Why anybody is getting wound up over this season is beyond me. This season announced what it was going to be like when Cooper was appointed. This is going to be a season of getting by and hanging on, the football cavalry ain't gonna ride over the hill to rescue us, we've got a season in the doldrums to look forward to...... Cooper offered the option of loans at a level we can afford.
Will we stay in this division...? I have my doubts and hence my lack of posts, there's just nothing to get excited about, just a grind of a season. People can moan as much as they like, but I see no sign of change, ........ so relax, chill out and let it wash over you ........ and hope we're still in this division come May.

Yep, once we got rid of Collett it was obvious the direction the club was headed and the boards attitude to the season

it's how I see it as well.. we can't offload the ones we need to get rid of, so what can we do? The manager will, if nothing else, get plenty of experience of working with his hands tied behind his back!!! It will hopefully sharpen his skills

I still think we are only 3 decent signings from being a half decent team... that's what is so sickening about it

6 PTS from 9 games and 3rd bottom, aye lets relax

I'm getting wound up n a bit bored of shite football.

Are we supposed to just be happy turning up n watching shite?

And it was fookin freezing yesterday. It was pretty warm outside the ground, is Victoria park located in the centre of a wind vortex?

it is located over the gates of Hell. Satan lives under the centre circle. We are waiting for that time when hell and all its minions flood out and Pools become the best team in the world, with our 3000 fans

Oh how the glory hunters will suffer in the pits of non leagues then

Well we have to cling to some hope don't we...

Wasn't there again yesterday again because of work, I've only been once this season and to be brutally honest I don't feel like making the effort to go back. I am waiting for IOR to show that they want to do something about the demise of our club but it's not happening is it?

Thanks IOR for knocking over 40 years of optimism out of me! Kunts!

That is all.

I would love to be able to adopt a relax and chill out attitude but I'm afraid I can't.
How can I relax and chill out when my club is slowing sinking into oblivion ?????
Don't get relegated is part and parcel of IOR's bible and yet they, who were the only people who could realistically prevent it, allowed us to go down. Their unwillingness to invest this season is putting the club in further jeopardy.
How can they do this????
How can I relax and chill out when the only people who can arrest the slide are blatantly allowing it to happen????
Why can't people see this????
Let's face it, their money is the only thing we are interested in. Now that has dried up they are no longer any use to us.
For all we know they might even be a drain on the club's finances. Who paid for their " entertainment" yesterday????
A seat in the Director's box, food and drink, a free car parking space, maybe a nice expense sheet is not bad for people who allegedly aren't putting anything in and, who knows, maybe taking even more out.
The whole thing stinks and I am finding it difficult to remain a part of it.
But that's me and my interpretation of what it is to be a fan of a football club.

Relax and chill out is pure irony on my part........ no point in getting wound up over something we have no power over.
I'm not happy, far from it, but we don't have any say....... and season ticket or not, I won't turning up to celebrate the mundane.

Maybe IOR haven't got any spare thousands to put in?? Maybe they're surviving on a shoe-string like a lot of businesses??

Aye maybe, and there again maybe not.

Oil company skint?

Maybe you are clutching at straws.

We're a tax relief and that's it

Agreed, need to sit tight and hope we stay in division with what we got. Can only rebuild when aged big earners, Howard Monky Collins, contracts expire and we can then bring in new squad. This season is a write off, just need to grind out enough points to avoid relegation. Accrington down for me, so one place to avoid

What makes me think next season will be different?

Optimism

We are the subject of a rather large pisstake.
Hodcroft needs to be very careful just how far he is prepared to kick Pools fans in the whotsits.........there are an element in Hartlepool who don't take too kindly to such treatment.

He'll be alright he's up there with bin laden at hide and seek

You think? Most clubs fans would have showed a lot more anger towards owners for what's happened over the last 3/4 years.

Ours have just... Took it n bought season tickets.

No venkys out style stuff at wee old hartlepool.

The level if investment has slowed and it would nice to here some clarification of why that is but to even mention them in same breath as Venkys is beyond laughable.

I'm trying to work who the biggest drama queen on here is these days.

That post from Derwent

So all the protesting at Blackbum worked, the Venkys fooked off, didn't they?

Oh the same venkys who kept sacking managers, signing players over the managers head, got the club relegated, appointed a Doyle as director of sport and then got the club relegated.

Absolutely nothing in common.

Your thread seemed to indicate that the protesting at Blackburn worked, or at least it seemed to come across like that

I never said it worked I said at other clubs fans protest n kick off a bit at pools when owners piss about here we just lay n take it.

The support the last few years as been amazing considering what's been served up at pools. The last 2 years especially we probably hav done of the worst home records in the football league.

Fans can protest all they like, it very rarely works, the only way it will work if we as fans totally withdraw our support, paying for a season ticket or paying at the door then protesting kind of defeats the object, they have go your cash anyway

We have a squad of players that should be finishing between 10th - 16th but we are a soft touch. Some of the football this season has been decent but I think most people would sacrifice the 20 minute spells of football for more points.

The players, the manger and the board need to wise up very quickly or we are going to find ourselves well and truly in a dogfight.

I'm not saying he doesn't make some valid points but it's the attention seeking, mentioning how far he'd travelled and how he's never doing it again because of Hodcroft is a nasty man who should be hounded out Town that makes me chuckle.

Last season when he was boycotting Pools he seemed to attend miles more matches than me. If you say you are not going to go anymore just fucking do it, don't keep telling everyone you travel 206 miles round trip or whatever.

His 'friend' Russ Green is every bit as accountable as Hodcroft. He is as involved in hiring and firing both players and managers. You'd imagine he has a massive say as he actually attends every match. He's doing pretty well to still be in job never mind anyone else at the club.

Is there a chance Howard got a 3 year contract?

And that thought makes The Bunker shudder to a halt!!!!

Thanks for that - great cheery news to start the week..

I think he was joking... I hope he was joking.

I've never wished death on a player... but if it's a straight choice between the death of Pools and the death of Howard..... if he IS on a 3 year deal then Mr Howard's family need to be ringing Mason and Martins round about now to make arrangements!!!!

What adds to the feeling of going nowhere at speed, is the perceived inertia at the top. Where's the leadership...the chairman reminds of an Easter Island statue reluctantly babysitting the neighbours kids and whatever Russ is doing has utterly failed to catch my interest...... the season is like the voyage of the damned.....you can't get off and just have to hope you have a calm sea.
I can't recall a season I found it so hard to get enthusiastic about.

this is so true.

Even in the dark and dismal 70's you always dreamed that this could be the year, especially still in September.

But fans are so conditioned now to be believe that survival is all that matters, that some will celebrate it.

Well if it's true that Howard is on a 3 year deal, we can forget about languishing in the Conference once his deal expires, we'll be in the BSN playing Stockport County.

Whoever made the decision to sign Howard on such a long deal ought never to work in football again. Hodcroft is very culpable too for sanctioning this aberration.

I really hope that it's a joke???? Please???

of course its a joke, no one at the club is that stupid......................................

So whose attention do you reckon I am seeking, certainly not yours.
As you have decided to label me a drama queen, I think that entitles me to give my opinion of you. You are a shit stirring idiot who spends most of his time criticising fellow posters, and their posts.
My quoting travelling time is very valid as far as I'm concerned and will continue to do it as I see fit. It is a tool of emphasis.
I never said Hodcroft was a nasty man, nor did I say he should be hounded out of town. So now you are also a liar.
I attended ten home games last season and if that was "miles " more than you, then for someone who has a lot of say on the subject, you don't appear to go very often. So now you make things up.
My commitment to attending Pools matches has gone from over forty a season to eleven last season ( ten home, one away). That is a definite waning of interest.
I never said I was never going again.
I have said over recent seasons that I was finding it difficult to justify the time, effort ( not to mention expense) of fighting my way up and down the A1.
In the season prior to Cardiff I persuaded my wife ( born in Manchester and brought up in Crosby nr Liverpool) and my daughter ( born in Doncaster) to join me in attending Pools games, as a family day out.
We travelled the length and breadth of the land following the team, even organising holidays around fixture lists.
Last season the interest waned seriously, culminating in my wife's non attendance and my daughter, after Saturday, saying that she no longer wanted to go under current circumstances. This is the girl who chose Newcastle Uni so she wouldn't miss any games. Last year she did an enhancement to her degree at Sunderland Uni and Today she commenced a further year at York Uni.
Our commitment to Pools was immense and complete, incurring great expense.
The last time we were in this division, even though we had just been relegated, I attended every league game, home and away, every cup game, six reserve games and five youth games. That was the level of commitment we had.
That commitment has been slowly strangled out of us by the attitude of one man, Hodcroft.
People can lay the blame at the door of others, that is their prerogative but I lay it firmly with Hodcroft. He controls the show and has the last word as chairman. Everyone else is an employee and does as he/she is told.
Yes I am seeking attention but not for myself.
I am trying to bring to everyone's attention, exactly where we are going and who is capable of stopping it. There is only one man with the power to do that.
Now you can criticise me as much as you like, call me what you like but my only concern is for the future of the club, whose gates I first walked through sixty one years ago.
That entitles me to an opinion.

Nice one Mr Derwent.

But a simple "fuck off PJ" would have done.

Thanks mate, but I try not to use obscene language on the bunker, even to idiots.

That rant reminded me of one of Jeff Stellings! Go on derwent!

Cracking post mind and put PJ in his place.

I share your sentiments Mr Derwent. The last couple of years have slowly ground down my enthusiasm and I started going in the 60's in the juniours.... even the bad times couldn't knock me down, but this is like the anaconda slowly but surely squeezing the enthusiasm out of you.

Concurring mate.
So so frustrating.

The mystery person who was responsible for signing Steve Howard was of course ex-manager Neale Cooper.

Similarly, it was ex-manager Mick Wadsworth signed Nolberto Solano.

Both Wadsworth and Cooper are big enough men never to have suggested that the buck stopped anywhere else.

Blaming the owners for backing the then manager's judgement is absurd. Just as daft as the owners issuing contact extensions when no manager is in place.

So who give contracts to monkhouse, austin n collins as we had no manager at the time

the owners, as he said

I share a lot of his sentiments I just he's a bit of a drama queen, it makes me chuckle. That rant towards me hardly disproves my theory

I also think more than one person should be accountable for the position we find ourselves in.

As for me being critical of other posters not entirely agreeing with someone isn't criticism. I wouldn't personally attack or abuse anyone (apart from Sussex course!) on here especially if I didn't know them from Adam. This bloke has done this to me, for some reason, on several occasions. Last season I actually stopped posting for a while because I was getting a bit tired of the personal nature of it. I'm not sure what I've ever done to the someone who I 'be never to spoken to in my life or that he just takes himself way, way too seriously.

Russ Green.

Oh yeah, durgh me.

"the chairman reminds of an Easter Island statue reluctantly babysitting the neighbours kids"



Excellent stuff Snowy but how do you tell if an Easter Island statue is reluctant or not? Are there tiny statue grimmaces that I've been missing? Stony glares? We need answers!

Easy mate, ........ when they're not reluctant they look like they have an arse full of razor blades..... to quote an aussie whose name escapes me.