Ok, so we have done really well after the departure of Amond, was this just coincidence or was he a bad apple that was spreading doom among the camp? Oh and the removal of Scott Harrison in defence helped i guess.


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Talking of Almond, did you see the clip of the Tainted love singer on BBC breakfast on Monday, oh my days!

Theres certainly been an improvement since he fucked off.

You could argue we were only playing with 10 men while he was here. You could say the Guisely win was all the players needed to get the monkey off their backs and to get some confidence back. You could say Harrison sticking to a formation and generally the same players was whats needed. You could say the improvement is due to the 2 solid centre backs. You could say the improvement is due to playing either Simpson/Oates in Amonds place gives the defenders something different to think about. Im pretty sure they would much rather be up against Amond than someone awkward like Simpson or Oates pace.

Its probably a bit of all of the above. For whatever reason we now have fight about us and the belief and confidence is flowing. It looks like a happy squad too.

I think it was Gerry the other day who said that people were worried about Laing/Harrison coming back into the side after their early season form but at the end of the day everyone was pretty much garbage them first 6 games or so. It appears a different environment at the moment and the starting 11 have all upped their game. It should be no surprise is Laing/Harrison are called upon that they are also different players to them first few games.

Same argument is currently being said about Oxlade-Chamberlain going to Liverpool and their results have dropped off since. It is easy to pin everything on one player but it is almost always an over-simplification of wider issues.

Where is simpson anyone know?

I don't think Amond was a bad apple in any way. The first game after he left was the Flyde game which many reckon is the worst Pools performance they have ever seen and the Bromley game he 'wasn't available' for by accounts wasn't much better. The biggest issue in the first six games wasn't Amond it was our centre halves gifting ridiculous goals that wouldn't look out of place on a Sunday morning and we weren't working hard enough as a team. I think we thought we cold boss the ball and outclass teams at this level and learnt a fairly sharp lesson.

Our upturn has more to do with sorting things out defensively, and the team as whole working harder. We are doing the ugly side of the game far better. This division isn't very good quality wise, in fact it's pretty shite graft and commitment alone will earn you points. As will organisation and shape, at 2-1 up on Saturday we looked very well organised and hard to break down. I have seen nothing yet that doesn't suggest that with one or two decent additions in the final third added to that new found solid look we can be promotion contenders.

Like your post as usual PJ thinking the same myself we need a robust centre forward not just some kid but some one who is not past it as in the past may take time but will wait.

Yes i agree, well said All


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We might already have one. Or two.

The part played by confidence can't be underestimated. The Guiseley win was just what we needed. We played fairly crap and on another day we'd have lost....especially if their early chance had gone in instead of hitting the bar.

Playing with little confidence causes players to go one of two ways, try absolutely fuck all and play it safe all the time or over play it and fuck up.

Once you have a good couple of touches at the start of a game you relax and play without fear or overthinking. I would imagine the pressure on the squad was pretty fucking awful so getting that first win was crucial. It will be interesting to see what happens after we lose a game but I genuinely think we'll be ok.

One thing I can't believe is that we're still only 15th after the run we've been on!!

I see from his Tweets, that Amond is looking for recommendations for removal firms to get him moved from Manchester to Cardiff. I wonder why he never bothered moving over here? Did he have no real intentions of staying at Pools?

It's about 180 miles to South Wales from Manchester and roughly 120 between Hartlepool and Manchester so that is a fair difference on a round trip. Plus I imagine he probably shared driving duties with Allessandra who jumped ship before he did. Footballers are no different to anyone else they will go where they can get paid the most that is the most convinient for them. He obviously likes living in a City as well it's not as if he's moved to Newport.

Even if we win tomorrow we will probably still be bottom half.

Brilliant that no one is pulling away yet though.

Merthyr Tydfil the way he is playing.