Today's Fail:

"Matthew Bates has taken a swipe at members of the Hartlepool United coaching setup for not stepping up to aid the club’s fight. Many had expected the likes of club hero Ian McGuckin to be present in the dugout at the weekend, especially with Bates light on options after the exit of Craig Harrison and Paul Jenkins on leave. But Bates went it alone against Ebbsfleet - and he was less than pleased with some as yet unnamed members of the Pools setup.

“People at the club have been offered the opportunity to step up and haven’t,” said Bates after his relegation-threatened side were beaten 1-0 at Victoria Park. They have their own reasons.“When the club is in need you need to step up. There are people here who have been here a lot longer than me who need to step up. I am a bit angry about it but it is what it is. I am big and brave enough to take it, though.”

With Jenkins unlikely to come back this week, Bates says he is looking into the prospect of bringing someone else into the club to help out with preparation for Aldershot. Although, he knows the club will be unable to pay another wage. Bates explained: “Going forward we need to sort something out. “I have a lot of friends in football who will come in and do us a favour. That’s what it will have to be as we have no money. “I have spoken to a few people. I’m meeting a few for a coffee [Today]. Hopefully by Thursday it will be sorted.”

This is beyond pathetic. We can barely get a team out and can't get anyone except Bates and the physio on the bench either. Himmer was AWOL Saturday and hopefully can be sacked. As for 'club hero Ian McGuckin' - he can naff off and all, and take Sweeney with him.

Jesus, what a mess.

‘Club hero’



He was a very average centre half, incredibly violent though.

Yeah it’s a mess.

Its embarrassing people posting hoping honest employees to be sacked, you know nothing about what has gone on so it would be best to refrain from commenting.

Why do they have to step up? They have job descriptions and might not want to get involved they don't have to.

If you were a bakery manager at ASDA and the store manager got sacked would you step up with no prospect of getting a paid extra?

People on this board were saying the same thing about Buster and Marty Brown. How they thinking about that situation now?

Tony Sweeney was on PoolsWorld on Saturday, dunno if any of this relates to him, he was quite outspoken and talked a lot of sense.

At this rate, perhaps Ronnie Moore really is the best option until the end of the season/cash*

*delete as appropriate

What did sweeney have to say?

To be fair I don't know anything about Himmer - he hasn't been at the club 5 minutes and given the state the club's in financially if he was in breach of contract Saturday - and that is an 'if' I grant you - if it's grounds for dismissal what would you do? Is a goalkeeping coach a priority at the minute?

Also, I didn't say anything about sacking McGuckin and Sweeney, just said they could naff off

You'd like to think, whatever else has been going on, when the club is in such a desperate state, people would rally together and try to make the best of things. Apparently not.

I was going to say maybe McGuckin doesn't like Bates and he thinks he's a jumped up sick note who is as responsible for this state of affairs as anyone. But decided against it.

The club is rotten to the core, my guess is that theirs been some sort of falling out. I don’t think McGuckin could be any place to call anyone a sick note he spent his career either injuring people or being injured.

I wouldn't advocate sacking anyone without due compensation, IF he didn't turn up on Saturday I'm sure he had his reasons.

The GK coach is one of the few to cone out with any credit given Loach's performances so I don't see the clamor to give him the bullet.

Why should anyone rally round to prop up a failed capitalist enterprise.

Up the workers!

i think bates needs to button it...says more about him than others

Nothing bad, just had plenty of ideas and opinions about how we should have been playing instead of how we were. Brian Honour always does as well, but he's not a club employee.

I think we learned about the Buster and Marty Brown situation from Compo’s post about Watson and more from various things that have appeared on Twitter. The leech has caused a lot of damage at the least the financial mess means he won’t get the chance to be involved in anymore recruitment.

I always enjoy analogies comparing football to everyday life, monkeybutt is normally the one for these, and it’s supermarket related which is his forte McGuckin and Sweeney are employed as football coaches so it’s not exactly the departure from the bakery to store manager just dealing with more adult, staler loaves that want binning as we’ve already sold what we can in the whoopsie section at knockdown price.

I think in this situation a lot is flying about in a toxic environment and you always need to remember that theirs two sides to every story Bates has said his bit but not the other side. To be honest things are bad enough we don’t really want to hear to it I’d rather Bates just got on with it than having a pop at people.

I think its a fair analogy albeit not a seafaring one

I can go nautical if you want.
My point being, football is not like being in a normal job.

Bates is responsible for the club being rinsed by cowboys? Alright then.

I know its not a normal job but all of the principles still remain.

I see no reason why a youth coach should be obliged to step up or face any animosity if he doesn't given the current situation at the club.

I don't see how that is controversial?

Fair enough, but the phrase 'hung out to dry' comes to mind.

They say professional football management is a lonely business - it must be when you've only got the kit man and the physio to talk to.

Hopefully today Bates will find some out of work football coach who's willing to come in for no money and get involved with 'Mission Impossible the Sequel. '

I doubt if even Ronnie's that desperate to get back into the game, but you never know.

I assume everything in the Mail is made up or stolen from somewhere else. Bates has had a wage from the club for a number of years for doing very little and was usually the first one to declare himself injured when the chips were down. People having a pop at McGuckin and Sweeney without hearing their side of the story are out of order as they have been doing a good job with the youth team this year and for all we no might not even have been asked to be in the dugout on Saturday. Sounds more likely as case of Bates looking for someone to blame. If you look at their playing careers at Pools Sweeney gave a lot more to the club than Bates ever did and has showed a lot more loyalty.

I reckon if they asked Ronnie Moore he’d help out, he’s pretty much said he would. We could do worse in this situation the bloke once got good performances out of Scott Harrison so he must have something about him

Can't see that hatter bloke asking Moore. Can't stand each other based on his tweets.

It sounds like Bates is doing the asking it’s hardly going to be a paid role. How can the parasite stop someone helping out for fee.

Why is Watson still around?

We are under transfer embargo, we have no money what is his role as head of recruitment? That hatter bloke can fuck right off.

This Gerry Mandrake

You're putting as much blame on Bates as people like Goldberg, Coxall, Watson etc.

Read it again Gerry, with your finger under the words, nice and slow so you can see the context.

McGuckin - 181 starts in 6 seasons - averaged 30 games a season.

Bates - 83 starts in 3 seasons - averaged 27-28 games a season (27.66 if you prefer).

They were both crocks, both pretty average in bad sides - in the games McGuckin played in, Pools lost far more often than they won. Just like Bates.

Sweeney had a much better Pools career than either of them, but then he played in a much better side for most of his career.

Sweeney gave 10 years loyal service to the club and was a very under rated player in my opinion. He also turned down the chance of a testomnial when he could have had one. There is no mention of him by name in the Mail article yet people are immediately assuming he has refused to be in the dugout. As he was working for the club doing Poolsworld commentary I cannot see why people are having a dig at him as he was there and he was working.

Give me Sweeney and McGuckin over Bates any day of the week.

That's very fair - it was my mistake to drag his name into it - he wasn't referenced in the article. Apologies to Tony and his many admirers among Pools fans.

For the record, I don't have any confidence that Matthew Bates can turn things around - he's had most of a season to turn Laing and Harrison into a semblance of a decent centre back pairing and has failed miserably - but in their case I don't think they are under-performing, just absolute bobbins.

On the other hand, I agree with Mr. Mandrake that blaming Bates for the absolutely ridiculous state the club is in on (never mind off) the field is daft. He didn't sign any of these players and hasn't been picking the side till last Saturday when he got chucked in the deep end at 3 days notice. He knows he's on a hiding to nothing taking over as caretaker manager - there's no money to get a proper replacement in and it seems he'll he just have to be the fans whipping boy for as long as he can stick it.

He's had his job title changed, 'Head of performance' or something equally as cringey. No joke.

hodcroft to new recruits..whatever you do...never embarrass this club...sound advice...and to be applied on both a personal and professional level

Let’s just remember we’ve helped raise money to ensure they have had there wages paid for the last 2 months. Quite a kick in the teeth for the fans. I couldn’t careless if he’s had a row with someone he should be there for the fans end off.

I’d have Ronnie back immediately, he’s probably our best hope at the moment

Bates was alone on the bench when we had 2 other coaches that could have helped out but refused to step up. Have I read this correctly?

It's disgraceful, whether they like it or not, they are paid (okay we don't know for how long....) to provide coaching services to the club.

If we were pushing for promotion and they were asked to help out, do you think they would have refused ?

The club is a shambles but if anyone is not happy, they should walk.

I read this as a way of Bates deflecting attention off his lack of motivation, poor selection/tactics and abysmal performance of the team. Lets blame someone from the coaching team who wasn't even there. It wouldn't surprise me if there hadn't been a bust up some time ago about the lack of opportunities for the youngsters.

Which would be Bates' fault how exactly?

Good point, bit like keeping the coach driver on when he's just got a driving ban. Not needed. Get rid.

Everyone else has gone missing, so if Bates was as bad as some people are intent on painting him surely he'd have legged it too...?

A lot of finger pointing going on from a lot of directions. Yet another distraction from the real crisis at the club. We could win every remaining game and still be fooked at the end of the season.

Nailed it !

I agree with those who say Bates should of kept his mouth shut. Sounds like he is trying to get the fans onside in the hope of getting the job full time.I would of thought Bates would be the first one to duck a challenge if it didnt suit him. Hold on ! he's already done that numerous times already hasn't he.

As for Sweeney and McGuckin and anyone else who warms the bench, i'm sure they would of stepped up if the club wasn't in such a mess. They fact they didnt want to speaks volumes of the situation we're in.

The last thing we need is a divisive sulker. I’m keeping my mouth shut he says by complaining to the mail but not naming anybody. The story is about shit all other than a lack of maturity and management ability. Tara Matty. Get rid.

And slowly but surely the bile bubbles and the self destruct button pressed as the club disintegrates at every level. Trouble with this club, no one is stepping up to the mark from top to bottom.

It's true what they say. It wouldn't be a show without Punch.

You copying and pasting without saying anything Malcolm. Skills.

He's just saying it 'as it is' what's wrong with that ? Would you rather him just be a 'yes man' ?

100% agree - if Ronnie Moore really is offering his services FOC then it’s a no-brainier. Matt Bates is to be admired for attempting to steer a sinking ship into the close-season harbour of refuge with the seawater up to the portholes after the cowardly captain jumped (or was he pushed?) into a lifeboat. However an old sea dog possessing a pair of experiencied helping hands and eyes are just what Captain Bates needs at this darkest hour.

So let’s be ‘avin you on Mr Blackledge and Ms Duxbury - just do it - let’s see you make a positive decision that can only serve to benefit the club for once.

There’s £8k left on the justgiving thing to pay for Ronnie’s expenses

Why promote the bakery manager? Surely all the department managers should be looked at taking into account their skillset and experience before a decision is made. Also the bakery manager will be used to early starts whereas say the Deli manager will be used to working "normal" shop hours. Remember staff need a work/life balance. Anyway if the ASDA sacked the manager then surely the deputy manager would be first in line?