Bristol Rovers fan in peace...
Really am gutted for you right now, was hoping you'd get out of trouble as you are a fine club with top top supporters.
I do have some idea as to how you are feeling as we suffered the same experience 3 years ago.
First of all, wear your shirts with pride and however low you are feeling right now you will be back and when you do return you will return a far stronger club.
I would say you have to accept where you are and however tough, it is important not to feel sorry for yourselves and waste your energies on looking back.
Instead look forward to a brighter future and I hope you make an immediate return.
Teams that do well in the National League have a striker who can score 20+ and if you can find such a player you will win a lot of games next season and be serious challengers.
Most clubs play nice neat football up to the final third but have no real goal threat so get that 20+ goal forward and you'll do just fine.
You'll soon be asking yourselves where the hell is Eastleigh and what is the FA Trophy all about but you'll get through it and I am sure there are better days ahead for your fine club very soon.
All good wishes to you and in 12 months time your club will be far stronger than it is today

Superb post Ed, Cheers

Cheers Mr.GasEd!!!!

Thanks Gas Ed. Wise words.

Unfortunately, the truth is we've got some big fights to win before we start heading in the right direction. We will win them though.

Thanks Gas Ed .. I'm sure we'll be back.. hopefully as quick as you where with OUR Daryl Clarke ...

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We have a club to fumigate first.

Its all about the money ! of which we have none, so signing a proven prolific striker is probably out of the question

I thought thats what Amond was at Grimsby..and Deverdics seemed to do quite well at Dover..

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Good point we already have some of the best players from last seasons national league! Play to Thier strengths and we might be ok, provided we keep them and the club is still going that is.

The thing is we've got a good striker in Amond who scored 30 goals down there last time. We simply must keep him. At least he has another year on his deal. We've also got Rodney, don't tell me there's nothing to work with there. Oates will be fine down there too, keep them and add a target man type and we could be laughing. The squad is full of good ex Conference players and those ones should be retained. This is what bugs me, there's a very good nucleus of players for a real good crack at promotion but we're so shafted off the pitch.

I hope to God we sort it out soon.

Correct ! and I have said that on another thread. Amond is proven at that level, having helped Grimsby up and scored a shed load of goals, however he probably had a good strike partner alongside him, that is what I think he will need next season, brick shithouse alongside him to hold up the ball and win the headers, something Amond struggles to do because of his physique.

Deverdics, to be honest I had forgotten about him, so suppose that's another plus. That's the beauty of having a non league side in league 2 , when you go down you don't have to make many changes

Is it just me......I think Deverdics has been absolutely bobbins since he arrived. I would require so much more than he has produced.

If we were in league two then I would be disappointed if we kept him. But realistically he did have a good reputation in the national league so need to take that into account

Maybe if we'd have played him in his proper position even once he might have shown us more?

Agree,.

Superb opening post Gas Ed & thank you for your well intentioned footballing advice. As some other contributors have mentioned we need to sort out financial shenanigans within Hartlepool United; hopefully HUST can play a positive role.
I'm also of the opinion we will come back stronger from this awful experience; we need to recruit more quality players with those to be retained and "US" POOLIES help our club through this difficult time!

Saw this post and wanted to add something similar. Watching the game on Sky yesterday (couldn't get back to the game because of KO time change but that's another story) and was conflicted as to be brutally honest after you knicking our playes for a couple of years and a few mouthy trolls on our forums thought there would be some poetry in you going down.

However when your equaliser went in I realised that I would much rather visit you guys than Newport when I let out a very loud cheer. Was thrilled for you when it went to 2-1 then gutted when I heard news from Newport.

As an outsider looking in I feel like this has been coming for a while a bit like our time did. But you seem like you are organising in the right way with a good trust doing some hard work. I fear you might not be back immediately but I think you will be stronger for it. Good luck for the future and I hope you are not down there for too long.

Totally agree with this

My thoughts exactly, someone like a Richie Barker type, although maybe a bit taller, old fashioned centre forward to hold the ball up and use his strength, and how about a big ugly bastard centre half to scare the crap out of the opposition.

Hi there.

Exeter City fan here and just wanted to echo GasEd in saying that i'm really disappointed that you went down. I had a great time up at your place a few months back despite you coming from a goal down to hammer us 3-1. I said on our forum that I hoped you'd stay up and certainly after your result against us I thought you definitely would have.

A proper football club with real supporters and i'll certainly be looking out for your results next season and hope you can make a go of it in the National League. Not much else I can really say tbh. We've done time in the wilderness too so know what it feels like if that's any consolation. Not much though.

My only advice would be to try and get background animosity and uncertainty at ownership level sorted as best you can because like York and Torquay, it's easy for the rot to set it and once it does it could be too late. Torquay survived but I've no idea how given their circumstances and York went down despite having a long term owner who does back the club. However I have heard he doesn't communicate with fans and leaves them all in the dark and makes no effort.

It's not an exact science but everyone needs to be pulling in the same direction with no distractions to be successful in the National League because it's a real dogfight. The one thing teams that come down do often is underestimate the lesser clubs but these can give you the runaround on their day for sure, it's just that they aren't consistent enough.

I really hope you can bounce back at the first attempt. To be honest i'm not too fussed about Orient. I have no fondness for them, partly because of the fact that i'm no big fan of London in general but Hartlepool is a place I like. I used to work near Middlesbrough in Great Ayton so am familiar with the area and the love of the game up there.

That's it really. Get back up Poolies!

Well we can't promise anything, but we'll see what we can do eh?