Some people seem to think the Wrexham takeover is a done deal. It's been a fortnight since the media story broke. Wrexham fans are already getting twitchy about whether it will ever happen: http://www.redpassion.co.uk/forums/wrexham/116290-takeover-update-10.html

plus the ones like noble who gave the impression of being some gift from the gods.

i liked Noble me like. Arrogance generally comes as part and parcel of being a good player. Forgot to mention Rob Jones on the original list

This has been a fault for years at Pools if you look back there are numerous. Probably the worst for me was many years ago Tommy Gibb, even more recently Solano I could go on and on. Who was that left back from Newcastle a few years ago?

Robbie Elliot?

Tommy Gibb , giving your age away there Johnjo. We signed a shed load of oldies that season, 77/78 Gibb, McMordie, Downing, Malone . hardly surprising we finished bottom 4.

Funny how the mind plays tricks on you though, I would never have guessed Gibb and Downing played 47 games each that season, Malone 37 and McMordie 27.

Remember Dean Gibb late 80's.
Said he had ambitions of playing for England in the
Italia 90 World Cup.

Think he ended up back at Brandon or sum otha northern league team within a year.

McMordie came in the back end of the previous season. He still had a bit of quality on the ball and I enjoyed watching him, but his legs had gone.

77/78 was a strange season even by Hartlepool's standards. We had a decent attack: Malcolm Poskett (for most of the season), Bob Newton, Paul Bielby, and Keith Houchen coming in and scoring his first goals for the club. We did a very enjoyable double over Darlington and best of all, Newton's brace to beat Crystal Palace in the FA Cup 3rd Round. Pools were 91st in the Football League at the time, but I went down to Bobby Robson's Ipswich for the 4th Round half-believing we might actually get a result!

BTW, I haven't got a photographic memory either. What a brilliant resource In The Mad Crowd continues to be - bang up to date for this season too, which is handy when the OS is still carrying last year's team photo and squad profiles

Despite the bottom 4 finish , the 77/78 season was one of the most exciting following Pools, 5 seasons worth of trials and tribulations in one, never a dull moment. Some great football was played at times. Another old timer from that season, George Smith, great old pro, playing the role of sweeper.

Here's your answer, on the OS now:

'Dave Challinor says “This is a fantastic achievement, without which we would not have been able to bring in the recent loan signings of David Parkhouse, Henrich Ravas and Lewis Carr to strengthen our squad in the week before the start of the season. A massive thank you to everyone who donated.”'

So helping pay the wages of loan players?

One week of the season in already Challinor has mentioned other teams budgets compared to ours. A squad already depleted and money all used up apparently. How long before Challinor thinks I'm going to a club with a bit of money? Two wins have hidden the fact that Challinor has an almost impossible task with the paltry budget he has.

Inclined to agree. I have said many times before that I think as this season goes on , things will fall apart/implode. Everything looks rosy at the moment, but then it often does early doors.

Paying the wages of players we wouldn’t have got without boost the budget. That was the idea surely.

He's got a squad of 20, which is what he wanted, and has already let Aaron Cunningham go out on a season long loan to Blyth.

The NL fixtures are packed in even tighter than usual this year because of the late start. NL clubs are allowed to have up to 5 loan signings on a team sheet for any game, so if the situation gets sticky at any point with injuries and suspensions I've no doubt the manager will use the loan system again.

Others can believe he won't get the chance if they want - we won't know either way till the situation arises.

A bigger budget doesn't always mean success.
Fairly happy with the squad DC has put together.
Surely it's decent enuf to have a good go at making the top 7 in a relatively much of a muchness poor standard division.
Early days to get carried away but hopefully the acceptance of finishing mid table n just surviving in a piss poor division is history.
The only way is up .
UTP.

Well put Kevin but there you go the usual suspects full of doom before we get started.

We've made wholesale changes to our squad from last season, I think for the better, yet look at Chesterfield, a big club at this level, still plodding along with Denton and Boden up front, same as last season where they were lucky not to be relegated, 5th bottom I think.

I know who's shoes I'd rather be in.

The usual suspects usually call it right, though. Never ceases to amaze me , how on here, 90 per cent every season predict we will either go up automatically or get to the play offs, only to be made fools of, yet they carry on making the same mistake ,it must be a football supporter thing. It seems whoever we sign they would say the same thing,

Things have improved and under DC we have our best chance of promotion since we dropped down to the NL, I think most believe that, so called doom and gloomers, and obviously as mentioned above the happy clapper, deluded, head in the sand brigade. The only worry people have is about the situation off the field impacting on the things off the field, no one is complaining about the squad DC has assembled , save except for the signing of Liddle and Rhys Oates , but ithere is always going to ba a player that some fans wonder their club signed him.

Chesterfield surprise me, I thought they wouldve smashed it by now, seems more likely that they need to go down again before they mount a comeback, but when they do, I bet in 5 years time they will be in a better place than us. For now it may look better being in our shoes, but in the long term .... and look at that ground man

lots of clubs with new grounds seem to get a short time boost from them. chesterfield did with promotion to div.1 and the play offs. since then its been gloom and doom there with one relagation after another with underperforming managers and squads. bit different to their nearish neighbours at rotherham and doncaster. two similar sized clubs who have had their own off field problems over the years.

In all my years supporting Pools (71) I have never said at the beginning of a season we would get promotion etc. Hoped for, yes, but I suppose I’m a bit of a pessimist I seem to look at how far from relegation that’s what I’m used to following Pools all this time.
Will we get promotion this year, I don’t know because I don’t know the strength of other teams yet. What I do expect that the teams with the biggest budgets will be up there and from what I can gather is that Pools are mid table in that respect.

You would think those with the biggest budgets would be up there, but no one really knows who has what to spend do they , and if what they are spending is actual income or taking on of debt.

trouble with all non league football is that there is not much continuaty goes on. more or less a different team at every club. there is a possibility of those with big budgets not being as careful with their money as those with the smaller ones. remember luton with their crowds and budgets should not have been down at the national league level as long as they were. if pools are there or thereabouts come january that is where a cash injection is really important to give you the edge for a final push.