Gateshead forward we were rumored to have spoken to has signed for Motherwell.

Oh well, well well well ect.

Motherwell are starting to piss me off a bit.

Will get twice as many goals as he would have got for us.

Have to agree Motherwell are starting to annoy me! As each day passes I am getting more concerned with our lack of transfer activity! I know it's still early days but plenty other clubs signing players.

Maybe we'll sign Egypt's 45 year old keeper.

To be brutally honest I’m struggling to appreciate why Raj Singh committed to saving the club if he is seemingly not prepared to invest in the playing squad. We may as well have gone part-time and compete with the likes of Gateshead, Harrogate and the Dar-low for half-decent local players - if Singh’s wallet stretches even that far that is. It’s all rather depressing at present and I for one won’t be going anywhere near the ticket office until such time that Singh & co show at least a modicum of enthusiasm if not burning ambition for the second successive season in this Godforsaken League. (Quickly donning steel helmet and bullet proof vest for predictable verbal barrage)

I hear what you are saying Phil and have no reason to doubt that what you say is correct. But after many years of decline fans are looking for Singh, Stelling, Hignett and co to at the very least stop the rot. Given the current situation there is precious little sign of anything other than yet another relegation struggle next season which to many fans - myself included - is quite simply unacceptable - I refuse to waste yet more money and more importantly, time watching a repeat of last season with effectively the same losers pulling on a Pools shirt. Sorry if the diehards don’t like it but that’s the way it is for me and I suspect many of the other 3k st holders. Whatever faith I had in the club has long since disappeared - it is up to the new regime to restore that faith and they are going to have to do much, much more than the meagre efforts they have made to date I’m afraid.

I am really baffled by all the negativity that I am reading.

Not so much on here but it’s almost like in some quarters a few without even giving them a chance have an agenda against the new regime. Saying stuff about the budget and next seasons expectations that quite simply haven’t been said. Some of the garbage that Kennedy bloke writes in the Mail doesn’t help.

The thing is a lot of the same people spent all last season slagging off the transfer listed players. If Hignett and Bates don’t think they are good enough and not worth what we paying them then that’s fair enough in my eyes. If they want to move them on to create more room in the budget to build a more balanced and competitive squad at this level then again, where is the issue? I am sure the people within the club will be working hard to put together a squad that can do well, you do not need pots of cash to well at this level you need the right team. Saying things that should have been been said last summer and managing expectations is again not a negative the shit or bust mentality that went a way to hammering nails in our coffin last summer was.

It is also not a negative that we are moving forward with a more solid and realistic business plan with a more long term view, are we not sick of cowboys who run out of money for various reasons by Christmas? The clubs needs to be ran better full stop in most areas.


Also I see no signs of a tiny uncompetitive budget, being in for players like Bishop, Davies and Johnson is not an indication of that. The problem is we were competing with an SPL club and one of the better payers in League Two for the two players in question and missed out, it happens.

The club needs our support more than ever let’s get behind it I am stratching my head at some of the stuff I am reading especially considering it’s not even the middle of June yet.

'Verbal barrage'....? I'd be lobbing real mortar rounds over if I could get your range. You are on a wind up aren't you.... tell me you are having a joke or have you been in a coma since the day before the Cardiff final and just come around nagware of what's been hoping on?
They've picked a kip full of someone else's shit and any reasonable fan knew things would be tight.
Also, every year since the dawn of time, some Pools fans imitate the sound of a jet airliner taxiing down a runway with a whining sound about lack of transfer activity in the summer.

I think it's fairly obvious this attention seeker is on the wind up, as ever.

The amount of hours this Smurthwaite bloke has spent doing this on Pools message boards since they started amounts to a really sad exsistence we should feel sorry for him.


I bet he doesn't copy and paste this.

Wind up or not, there are some fans that appear to genuinely be criticising the new ownership and citing they have lack of ambition.

It is absolutely crazy - talk about short memories! This time last year the budget was spunked on under-performing high earners some of which on two year contracts. Then the shit hit the fan and a realistic model and expectations have come in, yet some are saying the way forward to get fans back on board is to spunk money we don’t have on a load of new signings.

It is obvious to me that they are trying to be savvy in the transfer market. To support that the club and fans needs some patience to get the right players in on the right wages, not throw money at the first decent ones available. Plus it will be even more difficult whilst we have high earners on the books. It could prove difficult to get them off the staff anyway, but even more so when most clubs at our level are initially looking at signing out of contact players

National League player chooses the SPL over the chance to play for another NL club. What was he thinking of?

The new guys have come in. Had to make sure we seen the season out, had to deal with the FA over agent fees, are trying to sort the expensively assembled shit squad out, hire a manager, try n build a new team, ensure the clubs not spunking money on pointless things

Gone them a chance eh


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Ultimately a few months ago I had all but given up on having a club, the best scenario looking like we might survive but be relegated and the likely scenario looking like folding and a phoenix club a few leagues below.

The fact we have survived, are in the same division and have new owners talking about stability behind the scenes, creating a proper football club again etc after taking over a train wreck of a club on it's knees is something to rejoice about not moan.

The others who have taken against the new regime I think has more to do with their ability (or lack of) to get special treatment I think

Whilst it might be a case of balancing the books and trimming understandably, we need to make sure we have enough about us to stay up!

Speaking of agendas......
Seriously though PJ, even though he may have saved you from a disaster people do know his history, both fans and players.
If you were to ask some respected ex pros like Ian Miller and Marc Bridge-Wilkinson if they would sign for him if they were still playing then the answer would be no.
Players talk. Agents talk. Fans talk. Shit sticks. I would think the first question any potential signing would ask is "how do I know you wont pull the plug again?"

I'm over the moon were still alive and kicking but it's as boring as fook when we don't sign any one

Don't you trust Raj then, you should have said......

To be completely honest Loan Star I was initially bitterly opposed to any involvement with Raj Singh but the truth is that there was a gun to our head. He emerged as the only way Pools were going to avoid oblivion and serious doubt was being cast on the idea that a phoenix club could be sure of getting the Vic to play at.

When you're on death row you don't get too worked up about the ethics of somebody who offers you a stay of execution and since then he's talked the talk very well and seems to be walking fairly nicely too. I'm won over to the extent that I now think we should give him some time before passing judgement. His past certainly means that we should keep watching carefully and continue to build an independent Trust but giving the new regime a chance before getting stuck in also seems reasonable to me.

That said, if he doesn't spunk most of the three year budget on some old crocks soon I'll be making a 'Get rid of Raj the radgie' banner.

Potential signings don’t speak to the chairman this is not the 1970’s in most cases they didn’t then.

I don’t think Raj’s past is the root of this negativity or these agendas to be honest. Everyone is aware of his past including him and how things ended at Darlo and theirs nothing anyone can do about that we proceed with caution but nothing that has happened at Pools yet has anything to with that two players have has offers at a higher level and opted for them, no drama it happens all the time.

Speaking of old crocks - Nobby Solano is part of the coaching set up for the Peru national team these days.

On that basis I'll be switching my support to them after Ingerland go out. Unless it turns out Gus di Lella is retained by Argentina to help Messi with his all-round play.

I can't understand this negativity either.

Last close season we made plenty of signings early on and look where that got us!

When it comes down to it you've got to give those in charge your trust, well for a fair while any way. Raj has been in charge of a club before, and well knows how it could go wrong, yet here he is once again wanting to give it a go. He must have a love for the game, he's certainly got some experience from his Darlow days. When it comes to selecting players as possible signings, I'm prepared to trust Higgy, he's picked some good un's before.

There's plenty of time yet, and just because we don't hear about it doesn't mean nowt's happening, I'm sure plenty is going on.

I know where you are coming from. However we were in the same boat with him taking over from Houghton and we soon learned it wasn't an improvement, despite the Trophy win.



So if you were offered a job now at Poundworld and also one at Poundland which would you choose?
Yes the manager at Poundworld might be a nicer bloke than the one at Poundland but you would look beyond that at the bigger picture, who actually pays the wages the manager promises. How stable is the company you are joining?
Just an example of course.

A bit of a half baked mental one to be fair.

Put down your Raj voodoo doll chill out and watch the World Cup.

U can't blame any posters for being negative.
We've had the previous owners doing well out of us with the St Sales pitch of stay loyal u brilliant fans we goin for promotion but always ended up in a relegation battle.
The new owners aren't bulls hitters and have more or less told us next season is about consolidation and getting the club on an even keel given the fact we got to many players under contract next season from the previous regime we as fans have to show a bit of patience.
Turn back the clock to early in the year and I'd of been happy with us playing in the evostik East division.
Patience is a virtue.

Half baked mental one??
Its exactly the sort of thing people take into consideration unless they are desperate for any sort of work.
Keep your head in the sand if you like!

who has their head in the sand....we have a new start with nothing to syphon off.

If it goes tits up are we in any worse position ?

I'm really not sure what more needs to be said, we get it....

Although I note that you waited for Snowys equally predictable response before having your usual pop, you never fail to let me down PJ - and I actually thought for a minute that you were referencing yourself with the above jibe.

Unlike you and several other saddos I spend very little time on this board and absolutely none on any other. No matter, I regret nothing that I have posted. Following footy is all about opinions and regardless of who agrees or disagrees I will always post mine. PS get a decent spellchecker pal.

He has been told we get it around 500 times.

But we still have our head in the sand

My 'predictable response' is to your predictable 'opinion'.

They pissed me off right from the day James Brown's career almost ended there before it began.

It’s a bit harsh to pin than one on them to be fair unless you’re going down the ‘Scottish are clubs they’re all the same’ route.

Coudnt off put it better myself I was thinking the same thing as each day passes I'm also get worried!

I've heard that the loan system will be used quite a bit this season. Don't know how true that is, but it might make a bit of sense.

Would imagine we'll start to see things happening next week