https://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/sport/ ... -1-8934305
Or the Recrutment fellas ?
No mention of the loan players he or whoever signed who have been poor as well.

Loach is the only one worth anything in the transfer market but he's worth more to us than the cash we'd get. I hope Pam realises that!

I don’t think Pam will have any consideration of how selling players will impact the team.

If we can get money now for players before the club goes pop she will sell for as much as she can get to help reduce the losses being accrued, and Loach is one of the few we’d get actual cash for. Simpson and Donnelly the others. Everyone else will be a case of get them off the wage bill

And who'd be interested in the rest? Juventus no, Fray Bentos possibly.

Donnelly off to Accrington I heard

Sounds like there's a few running for the hills there like then again who's to blame them.

Pity they cannot run for 90 minutes on the field. We wouldn't be in this efin mess if they could.

Don't forget they're basically contractors, here to do a job. The 'job' looks like it's closing down. Time to look somewhere else.
We're in a spiral of decline, rapid decline and it's obvious bits are falling off.
We live in interesting times....sadly.

For the 2nd month in a row the players are faced with the prospect of not being paid this month, would you chase that ball down n run that extra mile for free?

The players who were here last year when this happened are probably a bit sick of this now, no surprise tools are being downed a bit.

I know it's probably not in their mind but if they're not performing crowds will drop and their chances of being paid are lowered.

I don’t think players at Pools level deliberately underperform once they cross the white line. At the end of the day it’s still in their own interests to perform well if the want to continue as professionals. What’s happening can’t help morale and team spirit though, plus the general feel around the club is toxic. It’s not as if they’re a bunch above paid prima donnas not trying a leg. The whole combination of factors though is bringing everything down creating a perfect storm of shit. Not wanting to risk the wrath if i defended the manager but it’s also fair to say his job isn’t an easy one right now with outside factors coming into play.

Most of the players put a decent shift in and the game was even enjoyable in parts - when Pools were attacking.

As I said, there was something wrong with Michael Woods and I can't remember him making a tackle, let alone going for one of his trademark 40:60 lunges.
Hard to blame him not wanting to risk another bad injury with everything up in the air as it is.

Agree with that. I think they tried and have done all season, its just they are not good enough, maybe some individuals could be improved but not as a group, no leader/s , no aggression , poor decision making, physically and mentally weak,simple as that.

Constant rotation and playing numerous players out of position doesn't help either. There are some decent players in our squad, but they are being shamefully mismanaged. Deverdics, Munns and Donnelly the prime candidates.

If you work somewhere where the writing appears to be on the wall, the atmosphere grinds you down. Been there, done it, you inevitably think what’s the point? Why bother putting a shift in when it all appears pointless. Footballers are no different to anyone else in that respect.

[quote="PoolieTom"]Constant rotation and playing numerous players out of position doesn't help either. There are some decent players in our squad, but they are being shamefully mismanaged. Deverdics, Munns and Donnelly the prime candidates.[/quote

I said on another post, bloke is worst manager we have ever had. A few disagreed, but i think they will come around to my way of thinking come end of season. Scarily I think we have seen the best of Harrison. I think he will get worse from now on and implode.

Dropping Laing yesterday was another example of how clueless he is. Laing for me has been steadily improving , yet he drops him to the bench, hardly going to motivate the bloke is it. Clueless ! probably asked Watson who he would like to partner him.

And if he did ask him so what? Your whinging about Harrisons decisions and then also whinging if he apparently asked our best and most experienced defender to make a decision for him?

Cant really win can he?

No problem with it to be honest, but it maybe does show him up as a weak manager, who cant make up his own mind. Watson and Ledger formed a good partnership so you would expect Watson to have picked Ledger, however Laing is steadily improving and to drop him could de-motivate him , so Harrison should of stuck with Laing IMO. Of course we don't know if this actually did happen, but it wouldn't surprise me if it did.

Anyway as Ledger didn't have the greatest of games, I'm sure Laing will return on Saturday. See this is what I'm on about, Harrison should now stick with Ledger, but he may drop him because he was a bit iffy yesterday, Harrison is all over the place.

Watson and Ledger were very solid together. Laing has given away 856 goals.

Absolute no brainer once both were fit.

I'd have picked Laing too. I think he's a decent player, or atleast has the attributes to be. He's just been made to look rubbish having to try and cover Scott Harrison all season. Though I'm not overly fussed he picked Ledger.

Picking Franks to play behind the striker was the most ridiculous decision of the day, when that is the exact position that Munns and Deverdics would thrive from. Wouldn't be surprised to see either of them, especially Deverdics, to be the next face(s) to move in January.

Deverdics isn't great at left back imo , Gateshead had done their homework and targeted him as have a lot of clubs recently.. It was only Rodney digging in that forced Gateshead player, Preston I think it was, to move over to the other flank where he had more success against Donnelly as Oates wasn't tracking back as much as Rodney. Adams when he returns has to be given a run at left back for me. We need settled side not all this chopping and changing.

Gateshead manager seemed to know beforehand how the game would pan out, his substitutions were testimony to this, right players brought on at right time, whereas Harrison just seems to get the tombola out when making ours.

He's rubbish at left back. No defensive instincts whatsoever. Should never have been played there. It was only a matter of time before teams exposed him, yet Harrison again couldn't see this was coming.

That Preston was a decent player, pace, composure, quick feet. His dive was awful, though.

Deverdics has spent a decade playing non league, there is a reason for that. Has a decent left foot on him but he clearly isn't the brightest firework in the box. Fortunately for him that Harrison signed a left back Blair Adams who if anything is even worse.
Was stood in Town End yesterday looking at all the empty gaps around the ground. Crap manager, crap players, crap atmosphere, and they have the nerve to charge same prices as when the club was in the FL. Club has been in decline for a decade yet some people are saying they would have Hodcroft back. For more of the same ? Whole place has needed a clear out for 10 years including backroom and office staff. Wont happen if him and Russ come back.

IOR did pay the bills and invested initially in team, but on the whole were very prudent. that imo cost us promotion to the promised land of The Championship. They never radically improved the ground other than install a few things that brought in revenue , even that was minimal change, a few cabins here and there.

Compared to what went before IOR looked good, but they weren't the sugar daddy some clubs have had. After the Scott season I think they realised how tough making Hartlepool successful was going to be and they stopped investing, the standard of players got worse season on season , and the ground started to decay. The cheap season ticket deal was maybe a flicker of life from a dying corpse, but it could of only of worked if promotion had been achieved that season. It never and the rest is history.

We are non league. Deverdics scored something like 16 goals and had 25 assists last time he played in this league. He isn't a left back.

Adams has played about 3 games at left back. He's made 150+ appearances for teams in leagues above us. He is another that our fans seem to have wrote off completely without them having a fair crack at the whip

It's always been champagne ideas and lemonade money. Unrealistic expectations and a white knuckle roller coaster ride, sadly mostly on the flat...... the best I can say, is this is an opportunity to build a community club and finally leap off the 'characters who fancy running a football club till they get bored or realise it ain't cheap' bandwagon.
At present this is worse than the re-election waiting game we used to endure that buggered your summer up.

This

Looking at it from the outside, the cheap season ticket deal has got you a much bigger than usual fan base. I reckon if you hadn't gained the extra few thousand at the time, you would be on gates of 1500 or less now.

A lot , at least from October onwards , dont want to be there though, which is the reason for the dreadful atmosphere of last 5 or 6 seasons. Every summer people fall for the same old trick , a load of hype and a raft of talked up signings and a dozen games into the season people realise they have been sold a pup again. With new owners no doubt people will fall for it again.

Doesn't help when the club is in a town that has high unemployment and low pay, that would make it difficult financially for a lot of people to pay on the day. At least when you buy the ST you can at least watch the game even if you haven't a penny in your pocket. The fan knows this and so do the club, but it makes for a terrible atmosphere . Likewise there are those on a decent wage who can just walk away because its so cheap and save the money they may of spent on food , programmes, beer and lottery tickets, and look upon it as a saving not a waste of money, stood in the cold , watching a pile of sh*te and raising their blood pressure in the process.


Not sure about 1500, maybe 1800 - 2004. In saying that we could be down to 2400 for next home game, if we get beat at Dagenham and nothing changes.

I can't see us going up anytime soon like, I can see us been one of them clubs that will linger down the National League and dare I say it the National League North for at least 5 plus years maybe more another 5 years if we get relegated which in my opinion is not a million miles off, Truth is the club has been decline for the last 10 seasons I have had a season ticket every season since 03/04 and have seen a massive change even in pre season the 03/04 season you would walk in the ground the pitch would be sparking you could smell the fresh paint around the ground as soon as you walked in all clean you walk in now and you can literally see the decaying of the ground such a terrible shame to see our own football club fall down the pan like this, I am really considering not buying one next season just to sit in the cold and watch shit football been played with no desire passion we are hopeless in near enough every position in my opinion. I looked at the National League North table last night Salford are top fair does they have the backing of them Man U lot with money, Spennymoor are up there to, Harrogate are up the table, Blyth Also are up there like I say such a shame we could may well be playing some of these in the near future specially with no money and the club stating they are bringing no signings in and probably bringing in even further shite signings in seasons to come, Talking shit here but it's the truth and it's got to be told!

So if we’re not signing anyone in the near future what is the point in the head of recruitment being here

I entirely agree that with one or two exceptions the majority of the current group of players cannot be criticised for lack of effort - it’s not their fault that the majority of them are fcuking useless and are not worthy of the shirt nor the job title of ‘professional footballer’.

Defending the manager whatever the current circumstances is however indefensible. It was he - presumably aided and abetted by his equally inept and ridiculously large backroom staff (who should surely be amongst the first to be axed in any cost-cutting exercise) - who identified and, courtesy of the faceless ‘Head of Recruitment’ (who should also be chased out of the club, salaried or not), were subsequently permitted to snap up the six or seven donkeys who in conjunction with the ‘stars’ of the relegation side have directly led to the club’s current plight.

As things stand, as and when the club inevitably goes to the wall Blackedge and Duxbury will rightly be regarded as equally as culpable as Coxall for their part in the demise of HUFC for their naiviity in appointing the clueless Harrison in the first place, permitting him to squander the playing budget on a group of numpties and failing to publicly reveal the gravity of the situation until it was far too late to make any difference.
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As equally culpable as Coxall? An asset stripping conman? As ridiculous comments go that is right up there.

I wasn’t defending him merely acknowledging that circumstances in the last month or longer can’t have made his job an easy one.

The only person approaching as culpable as Coxall is called, sorry called himself, Goldberg. Better performances on the pitch might have seen the current owners bankroll an unsustainable business model and growing debt for a bit longer gambling on promotion but only two teams get promoted. You can come second in this league with the thick end of 100 points and not go up. So better on field performances might have actually just increased the debt and worsened the long term situation. Yeah the bloke might be out of his depth, and probably is but please don’t put anyone on the same pedistal as those ‘JNPG’ crooks.

Even if, hypothetically of course, the reason that a business may have run out of money could be down to it paying it to another of its own companies in so called debt and inflated interest payments?

On a completely separate point, the best con artists are the ones who can pull off a scam without anybody seeing what they’re up to until it’s too late.

Sage are as much victims as HUFC. Although more due to greed than naiviety.

They were sucked into the scam by Coxhall without the necessary due diligence and Pam seems to be Blackledge's scapegoat as the accountant in charge at the time.

By default Pam (Sage) gets the reins of the club and by detaching HUFC from Sage by means of HUFC holdings Sage can still claim the debt if ever a sale is agreed.

Coxhall is rubbing his greedy little hands and Sage and by extension HUFC holdings are massively out of pocket.

Nobody will buy into this mess unless Sage are prepared to make a loss. However, Sage are caught between a rock and a hard place, because:

1. If the club goes into administration the books get made public and financial mismanagement raises its ugly head. Sage risks ridicule, but will get a small percentage of everything that's of worth. Big loss.

2. If the club is dissolved Sage gets nothing. Big loss.

3. If they don't sell Sage gets nothing. Big loss.

So Sage invent interested parties to try and flush an equally naive punter out of the woodwork. It won't happen.

Their only real option is to write off a good portion of the debt to make the sale offer more appetising, or rather less objectionable. I imagine that any interested parties have worked all of this out and will take them to the wire. It's gonna take time.

Sounds about as likely as asking a debt collector on your doorstep to let you off with a debt you owe, and them saying , alright then , but don't get behind with your payments again.

I am genuinely not sure I accept that sage are victims here. If they didn't carry out due diligence regarding coxall then that's their problem and shows a level of naivety or unprofessionalism on an epic scale. Pools might go to the wall because of sages stupidity or greed. Neither excuse deserves our sympathy.

God help these prospective new owners if they think they taking over a club that has 3300 fans.
From next season that will be halved u can only stay loyal for so long.

Don't agree. The one thing nobody can knock is the tenacity of us fans. We're like the children of Israel waiting to be taken to the promised land.

One of those potential investors isn't called Moses by any chance?

I will never understand these types of comments.

I was talking to my son about the mess the club is in financially and the possible outcomes and he said 'I'd still go if we were a Sunday League team'. Absolutely no prompting from me. Admittedly he's my son so he's fairly likely to have some similar views but you get the point.

The LAST thing to do when the shit hits the fan is stop going (unless the owners are not nice people and trousering the money of course). You stop going and it's a downward spiral to oblivion. No fans, no club. That's what I just don't get.

'...u can only stay loyal for so long.'?? Really? At what point do you turn your allegiance off? If you love football and Pools, you can't turn that off regardless of how bad things become (barring shady owners as I've mentioned).

Long story short I was unable to follow Pools during our most successful period. Missed the fucking lot. All I have known is failure so I don't even have the good times to look back on but I would go to every single game if I had the time and money.

My lad is the only Pools fan in the area we live but he is proud of the fact he isn't a plastic Man Ure or Chelski fan and he doesn't give a fuck about the piss take from his mates because they never go to games and he does so 'they don't know what they're on about'.

So there.

Come rain or shine, get yer sen to the fucking games and support your club.

I did not for one moment suggest that it was not their fault.

They are culpable of poor business practice, greed and naivety.

They just happened to be the last in line of Coxhall's "Ponzi" scheme and most certainly DO NOT deserve sympathy and they are a fundamental part of HUFC's demise.

They are still victims of Coxhall's con.

Greed or sheer incompetence - no-one knows what Sage have really been up to. But given the sordid events of the past 18 months it is impossible to engender any trust or confidence in the weasel words of these shysters or indeed of prospective buyers to come unless trustworthy fans/personalities who have or had a genuine affinity with the club in the past are involved in the takeover (which is what is required not ‘investment’ that would mean not seeing the back of Blackedge and Duxbury.

The facts are that Sage are seemingly gearing up to release the precious few Pools players who actually ARE capable of performing adequately, if not consistently, at this level (e.g. Watson, Donnelly, Loach). How would any prospective buyer (if these ‘interested parties’ actually exist) view this move which would effectively put the club into Bananarama League North?

what were the connections between sage duxbury and coxhall pre hufc and what are the connections now... ??
does anyone know ??
how much are the club paying sage and duxbury in interest payments on their loans and directors salaries ???
what would the clubs books tell us about these questions i wonder ??
who helped bring dave jones and his cronies including the head of recruitment to the club ??
who appointed daft lad harrison ??
who sanctioned this seasons bloated playing squad backroom staff and continuing with the academy??
coxall was a conman but he sure as hell didnt kill our club on his own

I told a member of the Supporters Trust Board back in September that they would never see the clubs detailed accounts in a million years. Duxbury and Blackledge didn't get involved at Pools because they wanted to build a successful team, they got involved because they wanted to build houses.
Everything they have done since then has been designed to get their money back. Mr I said on here months ago they would be out of here by the end of January once the source of income from the season ticket sales and parachute payment dried up. Until the accounts are produced I cant see how this season is any different to the last. They are even running the same £10 a head talk in with the same compere as they did last January and exactly the same people will turn up in the audience.
Like Ripper says about the best con artists, you don't know they are con artists until they have taken all the money.

The whole situation is like sitting next to an old friend on life support waiting for the ‘doctors’ to come and throw the switch and pull the plug out.

can the friend be a sailor?

Can the friend play left-back?

Can the friend make more Bort license plates?

Can the friend have a Ronnie Moore tattoo?

Can the friend have passion?