There is a world of difference between retaining shit to average players when you finish comfortably in mid table (2 seasons in a row) to retaining shite when you are the laughing stock of league one and in reality have been virtually relegated by late October...

Every year we need a clear out but the players we need releasing never go and usually sign another contract

Hughes obviously thinks alot of the players people want to go so if he stays there's not a hope in hell of getting the necessary clearout. He won't even drop them for better players now. He'll probably release poole James and Baldwin judging by his repetitive starting line ups keeping Howard Collins and humps

Nothing he does makes sense so wouldn't surprise me

I think you have to take what he Hughes says with a pinch of salt when he is praising players. Only the other day he was praising Neil Austin and saying he was a big part of his plans. He might really think that he is inconsistent and a bit of a daft twat for getting sent off but he can't say that publically. I see it as a positive that Jordan kept his place though and one of the old guard wasn't brought straight back in. That positive was balances with the negative of the baffling and late substitutions against Preston though.

I can understand why the starting XI was the way it was against Sheff Utd. Hughes (like many of us) might have thought that we may get tonked and was possibly protecting young players from that. Miraculously we won though so the team wasn't going to be changed against PNE. Hopefully the pathetic midfield display against Preston will get Sweeney and Humphreys out of the team. I'd rather we played with mobile forwards but Howards 2 goals against Sheff U will probably see him start at least the next 3 games (hopefully he will find form).

Jonny. Sweeney and Humphries won't be dropped.

Humphries may be benched but Flinders will be dropped before Sweeney misses a second.

Got to be changes, everyone realises that. Ive seen several clearouts but not many of recent. What usually happens is we release a number of players and we replace them with a number of players that have been released by other clubs. Lets hope the homework is being done and the right players are found. Please dont recruit players that are worse than the ones we release. Ive seen it done.

I can see it now, we'll be relegated, Hughes will come out and say that "he thinks Humpheys still has another year in him and Collins, Howard and Sweeney can do a good job in League 2. Barron has gained experience as a coach the past few year so I'm delighted for him to staying"

We're a miserable bunch aren't we.

Why ....? ....surely this is the one occasion when a manager can speak his mind, his players have virtually got us relegated ....? Tell it as it is....what are the precious dears going to do ......? Ah, unless of course you're stuck with players for another year or god forbid, actually intend keeping them on ... then it would make sense! Oh dear.

Spot on Snowy. I have heard this nonsense from a number of people now. Hughes wont critisise them as he needs them for now. Needs them for what????

We are already down, and these players are entirely to blame. He might as well dump them now, and start the rebuild now.

Unless, of course, like you say, he thinks these players are what we need to get back up.

Its clear our players can't take criticism, but its also clear they can't respond to praise.

I wonder how many of them have spent this weekend off on the piss and how many of them have spent the time focussing on fitness and passing a football 10 yards.

That Is exactly what I think will happen joe.


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I'm really looking forward to seeing the top quality replacements who are going to come and play for us.
I mean, Walton coming in for Liddle proved just how easy it is.

After your Jordan Bowery scouting Mr. Fireball, has anybody tickled your fancy for this close season?

You are correct, Flinders, Murray & Baldwin are the best signings we've made for 3 years.
A goalie, a midfielder past his best 5 years ago and a young kid with potential. That says it all really.

I don't want to take with a punch of salt what my manager says. I want him to be honest and say it like it is. Wadsworth used to hide away in interviews and it gets us nowhere. If players can't handle being critiscised they are in
the wrong job. You mention praise, well the ultimate praise a footballer can
receive is the shirt on a matchday. So basically Howard collins humps Walton Hartley Sweeney are constantly praised and the players on the bench Poole James Baldwin Murray Austin Luscombe are left to suffer. Only John Hughes is to blame for starving those players of an actual chance.

You mention you understood the starting line up at Sheff u but that's not what you said at the time is it?? Like the rest of us we all expected to see Austin and Baldwin and you even were taking bets on Howard finally being dropped. You mention you liked Richards ( who is out of position) playing over the old guard ( Austin) yet every other post you make asks for Murray to start. You can't have it both ways. Like him or loathe him Austin is the best right back at the club. Richards has come up against some pacy wingers and hasnt looked good. Fair play to the lad but he isn't a right back.
His crossing has been excellent so I'd much rather see him pushed into his natural position on the right wing, drop humps from the left and play franks there.

We do have options to try and we aint down yet. 50 pts is certainly not the benchmark this season. Low 40s would be a more accurate guess. Standard is very poor. Were only 11 pts adrift from survival. If Hughes had a brain he would be trying to stay up and trying the bench, especially as the majority of it should be starting anyway.

How many games have you watched Richards play before deciding he's not a full back? Have you actually any idea about what you are watching at a football match?

Don't kid yourself, Matty Dolan turning down his home town club says it all really, if a young hartlepool lad does not want to come and play here then thats a massive massive blow, we will now be told a load of crap as to WHY or maybe not even mention it as its pretty embarrassing to be honest.
For those that don't know or realise yet we are well and truly Firked, sad but true, simply Hughes has NO CLUE and when he is given his chance to bring in his own in division two it will become more apparent than ever, my view is he should be stopped right now but IOR will not do this to save face they will follow there master plan to distroy the club and take us into the real possibility of Non league football within 2 seasons, sorry but it's time to get real here, division two here we come and we aint just gunna come back up either.

As it stands now I am so pissed off, |Don't make excuses that the players are shit (we know this) it should have been sorted a long time a go, so it's simply a case that IOR ( Ken H ) Not doing what should have been done ages ago, we all know that, so No excuses IOR ( kH) have failed us big time Thats a FACT.

That makes no sense at all. You wrote " a goalie" as though thats strange. If your looking for " a goalie" you ain't Gona buy a winger are you. Then you mention Murray, saying he's " 5 years past his best" but he's been our player of the year in both seasons so age is clearly irrelevant in this case. Then the cherry on the top of your post, you say " we signed a young kid with potential" errrrr and!!! Is that bad like?? Potential is more than most of the bastards have and to make it worse he has proved himself to be the best centre half at the club. So your 3 points are as relevant as a fart at a christening

At the moment yes, shite.

Chris Turner was a decent appointment first time round. He'd had a good record in Wolves youth setup and and was a breath of fresh air at the time. With the backing he had we should have probably done a little better but we played some decent attacking football.

Second time things didn't work out and KH should have got rid ages before he did.

If Humpheys is playing regular next season in league two then there won't be a promotion parade at the civic centre at the end of the season that's for sure. IOR will know the issues at the club and know what is needed, if they intend sticking around I can't see them wanting to finish lower mid table in league two which is the best we could hope for with many of the squad we have.....

The players you don't think are good enough for league 2 are getting there game in league 1 yet you think Hughes will release them. Look at his starting line ups since he took over and check out each bench then comeback on here and be honest. To me it looks like hardly any of them will be released.

Unless of course hughes and Barron go now

You just make stuff up as you go along

Wadsworth got us 50 points by early March in his first season as manager and we were in the top half when he left so that suggests that his coaching and man management skills weren't too bad.

On the players you have mentioned who are left to suffer you have included Luscombe (who has been injured) and generally unfit. Yes he has looked decent in 20 minute cameo's but 3 managers have not given him regular starts now. You also mention Austin - who has been suspended and unavailable for selection. The other 3 would play every week if I picked the team.

When I heard the starting line up against Shefield no I wasn't particuarly happy (mainly with Howard) but after 5 minutes after seeing the start ad conditions I said to Stevo that the conditions may suit him and he's probably the right choice. I still didn't expect hi to score 2 though. I was disappointed Baldwin wasn't playing but I'm really not arsed about Austin. I would play Murray instead of Humphreys or Sweeney any day of the week and Murray might be old be he isn't part of the old guard. The old guard are Collins, Humphreys, Howard, Barron, Austin, Monkhouse and Sweeney to an extent.

Most full backs struggle against pace, Austin got sent off when Matty Robson ripped him apart at the vic and like many other members of the old guard he puts in a good performace once a month if you are lucky.

Neither of us have a crystal ball....

Neither of us have a crystal ball....

If he dosnt have faith in them why does he keep picking them??

The question you ask could be answered with about 5 different answers and it depends on what you believe or what you want to believe as to the reason behind team selection. Just because players are being selected on a regular basis it doesn't mean that they will be kept. Eifion Williams, Leon McSweenie, Ritchie Jones and Aaron Lee-Barrett all made a lot of appearances in the seasons before they were released. Even last season Boyd must have featured in over 30 games and still got released....

Turns out we were just too slow, wonder if we have missed out on other targets because of this.

http://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/sport/c ... -1-5290372

If the lad wanted to sign for us then he would have done, regardless of how quickly Pools acted.

He didnt want to join because we're a laughing stock

Dont understand how we could have been so slow when he was training with us for a few weeks.

A simple fax/phone call/email to boro and sort it there n then.

Nevermind, he's gone anyway. Still see little point in getting players in if they're not part of some kind of long term plan which it doesn't appear Dolan would be.

the loan signings these season have been a bit shit to be honest, well very shit.

our use of them anyway.

We desperately need a Roy O'Donavan type loan signing.

Pretty much nail on head.

Why???

Surely loaning in players from premiership/championship clubs who can't get a game for there clubs would benefit us if there good enough.

Ove pederson, brown, harper to name a few we never had a chance of signing yet all did very well for us in loan deals.

We ain't down yet. 11 pts is fuck all plus we have a game in hand. Start picking the right players and there's a glimmer of hope. I'll take all The loanees in the world if it means staying up. I couldn't give a fuck if we can't sign them, if there willing to fight tooth and nail to keep us in league 1, get them in

if Pools stay up this season, I will eat straw with a donkey

I know you don't fancy our chances, but...

From what I gather we never tried to sign Dolan. We couldnt afford him so didnt bother trying.

Rumour has it this lad is a massive prospect currently playing for Whitby Town and is being monitored by Bradford City:

TOM PORTAS
Position: Midfield
Appearances: 25
Goals: 4
D.O.B 09.04.92. Tom joined the Blues in November 2011 just weeks after making the move to Newton Aycliffe. A tough-tackling defensive midfielder with a bright future ahead, he spent two seasons at Guisborough Town after going through Middlesbrough's Youth Academy. Tom's also capable of scoring spectacular goals.

So I hear.

I really do admire your optimism RB but there is not a chance in hell.

It's only one less than we've got at the moment, and how many games have we played.

Also on an earlier topic, there was a local lad called Jonny Rowell allegedly looking for a club, a while back. We were 'too late' for him too.

Probably sack him and give Barron an 8 year contract as Manager

Hodcroft will not give any money to Hughes to bring players in because he will be gone in the summer and it all starts again.

The Comments in tonights Fail says it all really: " We're looking at what a few trialists could bring he said (YOG)
We've got to see what options we have and take it from there. but I would love to get a couple in to give these boys a hand"

Clueless and gitt spring to mind, should be re-named PARKER, err "Yes ma lady"

NOT THE ANSWER IOR, NOT THE ANSWER !

wtf are you on about?

I think it shows complete incompetence and naeviety on the clubs part if they have just sat back and waited for him to sign,just sat back and never offered him anything which is my understanding according to the Mail.

I think the clubs PR is terrible at not coming out with a statement of intent I.e. we are definitely going to bring signings in, we don't want to go down etc. or even why not do what Morecombe did and open it up for free to try and get people into the Vic and build for next season in a lower league.

The club needs shake up from top to bottom.

As much as I have been critical of the way Uncle Ken and IOR have behaved about transfers, and I have urged them to invest in the club, I think you're being a bit harsh here. Sometimes, playing the waiting game can be beneficial in the long run. Look at Newcastle, who have just signed Debuchy for a couple of million bar less than what Lille wanted in the summer; it could be the case that Uncle Ken was waiting for the right moment to sign Dolan in order to fit him in with the wage cap. I'm not advocating a Sports Direct-style policy of running Hartlepool - buy in bulk at dirt cheap prices, sell at twice the value for a profit - but we might have got a bargain for Dolan. As it happens, the lad has went to Yeovil.

We shouldn't, however, take this as a failure on IOR's part. Dolan might not have been able to help us in our current predicament, and there is nothing to say that we won't be able to sign him at a later date when he is more experienced. The lad is Hartlepool born and bred apparently, so would hopefully jump at the chance to play for his hometown club.

Dolan texting John Hughes before yesterdays game. Maybe he is keeping his options open...

He did not sign because they messed him about and thats a FACT