So in reality, you don’t know, just supposition and innuendo again.

Spot on, these tactics that we are employing are dreadful, could maybe understand it from January onward when we sign two 7 footers, we have totally taken Sterry and Ferguson out of the game, two of our better players, totally criminal that. All of a sudden Cullen isn't getting a sniff now. The last three games have been shocking, continue playing like that we will be in a relegation fight. Thank God Boro are now saying we aren't at the front of the queue, I thought we had some sort of great recruitment guy now in place, time to earn his money.

In fact it's now time for the whole club to step up to the plate and prove they are worthy to be at a club, that takes 1000 fans half way down the country and well over 5000 average gates sitting 15th in league 2. I'm not sure fans will accept non league standards for too much longer, which has run through the club for too long.

Unfortunately crowds have nothing to do with it, hence why FGR are by far the best side in the league.

We've got less of a budget then Spenny.

Mr Pooly Imp, can you tell us what Pools playing budget is ???

Can you? Can anyone? Do you mean that all the millions of people around the globe talking about football, discussing the future of their clubs are just looking at what goes on and just making an assessment? Do you mean when they are talking about who has what size budget that all they are doing is looking at what players their clubs are signing? All these football forums are a sham. Shut em all down. I bet they all contain criticism of players managers and owners too. Imagine if any of them read some of that criticism. There would be hell on.

What we do know is we are spending similar amounts to that football giant known as Morcambe, who along with Accrington are probobly the smallest club in the football league.

imp......more incoherent BS.....

Maybe you need some smaller words?

billingham.....read and reflect....https://worldfootballindex.com/2020/12/ ... cup-covid/

imp.....mmmm....sorry but no big words in your post that i can see to test me mate ...maybe you point just one of your big words out to me pal ......and i'll tell you if im struggling with understanding it like...

No I can't but that is why I never pretend I know, unlike people like you who speculate on the subject.
What is the point of all these accusations and assumptions.
What would you say if Raj turned round and said he's had enough of being portrayed as a cheapskate and pulled the plug. I am beginning to think that is what you really want.

Can't talk about owt of you apply that kind of logic.

You can talk about anything you like, nobody is stopping you, but others are entitled to question anything you say or give an opinion on it. Or are you suggesting you should have carte blanche to say what you like without question??

That's good to know, regardless of how thin skinned or not people are who might cast their eyes upon the Bunker and find themselves being discussed.

Personally, I think January will show what kind of future RS has in mind for us mere survival or to challenge. We've already seen some bargain basement transfer business so Im hoping for some proper signings, not more disappointing loans. We've had cash come in so it's a reasonable expectation. The management team was the cheap option, the gamble option. I really want it to pay off but that is what it was. I'm hoping our transfer business is a little different.

Exactly, no one knows. So how can you continue to assume your speculation to be fact. Thinking or guessing such scenarios is just that...imagination. You ‘may’ be right, but I like solid facts, not flavour of the month suspicions before I order the fleet to sea.

So which management team was the dearer option and how much was the difference????

I don't know, I thought this was a discussion forum? Who do you think might have had a proven and relatively recent track record of success at this general level of football? Might that have made them a relatively safer option? And with that kind of CV, might that have made them a more expensive option?

Pretty sure Lee will have been on decent money at Boro, can't imagine a big club like that paying peanuts even for an u23 manager. I'm pretty sure he won't have been first choice but he is obviously desperate for this opportunity which can only be a good thing. Every interview he mentions what players aren't doing, so maybe its the players making the easy option of hitting it long,just a thought! Doubt any manager puts a team out to play shit. So let's see what happens in January and what type of players he can get in.

You said and I quote " the management team was the cheap option" . That is a statement not discussion. Can you not see the difference.
I have no idea what happened and I don't think you do either.
You're writing your thoughts in a manner which gives the impression you know something which then leads people to ask where you got your information from when in fact your comments are just your opinion.

Do you need me to put a mandatory caveat on everything I say? Its a bit much to be fair. Or just the things you think might make Raj take his ball home?

Not really but you need to clarify what is opinion and what is fact.
When you say Raj took the cheap option that sounds factual which begs the question how do you know that, whereas if you say I think Raj is looking after the pennies and I would like him to splash more cash, then that is opinion and attracts discussion.

Well it certainly wasn't the expensive option was it?

Spike needs to be backed in the transfer window. He should be given a proper chance. Even DC would have needed to sign players.

Of course he has to, to get you to actually respond to your financial fantasy hallucinations.
As for the usual last resort line, supposing Raj just got sick of illiterate woodpeckers constantly sniping away an walked, would YOU be stepping in with your pocket money to save the day.......? ...... no, of course not, it’s just a silly game to you.

We are 5 times the size of Accrington though, i get all this surviving through covid i do, but why do we seem to be one of the ones struggling the most, we don't appear to be able to cope with hardly any other club in this league for wages, in January you can bet your bottom dollar if we are up against any club in this league for a player he won't be coming to us. If we were pulling in 2 k crowds knocked out of all cups, hadn't sold anyone or got a sponsorship deal championship clubs be envious off, I'd have more sympathy towards Raj, my feeling is he has totally cut off the money going towards the team this season, maybe January he will change my mind. The end of the day if raj doesn't wanna spend money on the team that's his choice, he has done a lot of good stuff in his few years here, but to me and I'm sure a load of other fans I think we have missed a huge opportunity this year.

Fair one Snowy but next time you call out any players for having a bad game YOU can pull on a shirt and get out there yourself.

How do you know it wasn't????

It might have been the cheapest option, the most expensive option or even the only option. Unless you know the full facts the one you pick is only speculative or a guess. Anybody who categorically states which one it is gives the impression that he/she is in the know and is then subject to pressure to tell all, which is what happened to you.
You leave yourself wide open to be pressed to kiss and tell.
When you understand that or when it dawns on you, you will understand why you have been getting grief.
You can't say " well it certainly wasn't the expensive option was it" unless you know of a more expensive option and can quote it. We could have had other people interested but priced themselves out by their demands. Note I said could because I haven't got a clue what happened.
My priority is protecting the bunker and it's members (including you) from any chance of litigation and I will do that whilst I have that responsibility.
I will do that with or without your co-operation but obviously I would prefer with.

Three things were against us when we got promoted.

1. DC wasn't prepared for getting promoted and allowed our players to seek security elsewhere. It took him right up to kick off to convince players to stay. Players who could point to the fact that he hadn't signed his contract so why should they commit if he was reluctant.
2. Prospective targetting was hampered by other clubs having up to four weeks start on us.
3. Financial constraints such as the £1.7 million debt to Blackledge with had to be factored into our budgetting and is a millstone around our neck for another ten years unless we are lucky with cup revenue and the sale of our best talent.

Not the best set of circumstances I'm sure you will agree.

People are asking, nay demanding, Raj to direct all our extra revenue into the playing budget, when he is committed to finance and virtually clear our debt to Sage.
Anybody taking over would be faced with the same scenario. Sage ain't going away.

Neglect the team you stop winning cup and league games, 120k on offer in just one week next week, pick inexperienced lads to run the team you drop down the league and risk being relegated, their needs to be some sort of balance if you want to pay this debt off. We have probobly lost 500 to 1k off our home attendances recently due to losing Challinor and a bit of buzz the club had.

I don't buy that litigation line at all Derwent. If that was the case then nobody in football would ever be criticised but they are... all of the time and on TV in front of millions too.

Its simple. A proven manager at any level can demand more then an unproven one. You can apply that to any walk of life. A proven guy would have been more expensive. We didn't choose that option.
Saying that, I hope he's an Alan Murray and not a Matthew Bates.

I don't give a shit whether you buy it or not but you will not jeopardise or compromise the bunker, so if you want to pursue your line of making statements or accusations without evidence you will have to do it elsewhere because you will not do it on here. That is also simple. It's up to you.

Jeopardise or compromise the bunker -- seriously??? Bit over the top don't you think?

I agree totally with that but it is an undisputed fact that until Jan 1st nothing can be done to improve the squad.
We have to wait and see what the club do in January and then give our verdict, which I'm sure we will.

You may think so but it wouldn't be the first time believe me.

I can quite openly criticise players because I am paying to see, and expect them to, perform to an acceptable standard, I am in effect, the ‘customer’.
As for the foreseeable future, Raj is the man who keeps the rubber dinghy that is Hartlepool Utd afloat, without him it would inevitably sink, so you tediously bringing your ‘Stanley knife of eccentric/obsessive innuendo’ onboard does little to improve matters.

When the transfer window does finally open in a couple of days time you've got to hope that Pools are among the clubs that are quick off the mark with a couple of signings.

The pressure of expectations is high after all the positive comments to the media in the past couple of months about Pools being ready and willing to show they've got a decent transfer budget for this window. No amount of hard luck stories about knock backs will appease the fans if the clubs around us are making decent signings and Pools aren't.

Lee Turnbull, this is your chance to shine. For Gawd's sake, don't blow it.

thanyou for that. a;though DC can go on a short list of pools managers who have won something and would be in the top 5 of all time managers everything was far from spot on this season especially away. after throwing points away in the two games you mentiomed you can add the defeats at barrow and tranmere to that list. at least it was 2 ppoints lost in those gaes and possibly more. would the knives have been out for him with an away defeat at an in form club.

just cannot see pools splashing the cash on players who will be out of contract in the summer anyway. these are the ones that might be available plus some duds clubs do not want. think it will be loan signings. hopefully they will be more armstrong, bennett or bureys rather than some of the others who have failed miserably.

How many of the current squad are on contracts which end in January?

hopefully fondop and goodwin are among them.

Goodwin is on loan from Stoke. He's not even made the bench for any of Lee's League Two games so presumably he'll be going back in January.

All the squabbling stopped …. Nice one

Lets talk about football again and not about the men with long trousers who run the club.

So anyways …Sat and analysed the game yesterday (part of some coaching development im doing with few of the older lads on the team im on the board of). Absolute critical thing once they scored their first goal was for us to at least change shape and hold onto the lead. The midfield for them basically took ours out the game. Cullen wasnt pressing and doesnt have any engine on him to then deal with a break for us. Oates was causing bits of problems and should have been man marked all game by a floating mid (this could of been done once they scored tbh). We need that spare man (who ever it is just now as we dont actually have one as Crawford isnt it and we havnt seen enough of Smith yet to really see where he plays tbh). Should of went 5 solid at the back and 4 across the middle having Mols left up top. Now more than ever we need a change in play to suit our best 11 should nothing better come through the door in Jan. We are in for a scrap it not. Thank god the Tranmere game was off. Lads need a break a think and Lee to get his head down and sort it out on the training pitch to stop giving set piece goals away.

Oates didn't score and didn't provide an assist for any of Mansfield's three goals. Why on earth would you think he needed man marking all game?

He might have needed carers to point him in the right direction.

The only thing I saw Oates do was miss a sitter.

[quote="billinghampoolie1908"][
We are 5 times the size of Accrington though, i get all this surviving through covid i do, but why do we seem to be one of the ones struggling the most, we don't appear to be able to cope with hardly any other club in this league for wages, in January you can bet your bottom dollar if we are up against any club in this league for a player he won't be coming to us. If we were pulling in 2 k crowds knocked out of all cups, hadn't sold anyone or got a sponsorship deal championship clubs be envious off, you cannot cpm[are accrington to pools for a start due to geography. so many clubs within say 30 miles of them unlike pools. they could sign a full new side next week without the need of any of them to move house and disrupt their family. pools do not have this luxury and its been like that for as long as i remember. put on any youtube video of the worst 10 towns in the country then hartlepool will pop up. years of the club being a music hall joke has not helped in recruitment. pools may have to pay over the odds for a new player because of this and possibly raj does not want to be held to ramsome by players and agents by paying wages more than the player is worth. selling the club to any potential new signing from somewhere miles away is possibly the hardest task in the league.

Hartlepool is nowhere near as bad as its made out to be and certainly nowhere near the top 10 undesireable places to live as ive travelled all over the country to know this.
As for signing new players pay the going rate and they wont rather go to other clubs.
Ye we got a bit of debt but hasent nearly every other club.
And ye we had a short last transfer window but we need to show some Ambition next month to kill off any fears of relegation n start building for next season.
No point haveing these ground expansion plans in the pipeline if we gunna try n operate with a mainly non league standard squad.
Im cautiously optimistic that come February the team will be of a lot better quality.
UTP.
By the way i know u top 10 quote was a youtube one n not your own Accy

You’ll find quite a number of people moving into the town from the south of the country, London isn’t quite so appealing anymore, nice profit on your house and house on the sea front. I really don’t buy the idea we are located on the Dogger Bank...... do Carlisle have trouble signing players because of their location..... if you pay enough, you get the players.

[quote="kevin pooles gloves"]
As for signing new players pay the going rate and they wont rather go to other clubs.
Ye we got a bit of debt but hasent nearly every other club.
Think pools if they do not shop local need to pay a bit more than the rate for a player inless we have some really silver tongued person at the club who can sell it to a player. If say port vale have a player we want and so do crewe. its an old no brainer where he would go if the money was the same. Debt seems to be the stick used on fans at pools from above whilst others with smaller crownds and bigger debts just get on with the job.