If you had been told three weeks ago that John Backledge had stopped funding the club in September and that third parties such as sponsors and the council have paid the wages in recent months would you be getting behind and be part of the organisation of a fundraising campaign that's intention was to hand the current owners a lot of cash at the end of this week?

Surely with that in mind even if you couldn't betray a confidence you would be urging people to be cautious about handing money to the current regime?

I could understand it if you had just learnt that information, but three weeks ago? I get the crowdfunding drive, I get #savepoolsday they have both done loads of good and been a great success but with that information, something you are happy to share online now, how could you even contemplate this cash going to the owners?

I realise this isn't that hypothetical but I'd be interested on what Mr Blue has to say about it as I wouldn't be allowed to post on the other board and I know he'll read this.

I know you are desperate for the club to survive we all are, but plenty of people were saying before the breakdown of the deal with Mr Musgrave that our club has been chronically mismanaged and that we hadn't been told even half of the truth. Now after yesterdays statement by him the levels of negligence and incompetence are starting look greater than anyone imagined but you had some information that if more people had been party to could have made more people realise that way earlier than this. I'd absolutely hate this £70,000+ raised by thousands of well meaning good people to be just poured into this black hole, it is so, so frustrating. Now the situation is as clear as this now we ALL have to pull together to prevent anymore good money going to bad, if nothing can be done about crowdfunding cash now that is. No way should this go anywhere near Duxbury surely we now all agree about this? No amount of fundraising or buying time will save this current situation.

Just had a look at the Into The Blue board and Mr. Blue has commented:

"Maybe time to talk to the legal representation."

Mr. Blue has good intentions and that's a wise move. I hope he has his own legal representation rather than Walker Morris who are acting in Hartlepool's owners interests.

We all need to stick together, regardless of any differences and bring our owners to account, make sure that they answer tough questions before handing over any money.

That’s good to read and a good sensible move but it still frustrates me more than slightly this could have been avoided.

Everybody has to read off the same page now it really is do or die, quite literally.

Any reporter worth his/her salt would be down at that club asking some very difficult questions, questions which should have been asked weeks and weeks ago.

Said reporter should be closely followed by the local constabulary.


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hate to say we told them so but well we told them so. But they never listen do they? They never have. They didnt believe this place over THM and they didnt believe this place about Coxall and it was only this place concerned about where that cash should go. And the person that owned this place is hated by them all.

theres been a murder in hartlepool and i want to know who is responsible...would vera be interested in the case ???

Ironing

The days of the proper investigative journalist appear long gone. Merely copying what they're told isn't journalism.
They should be making the story, not chasing it. Who, how, where, when, and why are always good questions to ask.

as the great bankrupt himself once said......"being chairman of hartlepool united is like being a snooker player......you are always thinking three shots ahead "......black has now been potted... game over....and the winner is ???

I can't contact Tony but he needs to know that there are other sites around (not football related) that are starting to say things like

"one of the main fundraising organisers has stated on a Pools forom (sic) that he knew weeks ago that the Council were shoring Pools up financially with tax-payers money. How does THAT work then? So they fundraise to give money to Hartlepool United (Sage) when its actually you and me who are paying the wages in the first place?"

"hartlepool council defends 52 million of reserves amid council tax increases"...the mail 15/1/18.....oh oh ....i smell something unpleasant !!

Get them reserves on the pitch immediately ...

Just glad I didnt put a penny into that justgiving thing and didnt bother with my usual matchday lottery tickets or Bovril.

They will get fuck all else off me, will donate to the Trust when pay day comes around.

Any Scunthorpe trialists in the council's reserves?

Indeed, and even last Saturday there was a nice sympathetic article about Pam and Sage. Musgrave's statement yesterday proves at best incompetence and at worst something we are probably all thinking but dare not propose on a public forum.

Regarding Mr Blue I hope and assume this is just innocent wanting to be seen to be in the know or not joining the dots in his mind of the 2 issues when the fundraising efforts were on.

Let's face it Jeff Stelling also backed the campaign and he supposedly knows a lot more than we do following his discussions with the club. All well meaning from all parties I'm sure but sadly with hindsight those stating that they didn't want to throw good money after bad (who were accused of wanting the club to go into Admin) were right to be cautious.

The sad thing is all that money and fundraising efforts could have been chaneled into the Trust to really be used for the clubs future and even Mr Stelling's intervention delayed that possibility and there is less chance of the massive donations and goodwill we got from around the country coming again

Jeff Stelling backed the campaign as we all did but advised caution before handing over any money to the owners as most of us have.

Like a sewage works, the shit bobs up to the surface eventually.
Why would the council be shoring them up ? Has this aggravated a situation that would have come to a head earlier?

That's not entirely true PJ at a point last week

People will eventually come around to The Trust, they have to. My worry is that even when this happens, there is a danger the wrong people will be running the show , democracy can be a dangerous thing , as we have seen with Brexit. Would be a tragedy that even as a Trust run club, we were a clusterfook due to having the wrong people in charge. Remember with enough votes anyone could be voted onto the committee.

These Trusts so far appear to have been a success, if not on the field at least off it, but this is Hartlepool, if there was a first one to fail, you would put money on it being us.

I refuse to believe, based on what has happened so far, that we are the first club to experience a bit of internal tension at the first sight of a power vacuum opening up. Time will tell, of course, but a moments thought about this dissuades me from thinking we're alone here.

Regarding your worry, whilst I can understand this way of thinking, what's the alternative? Running the trust as private fiefdom is hardly going to endear people to the place. Particularly those who are already, regardless of their justification, suspicious.

Same here, knew exactly what would happen Just couldn’t be arsed venting it on social media etc makes me sick to see primary schools doing their best to raise money for this shower of shit.

Its sickening to see schools and businesses donating money to the club when they have no idea what is actually going on, there efforts are admirable but ultimately futile.

Are schools just handing the money straight to the club etc?

Yes, Pools sent a people out as a collection team.

I bet they did.

Kunts!!!!

My Mam is in a care home. Today all the staff were wearing Pools shirts trying to do their bit, getting visitors to put into a bucket. Don't think they raised a great deal but, even if it was only 50p I'd resent them giving these charlatans any of it.