the signing of fondop reminds me of a situation where you desperatly needed a car. you went to your local car lot and there was only one available in your cut price range.

Ah the famous Fondop GTI….. dodgy steering, poor acceleration, sat nav knackered, naughty on corners, wanders all over the road, 0 to 60 eventually and a short MOT…but apart from that a nice little runabout to the shops.

Arfur Daley would have sold that little earner under spares or repairs at scrap price only.

Sawdust in the gearbox and move it on sharpish.

Speaking of Rumours again - Timis name has popped up on Millwalls board and Pompeys as of late. There is clearly a marketing campaign going on with his agent to get him back down south. As well as Killips rumoured want away to be back down that way too. Not sure he would turn out for any southern L2 club as he simply isnt good enough - maybe back to Braintree or a Boreham Wood for him ?

Killip, the same rumours as last summer when he happily stayed? We try to replace him all the time and eventually realise he isn't that bad. Mitchell is playing all games in the league above and he couldn't oust him. Can't blame him if he goes as many of the "experts" on here tell me he is terrible.

Sick Boy

The point is not why we let them go.
Olomola had a limited run in the team and I assume you mean his stats which show he struggled to make an impression at League 2 level. Correct he was a Challinor desperation signing.
Fondop has some good runs in decent Conference teams, Burton was above his level. Sheridan liked him for Oldham and he got 2 decent goals in his 2 appearances before surgery.
Cullen, good for him, would rather play football than sit on the bench when he didn't meet the management "Height" standards.

Off the 3 only Cullen had proven League 1 or 2 ability, Olomola and Fondop were panic signings for players at the limit of League 2 level. Olomola was a decent cover, maybe 4th or 5th choice striker at this level.

But the point is Carver has yet to show he can match any 3 of them for ability. Just seemed a little panicky to buy him.

Charman from Darlington was a lot younger and still time to reach level though he has yet to score for Rochdale mostly from the bench.

Cedwyn Scott at Gateshead is similar, scores plenty, but Carlisle tried him last season and didn't fancy keeping him this year. That was a big step up for him from Hebburn. He scores plenty but in a good team at that level. Langstaff also scores plenty for them and a little harder working. It's still a fair jump from Conference North though.

Glad you mentioned the 2 from the Heed - we should of taken a punt on either of them as i dare say one would of worked and paid off better than Carver - both playing at a higher level and schooled through quality academies (wasnt Langstaff in the same academy round of grads to be let go as Sterry ?). Just always plays on my mind as to what we where thinking bringing in a player of 28 years of age with an average goal scoring record (failed previous league experience) to then expect him to suddenly be good enough for league football half way through a season in which he wasnt playing full time. Yeh the lad tries - great... if you are a box to box MF winning possession and breaking up attacks - we need goals from the lad, alot of which are being scored by the Heed duo. Just think they are both coming into maturity this season and no doubt will end up in the league at some point next year.

headwood......"The question has to be why we let go Cullen, Olomola and even Fondop".............."The point is not why we let them go".....

....errrr.....the question is why....the question is not why.....the point being.....what the fk is going on with you mate ?...gibberish.....no wonder you have difficulty with spot the donkey ......ffs...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gROO7xSTxfY

Chris Trotter is our new head of recruitment, currently working his notice at League One’s Rotherham United. Trotter also had a stint as head of technical recruitment and senior scout at Boro.

24...."senior scout at Boro.".

...thanks....no surprises there then....jobs for the boys....again.....

https://uk.linkedin.com/in/chris-trotter-b30185157

Boreham Wood have very high standards. I seem to recall they progressed further in the FA cup than Pools and at one stage looked likely play off contenders. Don't think they would be interested in a flapper. Braintree on the other hand.......

I’d suggest Hart Windmill might be able to use him.

speak of the devil.....what a coincidence...

https://www.hartlepoolunited.co.uk/

...went to non league yeovil in feb to get "game time"...has not impressed...1 goal....last 4 appearances all from the bench....coming on each occasion with just a few minutes to go....has not even made the squad for the past 3 games... suspect hes been sent back to us as not good enough and not recalled as reported...will probably mean he will be getting a 2 year deal from the spike.....

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/olufela ... ler/356569

could of put ones house / caravan on the fact the recruitment guy would have a Boro connection - never mind - see how he does, be interesting to see if he taps any of the released Rotherham players up. Nail in the coffin we now will get more Boro has beens / Youth loanees. The latter im not too bothered about but this is an absolute deja vu scenario where we could end up with a Parnaby and Bates ... hovering about the club hoovering a last wager up !

The thought had crossed my mind.

Very funny! Probably score for us now.

i hear it rumoured that feaths scan has just come back....looks like he has been diagnosed with a condition called holohanitis...sometimes referred to more commonly as "ive had a right bellyful" syndrome..its a rare muscular condition...typically effects the stomach area but sometimes the calf muscles...prognosis varies.....can persist in some cases ...but tends to come and go very very quickly....here today....then miraculously gone tomorrow as it were...

https://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/sport/ ... ry-3661060

We’re taking on someone who was previously senior scout at a Championship club and worked for a team chasing promotion to the Championship this season but you complain because he might be mates with the manager? I think more along the lines of we are lucky he is mates with him or we would have had no chance of getting him. Did you moan when Challinor had all his mates working with him?

all managers do this and so would we if we had a business. just because you actually know someone and are satisfied with their work does not mean you are big mates with them. you,ll all sing from the same hymn book and not have someone coming to the club with different ideas or agendas. the only problem for scouts is not just finding the right players, but the right players who you have a fair idea that they,s accept pools terms. was quite friendly with an ex manager, not a pools one, and recommended a workington player to him after seeing him a couple of times. he had him watched and was keen. however after thanking him for his offer he told him his money would drop well over a half to become a league player as he had a proper job as well as his bit from workington. scouting might feel a cushy number but there is more than just spotting players thats involved. if spike has no faith in the guy then both parties are wasting their time.

.

Speaking of ex-Boro, Matty Dolan’s name has been mentioned. He has another year at Newport but they’re supposedly looking to offload him. Walsall also keen.

Errrrrrrr why are you quoting me as saying that when it was Mr accy??????????

sorry my mistake mr d..please accept my apology...hadnt finished the edit...

accrington..."all managers do this and so would we if we had a business"

..nah...my business ridiculous as it might sound would have the best person i could get for the job...but cronyism in football is accepted unlike in any other walk of life i can think of....doesnt mean its right.... and doesnt mean it works......and it begs the question where do you draw the line especially at a small club like ours ?....plenty of previous managers at pools have been told no to bringing in their own backroom cronies....why?....because it costs...and of course coxall had a very good line in cronyism which cost us quite a bit....and we all know players in the recent past who have been given contracts at pools they would not have got elsewhere because of it....do we want even more of these last pay day favours ?...

..nah...my business ridiculous as it might sound would have the best person i could get for the job...but cronyism in football is accepted unlike in any other walk of life i can think of....doesnt mean its right.... and doesnt mean it works......and it begs the question where do you draw the line especially at a small club like ours ?....plenty of previous managers at pools have been told no to bringing in their own backroom cronies....why?....because it costs...and of course coxall had a very good line in cronyism which cost us quite a bit....and we all know players in the recent past who have been given contracts at pools they would not have got elsewhere because of it....do we want even more of these last pay day favours ?... [/quote]
Think there is a big difference between someone getting a job just because they are mates than giving one to someone who you know and know how they work and tick. Do not want a mate of someone getting their last seasons football payday or even someone not that well known to them getting the same. A north east has been, especially an ex boro one will always be viewed with more suspicion by fans than say a similar player from somewhere like derby.

porter..."I think more along the lines of we are lucky he is mates with him or we would have had no chance of getting him."

yeah....spot on...some "data analyst" this boy wonder chris trotter who we have apparently got as our new head of recruitment......not an ex professional player as you might expect ...like many football scouts including his predecessor at pools lee turnbull.....and his ex boss gary gill head of recruitment at borer....who know a bit about the game first hand.....nah....but at least it appears our trotter knows something about those computer program thingies ... "highly skilled at harnessing information technology to harvest information"...wow...the modern game eh..? ...yes mr porter you're right.... we are so.. so.. lucky.....

https://untypicalboro.wordpress.com/201 ... nt-page-1/

"The four-strong data analysis team – Stephen Gent (opposition analyst), Pete Bulmer (senior recruitment analyst), Harry Barnard (data analyst) and Chris Trotter (head of technical recruitment) – are all sharp, enthusiastic and incredibly knowledgeable about players, teams, leagues, shapes and systems.

And they are all highly skilled at harnessing information technology to harvest information to suit Boro’s needs, either to scout potential transfer targets or to prepare detailed tactical reports on coming opponents.

“You’re basically sat around all day playing Football Manager and watching targets on YouTube aren’t you?” I asked to polite laughter. Then they opened their box of tricks, a system that makes the complex dug-out simulation game beloved by obsessives and anoraks everywhere look like early eight-bit SensiSoccer video games."


..and just love this comment under the pic of gary gill with trotter and his geeky colleagues....

"Boro’s recruitment data analysts. Good lads to have on a football quiz team"

Tha appliance of science eh? How did clubs manage without them…..?
Is it just another make work scheme for the thousands of unemployable graduates with degrees in football science and break dancing theory or some other pointless qualification?
Well what did those gnarled old scouts out in all weathers watching countless matches to pick up the next promising recruit know.

snowy..."Is it just another make work scheme for the thousands of unemployable graduates with degrees in football science and break dancing theory or some other pointless qualification?"

...seems he got his big chance in the game by first working for nowt at borer on a "voluntary" basis....

"I have over 10 years experience working in the professional football industry, showing my ambition & skills by working my way up from a voluntary analysis role within the academy at Middlesbrough to my current role as Chief Scout with Rotherham United."

..."showing my ambition and skills by working my way up"...yeah ?...wonder who else he knows at borer ?.....

https://uk.linkedin.com/in/chris-trotter-b30185157

yeah....spot on...some "data analyst" this boy wonder chris trotter who we have apparently got as our new head of recruitment......not an ex professional player as you might expect ...like many football scouts including his predecessor at pools lee turnbull.....and his ex boss gary gill head of recruitment at borer....who know a bit about the game first hand.....nah....but at least it appears our trotter knows something about those computer program thingies ... "highly skilled at harnessing information technology to harvest information"...wow...the modern game eh..? ...yes mr porter you're right.... we are so.. so.. lucky.....

Glad you agree mate. It’s great to see Pools moving into the 21st century isn’t it. We will still have old blokes watching matches on a Tuesday night but we will also have this new bloke in charge of the technical side of it. If you found out other clubs in the league had this then you would be saying how behind we are of everyone.

What the hell is a ……’voluntary analysis role’……jeeeez

porter...."we will also have this new bloke in charge of the technical side of it."...."It’s great to see Pools moving into the 21st century isn’t it."

.. yeah...we are so .. so.. "lucky" he is one of spikes mates...lives round the corner from him too... so as spike says ...."will be in each others houses having discussions late into the night"....canny....maybe they'll have a beer or two with a game of football manager on that computer thingy...announce the geek appointment soon please chandy....and lets have a chandy interview so we can all hear what trotter has to say about the "technical side of it".....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3qcj2MzPYc

Most on here are voluntary analysts - watch a game then give their opinion on it for nothing.

That’s true, but we don’t have it as a job description and get a salary for it.

Will certainly be interesting if he ever gives an interview. Can hear now all the business speak and computer crap coming from his mouth where we,ll have to come on here to read the translated version from someone who understands it all.

If the international sides have one, man.city and barcelona have one then surely it would be totally wrong not to follow the fashion and be the odd man out. If this scientific approach to everything in the game made the game more exciting for fans then win or lose i,d feel it was worthwhile. All you get are players being described as technically brilliant with no charisma whatsoever. Seems science has not shown players how to beat the first defender on corners or over hit the thing for a throw in. All its seemed to do is show how to waste time, they have the cheek to call that sodding game management, how to dive and feign injury.

meanwhile... at the vic at the end of the season....manager/head of recruitment discussions are ongoing..

spike....so trotts...me old marra...who do we sign next ?...billy the fish ? ha ha..

trotts.....errrr...who does he play for again?.....no you big daftie....need more time to do all my data analysis mate...but have found this clip on u tube...he definitely looks interesting....what do you think ?

[spike reviews the clip..then pauses...shrugs shoulders ..shakes head ..and nips ear.. all at the same time]

spike...errrrrrrrrrr ...grrrrrrrrrrrrr....WHAT!!!...FFS NO!!!.....tell me how much we are paying you again.....MATE !!!!???

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HOuNzRN-Z8

Does anyone know what happened to the young forward who impressed in the pre-season friendlies. Some technicality stopped him from signing because he was only seventeen and attached to the Collage of FE.

We’ll end up with more backroom geeks and suits than first team players and coaching staff!
I can see the future as more ‘fashionable’ roles are created to be in with the ‘In Crowd’

Director of Laundry and Fragrance Options
Dedicated role to ensure the players kit are soft and fluffy and a choice of 49 fragrances of softener are available to suit individual tastes and send them out to face the opposition calmed by the odour of their choice.
Floodlight Ambience Consultant
Like top European clubs, we intend to make the visual experience better by introducing mood lighting to enhance your optical senses.
Dorothy Holbrook and her all Lady Harmony Hussars
Research in Italy has found 1930’s style Palm Court Orchestra music played before matches gets the players in the mood to play with a certain panache, so we welcome Dorothy and her girls to the squad.

It’s gonna happen

Believe he was called Harry something, does it now mean if we have an academy they can play for the team as required. It is better to blood our own youngsters if good enough rather than preparing players for other teams when if they do well are snatched back.

It’s beyond me in this day and age why Pools require a recruitment fella, surely agents will be lining up players for clubs ?

its because every other bugger has one and they want to keep in fashion.

Is it a part-time job, because what’s he doing outside the transfer window?
Let’s be honest he could be there like Brains on Thunderbird’s an after doing the business the computer spits out two names…… in theory, great signings, butTitus ‘back spasm’ Beccles andJames ‘no knees’ Seaview it turns out, are well named….so what does recruitment man do for the rest of the season?

snowy...."so what does recruitment man do for the rest of the season?"

...collects shots to goals ratios ?.....agent sponsored u tube clips?.....kiddies stuff like that ....puts them all in nice accessible bundles for powerpoint presentations to the team by the two boneheads....

"harnessing information technology to harvest information"....

"showing my ambition and skills by working my way up"......

......please please announce the geek soon chandy....

https://untypicalboro.wordpress.com/201 ... nt-page-1/
https://uk.linkedin.com/in/chris-trotter-b30185157

‘Communicating’ with agents ?

When you read the role, it’s scouting from your laptop, it’s lazy, any fool with a smattering of bullshit and basic grasp of the game can play the field and come up with names, so skivingly simple even I could do it.
Anyone purporting to do this job has to have you asking the question….if you can do the job sat in bed under a duvet, can you take it seriously. The plus side being it’s relatively cheap.

Gone are the days when mangers used to travel during the week all over to watch a prospective signing now they are sent dvds of players showing their attributes and their ‘best bits’

Just who will be here next season. Five loan players going back (hopefully Morris) Ferguson,Odisina and Molyneux look certain to be away, surely Cook, Smith and Olafami will not be offered contracts, will Killip,Liddell and Byrne sign? Not much left.

Killip and Liddle deffo, Killip has improved but not outstanding, Liddle lives in the area and getting on in years so will see his ‘retirement’ out at Pools maybe venturing into coaching.
As far as the others are concerned they will be looking at moving on to clubs who can afford them an increased salary and a long term contract.

There’s no comparison between actually watching a target player and not just for ability either, but his general attitude to their players etc, any DVD can be carefully edited to make a recycling centre look like Ward Jackson Park.