It was groundhog day for the fans who went. A waste of a half day and the petrol money.

Just like the Gateshead game, the match started with one side of a bad excuse for a football stadium packed with our fans. Just like the Gateshead game, they were silenced within minutes of the kick off, forced to watch a disorganised Pools side being given a football lesson by opponents with a game plan and their tails up.

There's no lack of competent managers in the National League. Pools play effective, well-drilled sides most weeks, coached by people who seem to be getting the most out of limited resources. It's embarrassing watching one of this league's big boys being so crap.

To say the jury is out on Richard Money after 8 games is putting it very mildly indeed. But for the penalty save yesterday (a shock to everyone used to watching Loach dive the wrong way with metronomic reliability) the final result could have been far worse.

If you haven't been watching regularly (and with all due respect to those who aren't able to watch regularly for one reason or another) it's easy to put the blame on individual players who were having absolute mares yesterday. You haven't been watching decent players like Donaldson and Magnay go backwards because of being asked to play various roles in ever-changing line ups.

It was 'bold' move giving all 3 new signings a start yesterday, especially Raynes, who has hardly had a look in at Crewe this season and took time to find his feet. It was very typical of Money though, who still doesn't seem to have a clue what his best 11 might look like and makes changes every week. And still isn't picking Kioso!

As it happens the new lads all did reasonably well. They must be wondering what they've let themselves in for though! In his latest assessment, Money is quoted as saying "I don’t think the answer is to keep bringing players in. We have to try and gel what we have.”

Amen to that, but if things go badly next week he'll likely be asking for another 2-3 players the week after.

Fair assessment. Money has to start getting it right from now on in, no more excuses, play your best eleven in their best positions and stick with it , bin those players who aren't interested. My worry is the 3 new players will soon turn into zombies if things don't perk up. We couldn't ask for a better game than Braintree at home to put any plan into action, only Money can lose this by not playing certain players and playing players out of position etc, lose and we are royally fooked, not least financially, with crowds plummeting to around 2500 thereafter, come on FFS ! sort it out.

Totally agree with both of you, Saturday will see if the manager and the players have got what it takes if they don,t show up we are down. Cue P.J.

FFS Baz - don't provoke him! It's bad enough being a Poolie at present without having to see numerous interesting/ provocative dialogues ruined by one ego......................

And I'm not going again until your wife starts taking you shopping on Saturdays.

Agree with opening post.

But as we all know or as i have been led to believe.
When you become manager your first prority is to make yourself
Difficult to beat, ie Organise your back four as "A BACK FOUR" and not supporting fullbacks.
You can then tinker with your midfield unit. Does anybody really believe Donaldson is a
Central midfielder, One thing i do know, If i was a fullback i would not want Donaldson
Running at me.
Was Amos injured yesterday, Because Money said he brought him in to allow
Kitch to play further forward, I know he had Molyneux in there, but from what i saw
Of Amos he is a better fullback than Kitch.

For those at the game was Noble there.

You're right Mr. Geyhounded, this is what Money said when Amos was signed:

“He [Amos] is someone who plays naturally as a left-back so that has attracted me to him because we’ve been looking for someone who can give us some strength in that area and he certainly fits the bill. Mark Kitching played a significant number of games on the left of a three-man midfield in League One last year with Rochdale, including in two FA Cup ties against Spurs. During his days at Middlesbrough his position was also high up on the pitch on the left-hand side. In my time at the Club, I feel that his work in the opposition half of the pitch has shown a great deal of potential. With that in mind, I am hoping that the signing of Danny will not only give us one signing at left-back but another signing in a rejuvenated Mark Kitching higher up the the pitch on the left.”

The manager also said Amos was Pools' best player in the Telford game.

Roll forward a week and Amos is on the bench and Kitching is playing left back.

It's very hard not to see a pattern there - but some are managing not to!

Agree

Got to say i did give it a swerve yesterday on the basis their is just nothing to discuss about what you have watched only negatives or anger which i find really sad how ever it is the stone cold reality at this present moment in time.
Their is a saying be careful what you wish for how ever 1 wish is not enough the playing side is simply rotten as results confirm this this aspect.
Raj is the owner he needs to get in there and bang some heads together and if there is people self inflicting damage on the club then put them on gardening leave until such time you can get rid.
I dread to think what the atmosphere will be on saturday should we not win.

https://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/sport/ ... 578?page=1

Magnay and Featherstone both given 5/10 .

Hes of his rocker!!!!

The Fail ratings are a waste of time - always too easy on bad performances. Loughlin in the Echo is usually spot on - they both get a 2 from him.

https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/sport ... gate-town/

Shame there's no ratings for team organisation and game plan though!

Some excellent points! Reading the Northern Echo ratings makes it look like Money is doing his best to get an early exit package!

I didn't realise Magnay has an injury. This would explain his recent terrible efforts since he started playing him in midfield and costing us goals the last 2 weeks. However, for Money this is even more remarkable that Kioso is not playing. I only assume that Kioso has not recovered from his knock a couple of months back, but Money's efforts to play him in random positions is either a way to make him look right not to pick him or Money's efforts at a random computer football game. Either way Kioso situation demonstrated that Money is not the right man for the job.

Donaldson has been the best player for most of the season but since the Money arrival, he too has lost his way. He looks totally lost in a 2 man central midfield. Maybe all of this shows Bates was doing better than thought, but nowhere near as well as Hignett in those games until playing Newton at full back for a few minutes!

Since Bates left it has been a lottery of selection and positions for players and at this level most are not up to it.

We still have the players that were doing well under Bates, we improved when Davies was injured (though that might have been down to Woods, who is badly missed in the centre of midfireld)/

With Amos having been discarded after 1 game it appears we need to revert to the Bates formation with the current players and no plans to add to them.

Everyone has deteriorated since Money's unsettling selection policy came in and it must be time for Hignett to have a word with him. It seems yet again the cheap option is not working.

At least the loan signings crazily thrown in on Saturday have some promise. Raynes with fitness will improve the defence and Kabamba looked much better up front. But then so did Muir until we destroyed his confidence or ability. He looked really good playing behind the forwards earlier in the season, a position he has rarely been tried in.

Money has too start delivering with fit players in the right positions and picking the best players. He has a long way too go to get us back to the team he picled up.

Didn’t we lose 7 of the 8 League games before Money took charge or am I imagining that?

We should change our manager every two weeks and give the job to someone different off the Internet.

You can't excuse Magnay's performance yesterday on him playing a couple of games in midfield. It was one of the worst centre half displays I have ever seen in Pools shirt he did well to last until half time. From someone who apprently has a lot of influence in the dressing room and who was wearing the captains armband it was totally unacceptable why look to excuse him? He's played all but two games this season at centre half. I thought Donaldson looked fairly promising in center midfield actually especially in the last twenty minutes when he had someone beside him putting a shift in. It's apparently his favourite position and one Money had him playing well in at Cambridge, our midfield has been a constant issue for a long time. Featherstone only ever plays centre midfield, how can chopping and changing be an excuse for his display again?

I am not randomly selecting two players here Featherstone and Magnay have been constants in shit awful display after shit awful display under various managers, but it's always the managers who are the fall guys and here we see another being turned on from some quarters after five minutes. Hartlepool United the ultimate posioned chalice. It's not easy or good at the minute and I have sympathy for you lot watching this but at some point we have to give someone an opportunity to change things. People suggesting he is 'one game from the sack' after a month in the job is just absurd. I don't care about people who I have never met having constant pops at me, and I don't care about cheap shots about me not attending games right now this stuff Money is getting already is ridiculous and I stand by that.

Over simplified as usual when it suits.

And your out of order regarding Magnay.

Out of order? In what sense?


He got 2 out of 10 in the Echo, is that out of order?


Over simplfying things? Someone suggested Money has a long way to go to get the team back to the one he took over. We had just came off the back of losing seven League games in a row, it's not over simplfying things it's stating fact. He wasn't inheriting a team in good form with players full of confidence.

Magnay was diabolical yesterday, he literally did nothing right for 45 minutes and I wondered if money would have the balls to sub him,which he did, just a shame it was with the hapless Anderson. Featherstone was also hopeless and his day was summed up with that second goal, he used to be good at keeping possession but he can't even do that anymore. You could say on the one hand they have been good servants to the club or on the other hand they have been part of the problem in recent times. Magnays injuries have caught up with him so he can't play right back anymore so he plays in the centre which he's not capable of in my opinion. He used to look one of our better players but sadly he is getting worse and worse.

It looks like we are stuck with them til the summer but surely they can't get new deals.

This is depressing. You're not the only supporter who watched the game on TV or the only one who doesn't get to many games. The OP wasn't about you specifically at all, much less a 'cheap shot.' I tend to think you're unfairly treated on here at times, but perhaps I'm mistaken. That's quite some ego you've got there.

Bates getting the sack because he'd taken the team as far as he could has nothing to do with what his successor has done since. By a quirk of the fixture list fixture list I've seen nearly every game Pools have played with Richard Money in charge. I also saw Hignett's 2 games as caretaker. He won one, lost one (threw one away at the death with a misguided substitution would be more accurate) but the side looked like it had had a lot of self belief restored, and had got back to a passing game after too much aimless hoofball.

Money doesn't want to play hoofball either, which is fine by me. But the way he has set about putting his stamp on the side has been anything but reassuring. Most of the performances with him in charge have been desperately poor - like yesterday. Leaving aside the defensive mistakes that gifted Harrogate goals, did Pools look remotely at the races yesterday? Is that your idea of a well organised side with a clear and effective game plan?

It's dead simple. Gates will slump badly if performances don't improve. Worse, Pools will get drawn into another relegation battle. Will Money's side have the togetherness that got us out of trouble the way Ronnie Moore's side did three seasons ago or last season with Matty Bates? I'd like Money to turn it around because I'm a Pools fan first and foremost. I have serious doubts that he will, and I don't think it's 'ridiculous' of me to say so.

I didn’t say you were having a cheap shot at me or that your post was aimed at me, have you not read the posts below yours, others did. You don’t know me I’m egotistical in the slightest I have never even compared myself to Jesus on here. I’m sick of all this shit to be honest if it wasn’t for the constant abuse I’d have probably stopped posting ages ago but it’s bringing out a stubborn streak in me!

Magnay not 100% fit and playing on an artificial pitch ? you couldn't make this up. Lets not kid ourselves Money has made an appalling start , but no way would I have Bates back, he was taking us down, gates were down to 2400 and something needed to be done, sacking him was the right decision IMO. If Hignett has the midas touch why didnt he take the job?.

Sacking Bates was the right decision; it was sad to watch but he'd burned up all the credit for keeping us up last season and the promising start this. Too inflexible, not experienced enough to find the answer to a bad run of results. If he's going to have a career in coaching and management he'll have to do it elsewhere.

Hignett has a different job description as DOF and seems happy enough with that. He never expressed any interest in taking the manager's job at Pools though he did say he would looking at managing again elsewhere in the future - i.e. when his current involvement with Pools and Raj Singh has ended.

It's interesting that Money has got him involved in training and in the dugout on match days but all you can read into that is that the two of them get on OK and Money is a big enough character to take different opinions on board.

Incidentally, I see there's a story going the rounds on the other board that Money and Hignett (and Ged McNamee) were all shouting different instructions at Cassidy at one point in the game. I was stood right behind the 2 dugouts about 4 rows back. None of them were out in the technical area very much and definitely not all together or one after the other like a relay squad!

Hignett spent about 15 minutes at the side of the area wittering on about the fouls Harrogate were getting away with at the fourth official, who wasn't having any of it. I never once saw him shout anything towards the players. Money had a few goes at getting instructions onto the pitch and that seemed like a waste of time too - he doesn't have a very loud voice.

Far too much emphasis is put on what managers do on the touchline, the fact of the matter is that once the players have crossed the white line it's very hard to instruct players what to do, pitches are quite big even a few thousand people can be quite loud, you can get messages onto the pitch and make positional changes but can't have any impact on what choices and things individuals do with the ball I have never understood the need for someone jumping about and wailing like a Banshee on the touchline, it's all for show and has no impact on the game. We had comments suggesting that it was 'terrible management' last week because our bench didn't celebrate our injury time consolation goal against Telford, laughable stuff really an example of the level of nonsense that is getting spouted from some corners and backs up public enemy number one (for some reason) Hignett's stamp comments from the other week.

Some of the recent performances have been awful no doubt about it but they are no worse than some of the performances in November, I saw the Barnet home game which was in some ways worse than Saturday we could lost that game by a big margin and created far less going forward, the game after we got beat 4-0 at Bromley. Yeah they might have played alright against Dagenham (still lost) then won at Maidenhead but they have played alright under Money a couple of times as well by all accounts at home to Gateshead and the first half at Chesterfield. Maybe some of them aren't good enough and are incapable/ don't have the mental capacity or desire to produce consistent performances whoever is manager? Possibly he has chopped and changed a bit too much but it's been a busy period which had coincided with having to get the know the squad. Like those champions of hindsight who said he shouldn't have started all three loan signings on Saturday, after the Telford display who wouldn't you have started of the three? What difference would it have made to the result of they were three of our better players on the day?

Also we heard whispers that Bates lost his job obviously because results but also because he had no control/discipline in the dressing room. That to me suggests that we have one or two problems in the dressing room also consider the Captain leaving club shortly after Bates and think about the possible connection. These are issues that are not going to be solved in 8 games, added to the club having not finished in the top half of any division for over 10 years and those 10 years being ones of steady decline, accelerated by chancers and con men in recent years. This is a tough, tough job, it's an absolutely impossible job if you don't give any manager time to make the dramatic changes needed to build a culture of winning and get serial losers and coasters out of the club. It's also impossible if a bloke who's been here a month, who has a proven track record of success at this level, is being put under intense pressure by some fans so quickly.

This is the last I'm going to say on the matter it's like banging your head against a brick wall at the end of the day, a loud minority don't agree they always know more and better than experienced people within the game but I'd like a think the silent majority and those running the club can see the bigger picture and have a bit of common sense and will give the manager a chance to make the so desperately needed changes to halt this terminal decline.

Looking for crumbs of comfort by saying current performances are 'no worse' than Bates' last games in charge isn't much use is it? You could equally compare Pools in November pushing Gillingham right to the wire in two FA cup games with flopping at home to Telford in the Trophy.

Money's fate is not in the hands of the fans. Pools next game is home to the bottom side in the division and the manager knows what's at stake:
https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/sport ... y-quickly/

All a bit worrying that NE article. I don't know if it is Moneys honest plain speaking nature, but I wish he would stop talking about his expected demise, at times its almost as though he has already written his own epitaph. The club won't sack him, at least not yet, unless crowds fell to around 2200 mark, but I wouldn't put it past him walking out, if results don't improve.

Saturday is massive, like he says, we need to win, like him, I think we will , anything else is unthinkable, it really is.

I see Magnay was not fit but nevertheless played. I wonder how long he has been carrying an injury which might account for some poor performances.
Are they others who are not 100% playing?? Certainly we wont be told until they are withdrawn.

It’s 30 games into a season half the players in the League will be carrying knocks it’s no excuse.

We need a team were every player gives 100% in a job that should be an honour to do.
Unfortunately we gunna have to wait till. August for that to happen.
As I said the other week if Money can't turn the club around then we well fcuked.

Look at team that finished the game. Kitching Richardson Kioso Raynes Anderson Donaldson Molyneux Cassidy Hawkes Kamaba. Almost all of them have started less than 50 games for Pools. We have a cleared out every season and nothing changes the players come in and look good for a week or two then start going backwards. About time questions were asked about the people doing the hiring and fireing and the coaching and fitness staff from the bottom up. Too easy just to blame Featherstone for all our problems we lost just about every game he didn't play in anyway when Maguire and Hignett get a free pass. Funny how lots of these rubbish players we cleared out are playing in the FL these days. Most of the players are trying they just don't seem to now what there job is. Probably get called a moron again by PJ now.

What raj said was his reason for sacking bates was a Director said we are sleep walking into relegation how ever now time has moved on and on that basis of the decision taken has not as yet solved the issue in hand the thought of relegation.
I for one would like to say thanks to matty bates for getting us as many points as he did including winning at solihull how he did that with these players just goes to show we did not give him as much credit he deserved.

Pretty much spot on FPA.

When have I called you or anyone a moron? I will give you a clue I haven’t so give it as rest.

Why did we clear out those players playing in the Football League now and what did that to do with Hignett and Maguire who have been at the club for six months?

It’s like Gary Coxall has come and erased your memories with one of them sticks off Men in Black. Have you forgotten about us being on the verge liquidation 12 months ago? Do you think that has had no long term impact on the club?

I said a few weeks ago that I thought Money will walk and I still think that.
He is sounding very negative and he is also criticising players in public. His criticisms are very fair but people in the game who have a far bigger postage stamp than me always insist that criticising players in public has no future.
It is only right that any new manager should be given a chance but Mr Money isn't doing himself any favours with his tinkering, team selections and comments.
I'm expecting expecting one of those "it hasn't worked out statements" followed by both parties deciding a change is needed.
I think it is a sad state of affairs when public criticisms of fans and players take place.
800 fans present on Saturday and God knows how many others from around the World witnessed Saturday's debacle and I'm afraid what happened cannot be glossed over.
I don't think Raj will allow it to continue much longer.
As far as I am concerned, everybody involved in running the club or playing for it is under scrutiny.
Next season our finances and revenue will take a hit from loss of parachute payments etc., not to mention the reduction in ST revenue if things continue as they are.
Given the circumstances which we are in, there is a colossal mountain to be climbed if we are ever to get back to league two and I'm more and more seeing that possibility receding into the distance.
Somebody needs to get a grip.

PJ you said I was moronic for saying Money could get the sack if he lost the Braintree game but Money has said it himself today so he must be a moron as well. Not the first time you have called me moronic on here or took the pish.
If you think Maguire has only been at the club six months then it just proves how clueless you are same as when you said Pools lost seven in a row before Money took over. You think watching two games a season on the box makes you an expert. Try to check your FACTS before spouting off. Agree with derwent EVERYBODY at the club should come under the spotlight not just Faetherstone and Magnay who PJ will probably blame for Brexit next.

I am not even going to rise most of that to be honest you clearly aren't worth the time and effort. I've been a Pools fan for over 30 years I think I'm still allowed to comment even though my personal circumstances have changed temporally it doesn't mean I care less about the club. It's a cheap shot.

As for checking facts I said we lost 7 of the 8 league games before Money took over including 7 straight losses;

Sutton L 2-3
Wrexham L 0-1
Bromley L 0-4
Barnet L 1-3
Dover L 1-2
Flyde L 1-2
Dagenham L 1-2
Maidenhead W 1-0

Checked

Mcguire has been here sligthly shy of eight months he was appointed at the back end of May last year so a bit more than six months. But it makes the point no less valid that he had nothing to do with previous fire sales that has left the squad in the state it is. It's not the current set ups fault we are in this position, this season was always likely to provide plenty of challenges an example of one was given when they had to pay an £80,000 VAT bill that the cowboys didn't on season ticket sales from two years ago. I imagine that is merely the tip of the Iceberg.

Maguire has been working at the club long before Singh and Co arrived. So not six months. Or 8 months. Have another guess how long and who brought him in the first place.
How many of the players that ended the game on Saturday have been here more than 2 years ? You seem to be happy to blame them. Clear another lot players out bring another lot in the PJ strategy for success. We have done that 5 seasons running and hasnt helped. Higenett been here 3 times.

Maguire was at Chester for most of last season Singh’s takeaway got the green light on April 20th Macguire was employed by Pools on May 23rd.

Either way he can’t be blamed for stuff that has gone on before.

I’m sorry for saying Magnay and Featherstone were shit on Saturday, they were brilliant I take it all back.

Freudian slip sorry, Raj might have had a takeaway that night though with it having been a busy day with the takeover.

Ron Harnish is looking well, Loach dived the right way for the penalty for a change and a decent strike from Rakish Kabamba

Interesting read here - conflicting views and so I'll say no more......http://www.devachat.com/index.php?showtopic=84645

50k nice work if you can get it. Like everyone else Maguire needs to start delivering, talk is cheap, and I see little real change around the ground or in terms of sponsorship etc

Whatever else Raj Singh may be, he's a successful business man so if Maguire's salary (whatever it might be) doesn't represent value for money he'll be on his way.

I've never seen any figures for commercial income year on year at Pools (sorry, that should just read "I've never seen any figures...) so I'm not sure how us fans are supposed to judge how effective he's been on that front?

My matchday experience (card reader -check, gates manned and open - check, programmes on sale -check) is ok. If the area under the Millhouse wasn't a freezing barn I'd be more inclined to buy a half-time pint, but only been waiting 40 year for that one so there's no rush!

Wrong again. Maguire was here strait after he left Chester and brought in by Pam Duxbury. Singh kept him on as he did with some of the coaches that had been working for nothing. This was said by Maguire in front of everyone at the Open Meeting at the Clippy Club when he said he was shocked to be kept on and he talked a lot about his dealings with Pam . He will have done most of the contracts for the players on the pitch the last few games and hired both Bates and Money. Been here 12 months. FACT ! Him and Hignett will be on good money I bet.

The new bar "Under Millhouse" plans now made public.

Again though, what difference does this make to the current situation even if he was at the club on a voluntary basis earlier?

The damage was already done 12 months ago. How can he be held accountable for the mess?

Whatever Hignett are and him are being paid I bet it doesn’t get close to what Goldberg and Coxall paid themselves they are why we are here, they are why Pam Duxbury ended up here they are why we nearly went out of business they are why we lost our place in the Football League. It’s like people have forgotten all about that small detail. At least Hignett and Maguire are being paid by people who have put money into the club.

Unless we were bought by someone with enough money to bankroll the club this was never getting sorted overnight.

All Pools have done is re-arrange their debts, a bit like you and I taking out an IVA, then going down to Wetherspoons with a wad of cash, giving it large, until ……...

For some reason, Maguire reminds me of Martin Bain who was at Sunderland. Talks a very good game about getting the ground up to shape etc etc. Maybe I’m being harsh but we’ve seen no real progress in the time he’s been here. As for Hignett, if he doesn’t want the managers job then he needs to get the fuck out the dugout and back into the stand. Money may have asked him to be there but Hignett should be saying no. It surely can’t help the players, who at best are very limited, having two or three different sets of instructions being shouted at them.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Again, I spent the full 90 minutes stood behind the dugouts (someone who went to the bog missed about 15 minutes of the game because, according to him, there were only 4 urinals for a stand for 800 people) and that DID NOT happen.

Beyond that, I'm struggling to imagine why anyone would think Richard Money would tolerate somebody in the dugout openly contradicting him during a match. There'd have been a fist fight FFS. Very undignified between two old codgers like him and Ged!

I believe you Mr Dawes. I can't believe this could happen either, even by the low standards of Pools. Its scary if people are seeing possibly two of the management team for a brief second shouting instructions at the same time, then turning it into this something and nothing