chance, a bad performance. Nothing to do with any half baked horse shit conspiracy theories that give you a vehicle to spout negative bile and put the club and town down. Just football.

I really think there is a certain element of our support that preferred the days of 6-0 home defeats and people coming around the ground with a blanket to collect money. It was the done thing then to go on like you still do, gallows humour would get a laugh you needed a sense of humour to support Pools. Here's some breaking news ronaldo the club have moved on from those days and when they get the ground they want to move it on to the next level. Oh I forgot you don't like Hodcroft or IOR either.

Idiots indeed.......................

Don't get excited too much, PJ. At least Ronaldo gives you someone to have a go at.

Not to mention Jack Howe playing for England, John McGovern holding the European Cup up twice. FA cup winners in Howe, Linighan and Houchen and many more outstanding players who have donned the blue and white.
Then there's the £10 and a box of Kippers transfer.............which other clubs have done that.

Has Mr Ronaldo ever heard the expression " Proud to be a Poolie".

There are a lot bigger gatherings than the town of Hartlepool who have NEVER had a football league club.

Don Hutchison, John McGovern (I mean he won the European Cup Twice!) oh and Jo Allon for a bit.

But yeah we have never had players that reached the top level.

Sorry just read chips post

Don’t want anything to do with having a go at ronaldo....But this PJ_Poolie is the best summary of Hartlepool United I have ever had the pleasure of reading in recent times well done

I think that PJ_Poolie's summary should be mailshot to every home in the town, we still seem to have a huge percentage of these vile individuals who think this is how this club is still ran. I remember the early 80's well....when most of my Family [not immediate] & Friends would laugh when they asked if I was going to Pools…???? I think It’s called bullying nowadays! it actually used to really affect me in a strange sort of way...The hatred their own town team could create in their pathetic little minds when I look back beggared belief but as a 9 year old kid I felt so different to them because I loved going. What has Hartlepool United ever done so bad to these people I just don’t & will never understand it!!! & this was all long before the glitter of the Premiership etc.. What else were they doing on a Saturday Afternoon then!! [the 80's] that was better than watching Bob Newton?.... that came anywhere near justifying their bile views on Pools?? & it still lingers on now in 2012! These individuals need educating on how far we have come since IOR’s arrival. EVERYBODY needs to back this regeneration & let us hopefully move on to the dizzy heights of maybe attaining a flirt with Championship football
I wonder how many of the afore mentioned drudgery monger’s would want a piece of THAT!

Slightly off topic..... Sorry

I have to say recently down here when people ask me who I support and the always followup question "are you from there?" I either get a knowing look/nod or "good lad". This never used to be the case people dont see us as whipping boys anymore and due to Jeff Stelling people know about us and a lot down here look out for us.

A regular in the pub says Pools are his second team after Peterborough due to him remembering all the time we got re-elected etc but always talks to me about games and says that we are an established league 1 team (which we are) and wants us to got up, in his words "to annoy all the big boys in N.E and championship".

There is still a rotten core of people in the town who always will think we are crap and I dont know why. Its like my uncle who is in his 70's says stuff like "oh if they go up they will only come straight back down" etc what they dont realise is that they said the same when we went into League 1. You cant win with some people.

Agreed, some people love nothing more than belittling Pools, the same people who support premiershit teams from their armchairs or who have never been in their sad pathetic lives. I used to go to school with lads who would go to watch Pools quite regularly but if you asked them who they supported they wouldn't admit to supporting us, it was always Leeds or Liverpool or Newcastle etc.etc. even though they'd never been before!!

I can confirm the 'second team' thing as previously said. Most people I know who've asked who my team is now keep an eye out for Pools results and want to discuss the games. Only show them a copy of Monkey Business and they're completely hooked.

The secret is that it's 'real' football. You don't just ship in a 30m snodger replacement if the midfield is a bit under par. People are more sick of that than maybe you'd imagine.

I cant bother to reply ! I rest my case! its you lot who lack ambition not me, you make excuses for why we havent achieved nothing, small town small minded mentality. As for the players you mention ? wow! only John Mcgovern is what I would term a player who made it big! has not any other club in existence for over 100 years not had t at least 4 players who have went on to greater things? yous lot are unbelievable absolutely unbelievable. Do you not look at the opposition and think why is it in nearly every game they are physically bigger and stronger than us?. That is my point! we pick up the dross no one else wants, thats why we will never win nowt, and thats not been negative or bile or wanting to return to the 70s and 0-6 home defeats, that is frustration of someone who is not satisfied to just compete and plod on but someone who wants to win and achieve something.

What "Half-baked horseshit conspiracy theories" are you talking about then P.J.?

For someone talking nonsense you spent a lot of time on your reply, and also went to great lengths dredging up quotes from the archives, I must really rattle your cage . yWho are you? You know me and I probably know you but I am not hiding behind a non de plume.

Never spoken to you in my life, to my knowledge. my reply is based purely on your diatribe on here. You to have this assumption that I should know who you are!?

You asked why people disagree with the shite you spout, their you go.

It is very difficult to hide behind no pens, like....

Without Micky Barron giving James his debut, we could well be in a right relegation fight as the more times i see us play without him, the more apparent it becomes he was the main reason behind Coopers good start.

Have we seen Poole and James play together yet? It would certainly be confusing but the space they would create by pulling defenders one way and the next would be great to watch. Might give Sweeney half a chance from the middle to grab a few more goals.