Joins from Blackburn.

On loan maybe as cover for Featherstone?

Good signing. Somebody who can put his foot in in midfield is just what Pools need. Can see him playing a big part in the rest of the season.

Sounds okay to me, similar background to Armstrong, played in same boys club, played for Gateshead in this league. Also played 18 games for title winning Barrow last season, and league 1 experience this season with Bolton, his CV reads very well, the type of player you wouldn't expect us to get , maybe the pandemic actually works in our favour, with NE lads who are not getting games in other parts of the country, seeing a loan with us as a chance to be nearer home whilst in lockdown.

Excuse my ignorance , I forgot , Bolton now in league 2

Think its one of those, too good to pass up sort of signings, we have Crawford as cover for Featherstone, but with a lot of games coming up.... We have a big squad, but so many players seem totally out of the picture

Maybe with Featherstone injured and Holohan and Molyneux suspended we need the cover short term.

Clearly DC thinks so. Is Featherstone injured? I know he was a doubt for the game this weekend. Players are always going to be injured or suspended, in that respect we have been lucky so far this season, just seems a bit luxurious with players already at the club who could cover any of the 3 players you mention. I reckon if Featherstones knee is playing up, DC is maybe preempting a more serious injury further down the line, so might be thinking of resting him, rather than him playing through the pain barrier.

Yeah, my thinking too.

seems a far better signing than we got used to at one time. he is certainly needed. putting a team out without those three midfielders no matter what some think of em is quite frightening. no real natural replacements for any that you could really rely upon. we,d have to suffer donaldson starting a game.

Donaldson ! I had forgot about him

Looks a decent signing to me. I wonder if Magliore had any influence. I suspect Armstrong certainly had. Promising.

thats true that. word gets around the game on which clubs are the ones to avoid and the opposite. at least most get a chance with challinor no matter what we think of the player ourselves.

Like Joe Grey

even a young kid like he is has had a chance. the arguement about him is that he should or should not have had more of a chance. i for one would like to see a bit more of him but hopefully his time will come in a pools shirt but he may have to wait till next season.

I too would like to see a bit more but Challinor will have his reasons. No idea what the reasons are but I believe in the saying "if you are good enough, you are old enough. The cameos Grey has had he hasn't stood out but he hasn't disappointed either. Who knows ??

A chance IMO , is at least starting 4 games in a row, he hasn't. He impressed in cameo's initially but agree he hasn't lately, maybe that's because his confidence has taken a blow because he wasn't given a chance? who knows? he will need to have the strength to overcome this, if indeed that is a problem , but I would hate to see an obvious talent go to waste. This wrapping up in cotton wool of young players at Pools is such a load of bollocks. If DC has his reasons I will like to hear him tell us what they are.

agree about that but at the moment is he good enough for the starting 11. if DC gives him a game and does get a real going over by an opponent who has been in the game for years it would show us anyway if he has the heart as well as the ability for the game. if he is never allowed a kick in anger he might as well leave and try his luck somewhere else.

It's pretty clear that Dave Challinor started the season with more inexperienced players than he wanted. Whether fans agree with him or not, he's been saying since the start of the season that Joe Grey is 'one for the future.' The only surprise is that Joe wasn't shipped out on loan in October like Brad Young and Aaron Cunningham.

Since the season started and a bit of success on the field loosened the purse strings, he's gone for experience or lads in their early 20s with a decent Academy pedigree. Up front, he persisted with Rhys Oates and Mason Bloomfield when they weren't really doing it in the pitch, but both have since shown that they are definite assets at this level. To be honest, I don't think there was ever a chance that Joe Grey was going to get an extended run in the side. He's still got a teenager's physique, and it's not how Challinor sees the requirements of the National League. To be fair, he knows enough about how to be successful at this level to trust his own judgement.

Maybe he has a teenagers physique, because he is a teenager. If that is the excuse I expect DC to have him in the gym on the weights. In today's game being pumped up isn't as important as is used to be. One of the things I like about DC is he trusts his own judgement, he gets a living out of the game, so I expect him to know more than me, and I think he does, if only a little bit more. As well as Grey I don't really think he has given Bloomfield a decent run either, in my view he has potential and I hope we don't release him at the end of the season. Clubs like Hartlepool don't have futures, they have to act in the here and now. I fear he will become yet another wasted talent, and it is strange that he hasn't been loaned out, which any manager worth his salt would know that would be the best thing to do with a " one for the future " type of player.

Playing featherstone and Donaldson in the same team has been a disaster, it’s no surprise since Donaldson has left the team, we have consistently had better results.

Joe Grey is only 17. Plenty of time for him. There won’t be many 17 year olds playing regularly in this league. Just had a look and he has played in 9 games this season so he is doing well to be getting that many opportunities albeit not many minutes but it’s all experience. Who would you play him instead of?
Even Phil Foden hasn’t been playing regularly until this season and he is a possible England starter now. Think people base young players on Rooney but he was a freak of nature.

I would have played him at the start of the season, so it wouldn't have been instead of anyone. Of the team as it is now, I would play him instead of Oates, but then I would play Bloomfield instead of Oates as well.

Why look at what other clubs are doing? can we not be the first or only club to do something , like play a 17 year old.

Keith Houchen wasn't a freak of nature, nor Adam Boyd, nor Rob Earnshaw who I remember scoring at the Vic for Cardiff as a young kid.

I am firmly in the if he is good enough he is old enough camp but we will never know if Grey is good enough until we give him a run of games, not 20 mins here and there, if we can't do that then he should be at least loaned out to get him some game time. This inactivity could harm his development. At least this time last year he was getting games for the youth team

Agree with you completely Horden. Young Grey might think hang on I don't want to hang on here and somebody else reaps the benefit away from The Vic. This lad showed flashes of wanting to run through mid field and have a go. I reckon stick him with Holohan and we might see more drive in midfield. If he fades well OK there are plenty of subs. I am wondering how long big Mason is going to put up with being just a sub? And can anybody tell me what's happened to Claudio Ofosu?

[quote="horden"]Maybe he has a teenagers physique, because he is a teenager. If that is the excuse I expect DC to have him in the gym on the weights. In today's game being pumped up isn't as important as is used to be.
rather someone like him than going down the mid 90,s notts county line with their kids. they were built more like young rugby players and as a team they were quite succesful. got on quite well with their gobby youth team manager when i officiated in their league. i mentioned the size of their lads which he replied with a grin. non of em will make it but they keep me in a job for another couple of years.

Really hope the game goes ahead so we can concentrate on what the team actually does on the pitch. Plenty of opportunity to pick Challinor's team for him if Pools draw or get beat!

Rhys Oates' goals and assists are a big reason why Pools have won 5 of the 8 games played in the last 2 months. In that time he's scored as many as Armstrong - 4 apiece. If and when he is injured or dropped what he brings to the team - running hard at opposition defences with the ball at his feet - will be a miss because nobody else in the squad is that type of player.

Bloomfield, Grey and the rest will get more chances when Pools get back to playing every 3-4 days, week in week out, though that might not happen for a bit yet with the winter we're having.

Oates has been really good like what I kept saying he would be as he is my favourite player and I love him. He’s got a great attitude and his play has improved as he has grown in confidence. Grey has potential but isn’t fully developed yet. He contributed early on yes but when we hit that rough patch he didn’t get the ball with as much time and space and got knocked off it a few times which frustrated him. He needs game time somewhere but is a useful sub if we are winning. I like featherstone obviously and the centre back too. I can’t quite understand the outpouring of love for Ferguson mind. I’d like to see a bit more quality from him in his delivery, so I love him slightly less at the moment. Similar with Crawford and Shelton. To some extent Holohan. But i still love em you know. Good team spirit at the moment.

Agree, the form of Oates has probably put paid to any chance he had of starting this season. I hope in the meantime though he doesn't get too downhearted , as we saw with Hawkes and Simpson in their dying days at Pools. I actually think in some games Grey would provide more of a threat than Oates, but thats for DC to decide.

For Ofusu read Niko Muir. I'm guessing probably only the pandemic keeping him from leaving the club. Poor signing IMO anyway. I see potential in Bloomfield and think it would be a mistake to get rid of him at the end of the season, shame we haven't a Pop Robson on the coaching side.

just cannot see the point really of getting rid of him or any other player for that matter just to sign a replacement of a similar standard who may end up worse. all signings are gambles and at times you might as well give someone another year that knows the club.

Speaking of Josh Hawkes, he hasn't made any sort of breakthrough yet at Sunderland. Pretty much a regular in the U-23 side and 1 appearance back in November in the group stage of the EFL trophy. I imagine he's got another year on his contract so there's still time, but in general Pools fans have a tendency to overestimate the potential of youth team players from the area who break into the first team.

Off the top of my head I can't think of anyone in the last 20 years - Luke James included - who has gone on to prove themselves at a higher level than they were playing at Pools.

It could be over estimation or it could be Pools destroying them. Many youngsters like James end up at Pools having been knocked back by bigger clubs , and even then many fail to cut the mustard, but ones like Hawkes, Simpson and Grey stood out for me, and I truly believe if they had started out at another club , lets say for example Accrington, they would've done a lot better. Poor management, poor coaching, the club not having a plan regarding progression of young players ( apart from wanting to sell them ) have all played there part.

Going back years now Jonny Rowell wasn't given a chance, and he ended up having to move abroad, for a time playing in Belgian top division and Jonny Maxted now a League 1 keeper, never got a look in at Pools.

Maxted is probably a bad example as a young back up keeper to Scott Flinders here for one year who was then released and replaced by Carson & Bartlett who weren’t bad at all. Other than that I reckon you are spot on. It can’t be a coincidence that there a fair few players that succeed elsewhere after looking absolutely turgid for us.

Notice town lad Harry Chapman got MOM for Shrewsbury last night as they beat Sunderland 2-1, another player who will probably return to the NE to remind teams that they've let one slip through the net.

Jonny Rowell is a good shout, the exception that proves the rule? Maxted doesn't count, he was a youth team player with Doncaster Rovers and didn't join Pools till he was in his 20s.

Pools have had 15 managers so far this millennium, not counting caretakers and several different owners, so the idea that Pools have been ruining young players that whole time is a stretch. Ironically, Danny Wilson was the manager most of the time that Rowell was at the club.

I will give you Maxted I never said they had been ruining players the whole time, just some players , some of the time. At the end of the day we haven't had many good young players to ruin, but IMO Simpson, Rowell, Hawkes, Murphy and now Grey were mis-managed. I like Danny Willson, probably our best ever manager, but all managers, even the good ones, make mistakes. We will never know if these players could've been better, they may not have been , but my gripe is , we never gave them a chance to prove it.

[quote="Flying Hogans"]

Pools have had 15 managers so far this millennium, not counting caretakers and several different owners, so the idea that Pools have been ruining young players that whole time is a stretch.
not really as different managers have different priorities no matter who are in change of the youth systems. some like the idea of promoting youth, they get the boot to be replaced by one with no interest whatsoever in this part of the club. do not know if this has happened at pools but its a distinct possibility with our manager turnover as well as the variety of owners involved. not convinced which is the way forward for clubs like pools as both ways have their faults and problems.

Chapman never slipped through the net, we didnt ever have him in our net or even stood a chance, he was just too good. He signed for boros youth team as most decent players do as its shitt hot and produces good local talent.

Let’s be honest he is only at Shrewsbury 17th in lea

Honestly I'm still struggling to understand what you mean by 'ruined.' The players you mention are all still in football. Jonny Rowell has had a terrific career in Belgium, all down to him for having the nous to take a chance on going there. Josh Hawkes got his move to Sunderland U-23s.

I agree Connor Simpson looked like a prospect and Harrison might have given him more opportunities. Preston paid money for him, but most of the time he was with them he was out on loan, at Hyde, Carlisle and Accrington Stanley. Since they released him last summer he's had a couple of months at Cork City, went to Scarborough Athletic to 'put himself back in the shop window' and turned out for Norwich City U-23s at the beginning of this month. He's played for 8 clubs in 3 years and is still only 21! Good luck to the lad, but he's not exactly been pulling up any trees since he left Pools - he's only scored twice at any level above the Northern Premier League.

Luca Murphy is still at Fulham and a regular in their U-23s, which is good going for a 19 year old. He looks to be the one most likely to succeed - but he turned down a contract at Pools as a 17 year old, when Fulham were able to nick him from us without paying any compensation. Don't think the club could do anything about that situation.

As for Joe Grey, he's getting more game time than Connor Simpson ever did when he was his age. He needs to take his chances when he gets them to press for a start.

Was meaning Boro's net not ours, although it would be nice to have got him early.

think he has taken his chances due to the fact that he does get involved in most of the games he has played in. this can be the hardest task for young players who come on. they can be totally anonymous at times.

Connor Simpson took his chance, the for whatever reason then got frozen out. Difficult for young Joe to come on for last 20 minutes and break his duck. As you allude to though , he is often in the right place to score, which is a good sign. Luckily we are going okay in the league, so a good impact player to bring on, whether wanting to win a game or see a game out.

He should've been given a run of games from the start, he wasn't , we move on, hopefully there will be no lasting damage.

on what he showd i,d agree. however we do not know joe and DC will or should know how the lad ticks. starting him and bringing him off either tactically or because he is having a quiet game could kill the lads confidence if he is a bit like that. he is a teenager and even lads who have been around for a while can be fragile in this department.