Nearly 20 minute interview.

Wouldn't be drawn on the ins and outs of Graeme Lee's sacking.

Sounds like he doesn't expect to be at Pools himself much longer.

Confirmed (as Radio Tees had already reported) that Lee was 'instrumental' in getting Ferguson to sign a new contract and that the deal was agreed before Lee's sacking.

Didn't hold out much hope that other out of contract players will re-sign. Stressed they'd all had really good offers - but heads have been turned and players are allowing their contracts to run down. Guess that includes Molyneux and Odusina for sure. Joe Grey and Killip too?

Said he didn't blame any footballer who got an offer to play for a club in a higher division for moving on.

I’m depressed just reading that, it positively radiates the power of the will to ….. give up?

We have known all this for months though. We should be relieved we somehow managed to keep Ferguson. Until we can get a chairman who can pay better wages we are screwed. Another 5300 crowd today yet on and off the pitch we look like a club who can struggle to keep up with the Crawleys of this world.

Well I wouldn’t go overboard on wages for any of the present squad. Lee and Nelson have both said decent offers have been made and the fact Ferguson has signed when most thought he was on his way for bigger money indicates that to be true.

Rebuild from the foundations.
Need a top manager.

Even if players are leaving,that doesn't excuse the lack of effort recently.
Its an insult to the club & fans,they can all piss off as far as I'm concerned,especially Bogle.

Joe Grey hurts the most. One of our own. Sure to go for millions.

I don’t think wages have anything to do with it, Challinor could do it on the same or even less money… so it’s about being motivated. Our squad have went backwards and have all the drive of a mobility buggy rally on drained batteries.

Big dog - I personally think people are going overboard on Grey to say he’ll be worth millions is dreaming. He is a very enthusiastic young player who has come on more of an impact player. Although he has not made many starts I’ve never gone away and thought he was that good. Again I’ve never read reports of other clubs interested in him. However he’s only young and fingers crossed he’ll prove me wrong.

I think at 18 year old he has been brilliant. A real talent who will only get better. Watch his career…

Pools history over the years has been littered with ‘Grey’s ‘ who were going to go on to great things, but not one ever truly did. We sometimes get carried away with home bred players and see things nobody outside the confines of the club ever seem see.
He’s far from the finished product and when he can combine his talents with a bulked up physique and strength, then we’ll see whether his potential is really what some expect of him.

he has more chance of improvement if he is not thrown in at the deep end in a struggling team week in week out if available. actually thought challinor used him better than lee due to his age and physique. if he was my lad i,d get him to move on to a team with a proper manager. it would not hurt him having a couple of seasons somewhere as a squad player to gain more experiance.

First of all he is 19 and he already is a squad player. He has nearly 50 appearances to his name the majority of course were as substitute. Where will he get more expierence if he was at another league club, they would probably send him out on loan like Fletcher, Daley and White to a Pools like club.
I do wish him luck but it’s just my opinion that he is not as good as some believe.

Not totally sure where his best position on the field is or where it will be in the future.

Apart from the goals he can be anonymous at times, but he’s young.

snowy.."Pools history over the years has been littered with ‘Grey’s ‘ who were going to go on to great things"

..a certain stephen halliday comes to mind..similar type of player...brilliant first touch and close control.. could beat a man ..and finish....but fizzled out as he got older..think we sold him to motherwell and got some money..injuries part of the story ? ..dunno..

Halliday was dead sticky.

The operative word being ‘was’. Sometimes I don’t think some players appreciate what they’ve been blessed with and don’t get the best out of themselves on the field.

Luke James is the obvious comparison. Easily knocked of the ball, spends a lot of time on the deck and injured. Once their pace has gone they don’t have a lot to offer.

He might improve though, he’s only young as has been said.

mars.."Luke James is the obvious comparison"

..boydie probably the best we ever produced imo..or ever likely to...if only he had had that few extra yards of pace..and a little less..how shall i put it..off the pitch issues..he could have been a world beater..its all what ifs..

https://www.theguardian.com/football/fo ... hartlepool

Boydy was a class above Luke James and Joe Grey, what he lacked in pace he made up for in terms of trickery and quick feet. In my 50+ years of watching Pools, Boyd and Porter were the most exciting front two by far.

I was friends with a lad who played against Kevin Keegan at Doncaster before he was famous and what he said wasn’t complimentary but pointed out that what he lacked in some departments he made up for it with pure physical determination…also said he was ‘driven’.

Agree on Keegan, all determination, tenacity and honesty..

Posters seem to have forget Tony Sweeney 380+ appearances plus 52 goals for Pools. I remember seeing him in the reserves as a 16yrs old and later spoke to the first team physio who said Chris (Turner) has high hopes for him.
Another I thought was an outstanding 16/17 yrs old was Brad Walker but something went wrong with him although he is having a decent lower league career.

I hope this post resurrects itself in say 10 years time. Pools have a well established youth setup - glittering with talented youth from across Teesside and Durham. We are fortunate to hit a talent pool of exiled Sunderland and Toon youngsters. We finally provide the first team with player after player. A sort of poor mans La Masia. Oh how i hope this youth setup thing pays off.

But … ill give it to Grey the fact hes a youth team
Product getting mens football when technically the trade in which he should be learning how to use his tools doesnt actually exist at Pools. Dare say if we had a youth team i reckon we would have 3 or 4 Grey type players on the fringe.

Its so shite and unprofessional when you see we can only field a bench on 3 outfield players and teams like Colchester can add youth team players to theirs and give them
Some game time. Be weird seeing unknown names on the team sheet again for such meaningless end of season games in the future. I fully understand why we dont have one anymore but just hope it pays dividends when its back

The Linighan brothers and Tommy Miller went on to better things having first played at Pools.

The only dividends it paid last time was to Morrisons, as they all sat in front of us with their Goody bags and it certainly wasn’t ‘five a day’ unless snacks and fizzy drinks qualified then.

dewent..."The Linighan brothers and Tommy Miller went on to better things having first played at Pools"

..kenny lowe and mark venus too....and maybe a venus/mowbray reunion soon at the vic ?

The problem Pools have in recruiting youth players is that Sunderland and the Boro sweep the area for young schoolboys and we only get what’s left. You look at our youths and most have had trials at those two. I understand Morris got time out of school to attend Borough. The mother of another schoolboy told me that if he had problems with health or at school they had to contact Boro. Thankfully one or two get through the net. As a matter of interest David Linighan was playing for the Boro on Sunday mornings along with one or two Hartlepool lads and I believe Miller was at Ipswich.

Miller was at Ipswich but was released as a fifteen year old and joined Pools, so he effectively "grew up" in the football sense with us and eventually signed his first professional contract as a Pools player and then rejoined Ipswich. His development was with us but you are right in pointing out his very early years were at Ipswich. As he was signed by Pools as a schoolboy I am claiming him as coming through our youth set up.

derwent.."Miller was at Ipswich but was released as a fifteen year old and joined Pools,"

..of course tommys dad was chief scout at pools for many years.....probably why we got lucky with his lad...wonder what tommy senior would have made of this geek boy we have got lumbered with thanks to bonehead..?... ffs...

I appreciate what you say about Miller all I was doing was pointing out how the big clubs get hold of young players at an early age. As I said the majority of Pools kids will have had trials at big clubs.iIn my expierence David Linighan was one of four Hartlepool schoolboys having trials playing on Sunday mornings at Borough. The only one signed was Paul Proudlock.

My memory of Nelson is him celebrating wildly when he scored against Pools after leaving them, from that day onwards I had no respect for him.

1952.."My memory of Nelson is him celebrating wildly when he scored against Pools after leaving them, from that day onwards I had no respect for him."

...sooner the boneheads gone the better...i expect good news shortly...

Wasn’t their the business over more money and a spectator threw 50 p in front of him when on the sidelines. He didn’t help himself.

[quote="Johnjo1"]The problem Pools have in recruiting youth players is that Sunderland and the Boro sweep the area for young schoolboys and we only get what’s left.
even crewe who got a reputation for bringing on youth players did not recruit their own. they got players from liverpool and other big clubs who were rejected by them including david platt from man.u. a line pools should be going down.

Sorry playing devils advocate again yes Crewe had a reputation for picking up good young players but that dried up. Haven’t Pools being doing that for years picking up players released or on loan from the NE teams. Only difference not many have been successful.

1952..."My memory of Nelson is him celebrating wildly when he scored against Pools after leaving them, from that day onwards I had no respect for him."

...we have long memories.....so ...lets get on with it... and sell a few more season tickets.....accountability..


https://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/sport/ ... at-3666269

"Blyth Spartans 4 March 2020 1 December 2021 P37 W6 D5 L26 ..win rate...16.2%...

Crazy how we somehow gave him a job with that record.

turnbull....lee....nelson....3....2....1.....get that bin ready...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcNgs3HVNz4