Pools' starting 11 had 'home loss' written all over it, but for most of the first half we created as many good chances as Swindon. Fela got a couple of decent early crosses in, Bogle had a good effort saved, Hull should have scored from a corner and Fela miscued completely with the goal at his mercy. Then McCurdy got his first and it was pretty much game over.

The second half was atrocious, not helped by the fact that it was feckin' freezing in the Mill House. Pools were down to the bare bones and it showed. Smith had a nightmare and Ferguson won't remember captaining the side with any pleasure. He had a stinker too.

Pools had another decent gate but the warning signs are there if Raj and Hobin are paying attention. There was hardly a peep out of the North West Corner after their drummer nicked off early for a half time pint. Better not take our "unbelievable support" for granted for too long - if Pools are this bad 2 months into next season, 3,000 will look like decent crowd, and that's a lot of revenue down the pan.

Hindsight's a wonderful thing, but got to agree now with Billingham Poolie that stripping out experienced squad players with 10 or a dozen games to go was a false economy. Pools have won 1, lost 6 of Graeme Lee's last 10 games in charge. Before the Rotherham semi-final he'd won 7, lost 4 of his first 16 games. Probably not a coincidence that results have gone down the pan along with speculation - more or less confirmed by Spike himself - that Pools haven't got the budget to retain some of our best players for next season.

Plenty of food for thought for Raj - and not just about whether Graeme Lee is the right man for the job.

Apparently we were pretty stable financially before ball was kicked this season.
We've had excellent attendance's, two good cup runs,but now can't afford to retain our better players.
No money has been spent on the ground,so it begs the question, where is this extra money going?

Care Homes.
I can remember Raj saying last year any profits will get reinvested back into the team.
Big Fee for Brad Jones
Decent Compo for DC
2 excellent money makeing cup runs
Squad payroll reduced well before end off season.
5000 + crowds about 500k above i would reckon a 4000 maximum budget.
Decent Sponsorship
Compo from Fulham.
Fully grateful for last season but at the end of the day we in the lowest of the low of the EFL.
What the fcuk is goin on its shirt n tie burglary.
My opinions mite seem a bit harsh to a few but thats no problem.

gloves.."What the fcuk is goin on its shirt n tie burglary.My opinions mite seem a bit harsh to a few but thats no problem."

your opinions are not harsh mate...just plain bollox....no problem....however...

1.profits...tell me when you last had a look at the accounts?
2.care homes..?..what are you talking about..you seem to be suggesting some connection between raj his business and the clubs profits?
3.shirt n tie burglary...whats that mean exactly..?

....listen...we play scunny next...they are going down the pan..reason?..financial mismanagement or "splashing the cash" they don't have...
....about same size club as us historically but probably had a little more success in recent times....
....but scunny will be fielding a team of kids on saturday because they are financially goosed...
....and you think we had a big fee for brad jones[you mean young]..what was the fee?...makes fk all difference..together with the big crowds and a cup run??...and decent compo for DC and from fulham??...you are havin a larf...
....heard about a bloke called blackledge by any chance..?
....have a look at the numbers below and have a bit of a think on pal....

Scunthorpe: Highest fees paid

Rob Jones – £700,000 from Hibernian
Martin Paterson – £335,000 from Stoke City
Paddy Madden – £300,000 from Yeovil Town
Kevan Hurst – £200,000 from Sheffield United
Jonathan Forte – £200,000 from Sheffield United
David Mirfin – £150,000 from Huddersfield Town

Scunthorpe: Highest fees received

Billy Sharp – £2.5 million to Sheffield United
Gary Hooper – £2.4 million to Celtic
Martin Paterson – £1.6 million to Burnley
Conor Townsend – £756,000 to West Brom
Andy Keogh – £750,000 to Wolverhampton Wanderers

https://www.theguardian.com/football/fo ... ival-fight

..20 million invested by a chairman splashing the cash since 2013....and look at them now ...

You only have to look at the two clubs potential. Scunthorpe had things to play for when they were here last, brought what was it 200? Pools nothing to play for this Saturday sold 1500 in less than 2 days to watch a team that's given up. Let's stop making excuses why we aren't investing reasonable sums we have never had it so good this year financially. We haven't even been arsed to sort the bar issues out let alone the rink end.

Are you seriously suggesting the profits from the care homes will be invested back into Pools? Not a chance in Hell.
They should be re-invested back into the care homes, completely separate business.

The road to success in football at this level is littered with the wreckage of owners whose ego deluded them into thinking success could easily be bought. In a way it can, but it depends what you spend it on and not firing a massive barrage of cash at the problem and waiting for it to bear fruit. It really doesn’t work like that, there’s too many other factors unconnected with money to consider and sadly nobody ever does.
The key is the manager you hire, they come into the job under the restraints of the system and believe they can make it work, or they wouldn’t be there….after all this is the shop window for managers to sell themselves at an higher level, so it’s mutually beneficial.. No manager walk into post and finds out the conditions of the contract later, they’re too savvy for that, and to be brutally honest they’re ‘exploiting’ their chance at the club as much as they claim they are themselves.
If Lee is there for the foreseeable future, then we’re living in interesting times and that isn’t a compliment on my part…any players coming or going are going to be Lee’s choice not Raj’s…….

lots of questions that need a truthful answer but will we get that. Extra gates which are really cash customers on the day and cup runs which are never budgetted for. If you were on the outside looking in then pools would looked minted this season for a league 2 club. the other item that has not been looked at is sponsorship. are the club getting that much from it and we are we on par in this respect to others in this league. you hear about this and that deal are great deals bringing in substantial amount of money. would love to know how much is classed as being substantial as that word means different depending on who you are.

The players sold section of Poolie1’s post on Scunthorpe is interesting. I thought this when I spoke with a Rochdale fan - who in similar view to pools have to cut their cloth accordingly - but have also had big name sales such as Rickie Lambert.

Aside from Boydy who at the time 500k was a big figure, why is it that we haven’t had a headline sale in the same way? Catchment area? Short contracts? Academy prospects?

Lesser managers have been sacked for our current run of league form, lose the next 2 games the headlines on here and other social media forums will be Lee out I imagine.

Our style of play is a succession of short passes up either wing involving intricate passing patterns that have more in common with extreme crocheting than league football. When the promised land is nearly reached the opposition have got back, filled the sandbags, had their tea and await our arrival at their leisure, at the final moment a ball is launched in the general direction of KFC on the Marina and the carefully crafted plan crumples.

Signs to look for in the close season that tell me it’s gonna be a loooooong winter are…..

We don’t sign a new first choice keeper.
The ‘sick notes’ are taken to Lourdes.
The new signings have a distinctly south of the tees flavour.
July is nearly over and all seven summer signings are still mulling over their contracts.

Pools had a better squad when they won promotion from the NL than they've had this season. Of all the players signed on contracts by Challinor and Lee for this first season in League 2, I'd only rate Byrne and Bogle as fit for purpose. The rest have all been crocks or simply not good enough for this level of football.

Bogle needs to be consistently better next season than he has been this, and even then we probably need another regular goalscorer. The only teams in L2 that have scored less goals than Pools are 4 of the bottom 5. Oldham have scored as many goals as Pools and they've been relegated!

Pretty much every fan is expecting Pools to lose at least 2 or 3 of Ferguson, Odusina, Molyneux and Joe Grey - on top of Oates, Johnson and Armstrong last season.

There's a happy medium somewhere between chasing a dream with ruinous over-expenditure and not providing a playing budget adequate to retain at least most of your club's best players.

You have to ask why is every contract negotiaon at pools drawn out so long? Challinor, Sweeney, 1 player has signed on in months of negotiaons. Must be reasons behind this? Why aren't players willing to sign for a club that's taking 1500 plus for a dead rubber game? Something somewhere is not right.

there is a rabbit away for sure - a little more clarity from the club would be nice - what ever happened to this transparency agreement we had been promised ?

the one bit of information that has thankfully been made open to supporters is ... we have sod all cash to buy the players we need... bottom line is, we go down next season if the players who depart us from here on out arn't replaced with like for like or better - leagues going to be alot harder next season as there isnt 2 clubs going through the same free fall as the 2 who have recently departed us. I see us now as one of the weakest sides in the league (results proving this as of late) ! Stockport will come up all guns blazing as will a Wrexham or Notts County should either of those prevail (im leaning more towards a shock team coming up though in the same manor we did). The club may well be going through a small restructure in terms of playing staff and backroom staff but having such a thin and poor squad at the minute doesnt fill anyone with any confidence - im sure Raj has a plan with Lee (as he did come in only half way through the season and it was kind of unexpected)but he really needs to choose some quality players if we are to have any luck next season !

job for the boys is well under way ! last time this happened .. we all know the outcome !

You have to ask why is every contract negotiaon at pools drawn out so long? Challinor, Sweeney, 1 player has signed on in months of negotiaons. Must be reasons behind this? Why aren't players willing to sign for a club that's taking 1500 plus for a dead rubber game? Something somewhere is not right.

Because their agent’s told them to wait…..?

I think we are still being victims of a newly promoted team during a very strange period (Covid for those who have been living under a rock), suffering with panic buys and short contracts etc etc - unfortunately some may see Pools as that little bit unstable and should a few more quid come calling they are likely to want away - who knows what sort of shite the agents pepper their brains with - most only speak to them once a year anyways (bit like your accountant back in the day when the tax man was due his shilling).

billysmart....."You have to ask why is every contract negotiaon at pools drawn out so long?"

..because they have already made their minds up not to sign and look at options elsewhere when the season ends ?...look...we can see it.... and lets face it the players will be able to see it much more clearly than us....we have two boneheads in charge ...unless the moneys ridiculous ...or there are other reasons why they have to stay put...no player will want to be part of a losing team fighting relegation next season...no one wants to be part of that..."just not enjoyable"...

Curly and Mo have had plenty of time to assess the playing squad, unfortunately, the playing squad have also had time to assess them and apparently come to the conclusion they’re two wasps looking for a windscreen on a summer’s day.

that is perfectly true, but surely out of the hundreds of players looking for a new club we cannot find some with the right attitude of making sure that will not happen. at the moment i,d love to be in the pools dressing room now after a defeat and sub standard performance just to see if they are hurting by this or not.

we have laurel and hardy...when we need clough and taylor....a few in the team need to be told a few home truths....work...improve..change...or else.....wont get it from laurel or hardy.......

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

I said to you weeks ago a lot of these lads were going and you laughed at it saying it was nonsense, how times have changed hey? I agree I reckon a lot of them can see troubled times ahead but a lot of it will be down to money.

billyidol........"I said to you weeks ago a lot of these lads were going and you laughed at it saying it was nonsense,"

...never said any such thing....feel free to go quote me....as for laurel and hardy....i was behind the boneheads when appointed .....based on witnessing their playing histories....that was before i heard them open their gobs about the game...and witnessing the shambles of the last couple of months..they had a new manager bounce initially..but it didn't last long.... and their deficiencies have become more and more apparent with each game and each interview.....as for players leaving..clearly laurel and hardy haven't a clue who we should keep or let go...we are keeping morris smith fela flapper and crock boy cook..we have allowed to leave early holohan cullen hendrie mitchell and zfa...feaths will be on his way.....other players are now voting with their feet and with their performances on the pitch...the two boneheads have lost the dressing room with their lads culture and jobs for the boys style of management....the salford post match interview was the last straw for me.....it has to change .....sooner the better...

so what does raj do. stick with em and hope they get things right over the summer and give em a couple of months next season or cut his losses now. he finally would have appointed them in the first place so a quick sacking shows his original decision was flawed in appointing them. no one likes to be proved wrong and i feel we are stuck with em for sometime yet whether we like it or not.

accrington....."so what does raj do"...
manager[bonehead] ....assistant manager[managers mate/also bonehead] ....head of recruitment[managers mate/geek] .... morris[managers mate/crock] ....crock boy cook[supercrock]....

The season turned on the home defeat by Bradford 6 weeks ago. That put paid to any chance of the play offs - which was all the talk back then after the two cup runs! Unless there's a players' revolt going on behind the scenes (which is possible) I can't seen Lee and Nelson getting the sack before next season.

The current injury crisis hasn't helped (if that's really all it is, looks like a 'watch this space' with Nicky Featherstone at least). The team on Saturday looked like 11 strangers at times. The 5 man bench included 3 loan players - add in the one who played and Pools are down to 12 fit players under contact - 11 till Fela was recalled! Nelson took responsibility again after the game for letting Hendrie, Holohan and Francis-Angol leave when they did. Very poor judgement if it really was their choice and not a financial decision.

Raj needs to face up to the fact that the supporters can't be taken for granted next season. Money's tight and and a season ticket doesn't look all that clever if there's a price hike and the season finishes on an even lower note than it's on now. The side needs proper investment whoever is in charge next season - another shrewd appointment like Challinor isn't going to happen without guarantees that the new man will get the backing he needs. Sacking Spike and bringing in another tyro or worse, an old has-been like Richard Money, would just be shuffling the deck chairs and hoping for the best.

What I would say is... thank the lord we aren't stuck in the NL. The points needed to actually achieve anything in that division now is horrendous. Taking a look at the teams in there - and the ones joining them - makes pretty terrifying reading if Pools were to be still in there.

Let's at least be thankful for that. We're lining up the football league next season. For that, i'm extremely grateful.

hogan..."would just be shuffling the deck chairs and hoping for the best."

....best start shuffling.....had more than long enough.....plenty have had less.....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_H ... ._managers

I don’t think Raj Singh is in a position to ‘back’ Pools to the tune of a million pounds a season like IOR did, they were very shrewd how they incorporated Pools as part of IOR. I can’t see Raj Singh as a loss making company like Pools being part of his Prestige Group.

hogan..."looks like a 'watch this space' with Nicky Featherstone at least..."

...oh...well done....

It was a cheap option that's starting to go badly wrong. It shouldn't come as any surprise their records as managers were nothing short of abysmal. I actually thought it was a joke when I heard they got the job. But like we do we listen to Lee's interview and he is a lovely guy who you want to do well.

I'm not sure we can blame them for Angol and holohan going, surely that's down to raj cutting costs. The transfer window was once again nothing short of an embarrassment, fans got carried away over kids who most of us knew wouldnt even get a game,was that down to poor choices by Lee or was it this great budget wasn't quite so great? Personally I feel it's the latter, we have had hints that things arent right off an ex manager who couldn't wait to jump ship.

How long do we now give them? Do we let them waste another transfer window or do we appoint the proper manager this time? With a budget to compete, not a budget that competes with the bottom 2 but maybe a budget that can compete with the suttons and Newports. Personally I think we're in for relegation battle, we have a chairman who is starting to take the fans for granted and a managerial team unable to motivate, it's a bad combination.

Pools' form is as bad as Scunthorpe's at the minute and we could easily finish bottom 6. Some say anything above 23rd counts as a good first season back in the Football League. I can't say I agree with that - we came up with a good squad, momentum, and a playing style that made us hard to beat. Now the momentum's gone along with the playing style and most of our best players might not be with us next season.

As things stand, we'll do well to finish above 23rd NEXT season. Is that what we came back into L2 for? To scratch around for 3 or 4 seasons and go back down to the NL?

Whichever way you look at it Pools have had a good season financially. What's the outlook for the club the season AFTER next if gates fall in 2022/23 and there are no cup runs (as usual)? What will the playing budget look like then?

Pinning everything on a change of manager won't wash unless there's something to work with. Raj showed plenty of ambition last season to get us out of the NL. He needs to learn the lessons from this season and be ambitious again.

hogan... "Pinning everything on a change of manager won't wash"

...ok... lets just give the 2 boneheads and the geek next seasons playing budget to piss away and lets see how we get on....hope the geeks data analysis and shots to goals ratios do the business for us

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXyys1JEkbk

I'm not sure he has to be ambitious he just has to give us a fighting chance. It's maybe telling that we were bottom of the league table paying agents. Would anyone be shocked if we had the lowest budget in league 2 as well? The writing was the wall when Sutton could tempt Bennett to go to them last year a team apparently on one of the lowest budgets in the national league, yet we couldn't afford him. We hid behind the short transfer window for excuses, a year on and we are actually in a bigger mess.

Would Angol or Hendrix be getting in the team? We have two of our best players at full back and they would struggle to replace the central defenders. imo it’s midfield and strikers we are short of.

jon...."Would Angol or Hendrix be getting in the team?"

first off hendrix is dead...but if you mean hendrie and zfa ...both can play anywhere across the back 4/5....we had lids sterry byrne and timid timi out recently with injury....failing that at least they could fill two of the empty seats on the bench...and of course imo we could do with holohans experience skill and goals in a midfieid which consisted last time round of shelts crawfs and that waste of skin smith...we currently have morris crocked and feaths "injured" at the mo ...so....decisions based on plenty of cover? ...nearly in tears? ...ffs

The usual boring MorseCode shite i was expecting from ya.
I reckon u need to calm down a bit tone it down a bit with the non stop quoting of posters opinions in ya sarcastic manner.

PS
No interest in ya daft Scunny List.

gloves......"The usual boring MorseCode shite i was expecting from ya.I reckon u need to calm down a bit tone it down a bit with the non stop quoting of posters opinions in ya sarcastic manner.No interest in ya daft Scunny List."

...you reckon ?....thanks for the unsolicited advice pal....."What the fcuk is goin on its shirt n tie burglary."....quote....

Poolie I know Zara and Hendrix could play across the back but the fact is we have never needed them and there was also Ogle who covered for Sterrie. As for Hoolahan, yes he is probably better than some in midfield but he wasn’t that good remember he couldn’t get in the team even by Challoner.

I lost no sleep over his departure, when Challinor left him out I suspect he wanted to be away even back then. If a player wants away, you wave them off, I think his mind was set on pastures fresh.

snowy...."If a player wants away, you wave them off"

....yeah ...but only if you have plenty of cover mind...and think about potential injuries to other players.... and if there is only 3/4 months left on their deals..maybe keep them on the bench in case you have injuries or loss of form?... or need a goal out of nothing?....certainly dont give in ....even if they go sick....or even if they start to cry.....dont be seen as a soft touch and a mug in front of the rest of the team....and always always put the club first ...not the player...

A player who hasn’t been in favour for nearly a year even under the previous manager sets alarm bells ringing. A popular character with the fans who it would appear didn’t appeal to both managers….. will we ever know what went on….no.
A tarpaulin would provide better cover in those circumstances.
Move on, I have.

but who would this proper manager actually be. a keith curle type who has been around for years with failure ontop of failure after having success once. it would be easier to find a guarenteed 20 goal a season striker than getting another succesfull manager to roll up with pools budget. would even an up and coming NL manager swap his job for pools when there could be a better league prospect coming up.

players do not get bad overnight, but some are only good when they are in a good team winning regularly with the right players along side them. he is certainly in good company at pools.

‘Was’ in good company Mr A.

accrington..."but who would this proper manager actually be"

...if scunny can get someone like keith hill in their position...dont think there would be a problem for us...we can certainly do a lot better than these two boneheads thats for sure..

There is a tendency whenever manager’s are mentioned to imply any replacements would automatically some 30 club parasitic gobshite like Barry Bloke who’s well known for being…well known.
There are good experienced managers out there who can organise a team and the key word we need to see more of is ‘organised’ ….… cos we ain’t.

Sorry but to keep referring to our current management team as 'boneheads' is overstepping the mark, they may not be having much success atm but I still think our fans would respect that they are doing their best to rectify the situation. I'm not suggesting that they are beyond criticism but to use derogatory language is unfair.

woodgnome......"Sorry but to keep referring to our current management team as 'boneheads' is overstepping the mark"

...oh deary me..."boneheads"....derogatory language?...overstepping the mark? ...unfair?....what am i allowed to call them?...what are your suggestions?... other that mr lee and mr nelson...are you an overly sensitive woke chappie by any chance?..this is a football message board... not the house of commons ...been a lot lot worse on here in the past mate...the description and the cap well and truly fits imo....but as i say ....would welcome alternatives from your point of view.....am i allowed to call them laurel and hardy or will that also upset you??..maybe if they stopped talking and acting like boneheads there would'nt be a problem...??

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31UGExc8_Rc

ps ...have you actually watched any of the football lately ?....just a thought....

Boneheads…. …..what about ‘cranially challenged’….?