Give us some names, In 49 years of following the club, I have never met anyone like that.

What I have met though , are lots of supporters who lack ambition, who don't challenge the club enough and hold them to account, who really should want a little more in the way of success on the field for their efforts and financial contribution.

Sadly most of our fans just don't get it and I suspect never will.

I don’t know how you think you’re in a position to say that horden. It’s optimism that keeps fans coming back, despite the disappointments over decades. It’s called support, not blind faith. Just because some don’t want to stand hand on hips foot tapping and nodding finding the negatives in any way we can after every game doesn’t mean that we lack ambition or that we dont want the best for the club. You can have your opinions obviously that’s fine, but I don’t think they will be held by the majority of fans. If you post on a message board you might well get a contradictory position from someone. Thats not patronising in any way it’s to be expected. Some of us are happy giving money to the club, buying stuff from the shop and putting our faith in the chairman, manager and players. That doesn’t make us foolish or naive. If we’re wrong in the end we can live with it I’m sure. If we don’t get promoted this year we’ll still be here and so will you I expect, unless the lackadaisical attitude from the majority of fans is too much to bear.

Well said Double Figures that’s what I was trying to say you are speaking for the vast majority of fans.

[quote="Double Figures"] It’s optimism that keeps fans coming back, despite the disappointments over decades. It’s called support, not blind faith.
if you looked at things and did not actually support pools you,d have walked away years ago. its the support that makes you appreciate the good days more than fans at a lot of other clubs when we all know deep in our hearts that it will not last. at the moment even with the present squad its the best one assembled in non league football we have had. the thing is that its only still a basic team that does need at least two additions. will challinor be allowed to bring in players we actually need and not his second or third choices is another matter. without any faith and hope as fans we are doomed anyway and might as well pack it in and find someone else.

Sorry I don't agree, I'm like Mr.Horden, if you have a business and it's doing okay you don't just let it muddle along in the same mode, you look at it objectively and see which parts can be improved on, some fans on here think that picking up on the negatives after a result, whether that be a victory, draw or defeat is seen as a negative, I don't see it that way, it's devoted fans striving to see their team become stronger and achieve better.

Whether people in a position at the club choose to notice that or not is beyond our control, but it creates debate and this site would be a whole lot more tedious if everyone just sat back and nodded agreeingly.

To get out of this league we need to be at our very best, that means just one weak link or area in the team will cost you dearly at the end of the season. Why should fans opinions not be considered, My view has always been that some fans are better at pointing out these failings than those in a position to do something about it.
Want I can't understand are the happy, clappy fans who always think everything is rosy in the garden, I will always give praise where it due, but if we win 4-0 why should you not wish that it had been 6-0, aim high and hope to get higher, don't settle for mediocrity, it's the only way you will taste success.

It is always like this as we get "nearer". We sense there is something about to happen and are terrified of it being derailed. If only we had this or that.
I have been in that situation since I first walked into the VIC in August 1952 and every August since I have had the buzz of expectation. I have witnessed all the ups and downs the club and it's fans have gone through.
I am still there after 68 years and after all the roller coaster rides I have been through in those years I still build up me hopes when we start well and get the "this is it" feeling.
More often than not, nay far more often than not, nothing happens.
I think looking for improvement is natural positivity. That little bit extra can often be the final piece of the jigsaw, that's what I'm looking for.
I don't mind a club like ours standing still in Div 1 or even yo yo-ing between 1 and 2 but I'm never going to be happy standing still in the non league structure.

or eventually getting a generation of fans coming through who cannot remember league football like gateshead and workington and like gateshead yo yo ing between 2 non league structures. however just because we are non league it does not mean that all games are crap. even the harrison sides games were no worse than the dross served up with dave jones.

Fan sites thrive on debate and disagreement; it only turns sour when personal abuse becomes a big feature. Not agreeing with someone else's opinion is no big deal, or shouldn't be. From what I've seen of other clubs' sites as well as this one, 'doom mongers' v 'happy, clappy fans' is the normal state of affairs.

I started watching Pools in the late 60s when Gus McLean was manager and have counted myself a Pools fan since Len Ashurst was in charge. In the neck end of 50 seasons Pools have had 10 or 12 good ones. I know exactly where the pessimistic outlook of a lot of long-term Poolies comes from, but speaking for myself I'd have given up watching long ago if it wasn't in my nature to focus on the positives. It doesn't make me or people like me blind to weaknesses on and off the pitch, just not so inclined to dwell on them as folk who think they are realists not doom mongers.

Some games are exciting at any level.
In Matt Busby's memoirs he wrote that the FA Cup third round fixture between Pools and Man Utd was the most exciting game he had ever watched. However his side were the victors. I wonder what he would have said if we had scored the last goal.

Totally spot on. Some fans were calling people idiots and knowing nothing about the game on other media sites because one or two dare suggested we really should be beating Altrincham. If we have any hope of regaining football league status, then we really need to start doing this. Whether were unbeaten or not.

We certainly have no right to turn up and just beat these teams but if you want to improve,standards should be high.

Raj Singh only said last night the club is geared for league 1. Not sure exactly how? When we have run out of money in october in the conference, but if he believes, it then the only way to get there is to win games consistently against lesser teams.

We have loads of fans patting raj on the back for turning this takeover down, they wont be so thankful if these two Americans plough massive amounts of money into Wrexham while we struggle for a central defender and forward.

I'm neither a pessimist nor an optimist when it comes to Pools but vary between the two.
Every August I'm an optimist, as I've said, but by May (or even earlier !) my optimism has been kicked out of me. Apart from, as you say, the 10 or 12 seasons where we have fared better.
It's in my nature to focus on the positives as well believe it or not. It is being extremely positive to identify the negatives in order to effect improvement and therefore increase the positives. It is a matter of interpretation. I'm at my happiest when negatives are kept to a minimum.
In football when it is said " there were a lot of positives for us in that game" it is usually by people who have just lost or dropped points.
I agree with your comments on debate and discussion and that it is so much better without the abuse. Long may it continue.

Derwent, like me, remembers watching a football league club that ran the Busby Babes close and find it hard to accept that we belong in the non-league wilderness.
As for being negative because one comments on weakness or poor play, I prefer to think of it as suggestions as to how we could or need to improve. I was unhappy and moaned that Ferguson didn't hit the target with a header in the 6-0 win because unfortunately, we are over-dependent on midfielders and occasionally defenders scoring in many games. Despite a clean sheet in the Ilkeston cup game, I do not think that it was unreasonable to comment about how much space and freedom they had down our left flank. If that is negativity, I admit to being negative!

Sorry meant Featherstone.

Disappointing result is an understatement.
Gone back to hopeing for wins instead of expecting them.
That didn't last long.

Torquay game should IMO give us a marker of how the season will pan out.
What will be will be.
Hopeing we win sat/Tues to go back to top of non league's premiership.

[quote="Flying Hogans"]

Fan sites thrive on debate and disagreement; it only turns sour when personal abuse becomes a big feature. Not agreeing with someone else's opinion is no big deal, or shouldn't be. From what I've seen of other clubs' sites as well as this one, 'doom mongers' v 'happy, clappy fans' is the normal state of affairs.


the problem nowadays is really you cannot have debates, disagreements about anything. it always seems to end up an arguement and personal attacks on folk especially if the subject is slipping away from them. if you feel a certain way and sensibly state your case you,ll still be regarded as some ist, ic by others. all clubs sites are getting closer and closer to kids in the playground at times.

Thomas is signing for Hamilton Accies according to Sky Sports.

Great post ! and spot on

That’s where we’ve being wrong since 1908 then!

More or less. Have a look in our trophy cabinet (that's if we have one) if you don't believe me.