we are the favoured ones where both god and the devil both look after us.

It's the hope that kills you pal!

Proper twist of fate generated by the fixture computer. I see the feeling toward DC is still raw here & no doubt you're all rubbing your hands in anticipation at the welcome you'll be giving him in the first game between us at your place!
Unfortunately I genuinely believe you'll be witnessing another promotion party at our place last day. Apologies if that comes across as being Billy big bollox, believe me after watching County for 37 years that's not in my (or most County fans) DNA, but there's a sense of real momentum building at our club, the likes of which i've only witnessed in very fleeting spells in my time as a supporter of my club. I think we'll get another promotion out of DC next season & then he'll be off to pastures new. Nothing's a given though, he may just turn out to be a really good non-league manager & a bobbins league manager. If we're 13th by November & he's buggered off to Wrexham guess that'll be the case!

I hope any animosity is restricted to verbals & doesn't descend into anything silly between our supporters. I've often chuckled at your last away day fancy dress outings so I'm quite looking forward to sharing a pint or 10 with a thousand smurfs, snakes, or Judas lookalikes or whatever you decide to come as on 6th May!

Best of luck for the coming season (don't worry, not expecting any reciprocation! )

had a listen to this following a recommendation by mr g...its very very good ..fergie and hobin talking about all sorts..last season, ashton gate, upcoming fixtures, new manager, algarve, etc etc etc....excellent stuff from radio borer for a change...from 35.40..

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0c9y9xb

1973.."I hope any animosity is restricted to verbals & doesn't descend into anything silly between our supporters."

..surprised you would even mention something like that tbh..its a given..we dont do that sort of nonsense any more over here like..dont know about down your way...we will get dressed up and have a good happy day out like we always do..it will be family fun..there will undoubtedly be some banners chants and the like aimed at that snake you have on your extensive payroll..well deserved imo but sure the big man can take it all in his stride..personally nothing against county as we have had a long history between us over the years..glad a traditional club like yours is back in the efl with us tbh..but enjoy that unlimited supply of money that you have to your advantage at the moment..who knows when it will run out..or when that snakehead will bite you on the arse when you least expect it..

According to the betting, Pools are tipped as relegation strugglers

bellender..."According to the betting, Pools are tipped as relegation strugglers"

..no shit sherlock...now there's a surprise..

Glad to hear that & genuinely looking forward to your visit on the last day & mixing amicably with your suitably attired last day throng

Thanks for your kind words in regards to us being back un the EFL & likewise I'm glad you stabilised after the DC upheaval & had a comfortable season back in league 2.

Fully expecting DC (or snakehead to you ) to leave us in the near future, for me personally he'll go with best wishes for the future having got us out of the hell of non-league (unless he ends up at Burnley,Stoke, Man City or Crewe, then he can burn in hell )

You're right, no doubt our new found wealth will run out one day & everything will come crashing down & the status quo will return to normal. It's a strange feeling being optimistic about a club that has been mostly shit & skint for most of it's history, so yeah I'm going to enjoy the ride until the bubble bursts.

Strangely when we were in the NL we were enticing players from divisions above, our transfer policy this summer seems to be focussing on hungry young players from non-league(so maybe the money is running out already! ) Although I'm quite pleased so far as they seem to be players with potential to develop & sell on at a profit which most of us see as a better long term option for our club than paying over inflated fees for older players further up the pyramid. It worked for us in that respect with someone like Paddy Madden but it doesn't always pan out so well.

How do you see next season going for yourselves? much transfer activity so far? & from your experience of last season which teams who didn't make it last year do you expect to mount a challenge?

1973.."it's a strange feeling being optimistic about a club that has been mostly shit & skint for most of it's history,"

..yep..we briefly had to deal with that novelty about two decades ago when we were owned by a small norwegian owned oil company..it didnt give us the volume of wonga you've had pumped in by your billionaire owner but at least made us competitive for a change.. challenging at the right end of the leagues..and we had a few successful years culminating in us getting to within a whisker of the championship in a league one play off final in 05..all seems a long time ago now..within the last couple of weeks we have a new scottish management team in place and have just recruited a number of scots lads who look the part on paper..but our budget obviously wont be anywhere near yours..we will see how it goes..money isnt everything.. though some slippery greasy wriggly characters with forked tongues might disagree..

Don't think their is much doubt Stockport will be up there next year. Not sure it will be as easy as many county fans think it will be though.

As for us we have signed a few Scottish players from lower leagues that some fans are getting carried away with. Will they be any good? Who know s but at least they will probobly show a bit of fight. Until we find some goalscorers we will struggle. The bookies probobly have us right at the minute, but that could change if we sign some quality players. I think we were nailed on for relegation if the last ten games were anything to go by, we might will be but at least we have a semblance of hope until July 30th. Good to see county back in the league, but don't take offence we would like to hear you more than most clubs next year because if the lies Challinor told to get a new club.

‘Absolutely pissed it’…they lost power at the end of the season and nearly cocked it up….. that’s not pissing it.

Now I’m fond of a rumour, like so and so’s going to sign for us (he never does) but it livens things up and beats arm wrestling the wife for money, however come on, when it gets down to ……’ I’ve heard that something is in the offing from a reliable source and is going to reveal eveything that’s been going on’….but never does, you wonder what’s the point.
At least when Terry Fuckwit tells me we’re signing Peles grandson he’s putting his name on the line and giving me facts (in his world anyway)….
There’s been more revelations with no revelation than revelations about Mother Teresa’s sex life and she’s in the lead.
Trouble is, you’ve had it soft ……anyone coming after IOR came has been in fluffy world.

He’s history.
Anyway you’ll be wasting your time coming on after next as we’re going over to Gaelic!

In reference to Mols departure, after reading the comments about Lee, did he meet the new boss and think …’where’s Doncaster again’……. maybe he wasn’t up for it.

Players you clown.

firstly some who were close last season i,d expect to have an average season that sometimes is a reaction to missing out. fancy your lot as well as relegated doncaster and gillingham to come straight back up. there will be the surprise package who had a poor season last time out, possibly colchester. as for the bottom i,d love to see the back of crewe and isn,t it about time the great escape atrists from spotland get their comeuppance and have a tast of the NL. as for pools i wish i knew. it could really go either way next season with the play offs or scraping 22nd place. have faith in our manager but you need luck with signings.

Ooooh you are letting your fleeting moment of ‘glory’ inflate your life jacket. We’ll see.

snowy....."Ooooh you are letting your fleeting moment of ‘glory’ inflate your life jacket. We’ll see."

..eloquence and entertainment all in one short sentence...such a rare combination...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPmruHc4S9Q

I’ll let you go back to as far as bookies have ever existed and show me just one time we weren’t the whipping boys for the fat arsed bookies ….?
If you base your life expectations on the ‘deep thoughts’ of bookies you deserve all life throws at you.
Ffs if you’re a proper Poolie you say what you say every time the this happens….”Fuck em!’, you don’t lay down and die…..

I was quoting the betting as a fact...which may not be obvious to everyone on here & may be of some interest, but what IS obvious, is that there is only one 'Bellend' on here & that is you...Typical smug, arrogant, invisible keyboard warrior posting insults....in short a dickhead

Betting is not a ‘fact’. It’s chance.

bell ringer...."Typical smug, arrogant, invisible keyboard warrior posting insults....in short a dickhead"

wow...try and hit me again..just luv your "facts" belly boy..and the irony insults stuff too...buzzin for you mate..lets go the full 12 rounds....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHE3Lz0DUuU

Betting odds are factual as they stand smug dickhead, now get back hiding behind your keyboard & under mummy's skirt....

belly ache..."smug dickhead"

..just a one shot wonder?..try again...

Agree with you that there's usually one of the relegated sides that bounces back, I think Donny could certainly be contenders there. Also agree that most fans would see Crewe losing their FL status as some sort of justice for their heinous past. I think it's about time Stevenage returned to where they came from, seem to be perennial escape artists in recent years, not always achieved their escapes in normal footballing circumstances either (collapse of Bury & covid ppg).

As for the rest, The more I look at the teams in the division the harder it looks to call who will trouble the top, so many potential contenders. There was a line often trotted out in the NL that league 2 isn't much of a step up but don't think that's true. The majority of the teams are probably on a par with the top half of the NL but there certainly doesn't look to be that block of sides that you expect to struggle like you get in the NL, certainly no Dover or Kings Lynn type of clubs anyway.

bellicose..1."My 'source' who has been pretty accurate over the last couple of years tells me that DC is stalling on his own contract negotiations as he is still unsure of the clubs ambitions under RS. He was frustrated that 3 key players whom he had turned from near obscurity into game changers had been allowed to leave" 2."I have heard that DC is refusing to sign a new contract until Raj commits to offering ‘much improved’ contracts to key players to retain their services… if that is not forthcoming, he will see it as an indicator of the clubs further ambitions & will consider offers from elsewhere himself….. can’t really blame him tbh"


..belly..you are so full of.. ..?..."facts"?....[see vid below btw]..been speaking with your tell tale terry recently have we?..spit it out..you need to come clean...you are obviously a fully paid up member of the "fellowship" on here..as i thought..and still grieving the loss of your king?...the big lying hero...sounds like you both have a lot in common tbh?.... ....sad...another swing maybe?...lets go betting boy wonder...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34UZqP2VxRc

If betting odds are factual, the end of season predictions would come true and there’d be no point in even bothering watching games.
But it won’t happen, it never has and never will, that’s why it’s not a fact, just daft old educated guess work.

The reaction to this post has been absolutely shocking. This statement was made as a talking point and it would have been simple to just talk about it, not attack the poster who just posted a fact. According to the odds, we ARE tipped for relegation. That's a fact. I think the people who worked out the odds are off the mark but fact remains, the odds are the odds.

Bookies rarely lose or take a big hit.
Dont gamble big and quit while your ahead.

If the typical Pools supporter over the years had taken any notice of the bookies odds we’d have ended it all years ago. The bookies have always treat us like ready wrapped failures and to constantly start every season looking at what the detached bookies who know nothing about us really, is frankly pathetic, lazy defeatism.
Or ….. is it a case of disrespecting the bookies viewpoint doesn’t support the tedious narrative of doom of the ‘Glee Club’ who for some twisted reason seek out and enjoy any opportunity to see disaster around every corner.

Anyone had a bet on us goin up?
What stake n odds?

Kuala Lumpur Colonial and Empire Betting is offering 200/1 on us getting promoted, and 10/1 on Joe Allon being leading goal scorer.
Sounds dodgy to me.

one thing with gambling is that you are usually guarenteed nothing for something. never done it, not interested and actually never bought a lottery ticket in my life even that postcode lottery that should be banned with people in fear of not buying a ticket just in case they are the only ones in the street not getting rich.

Closest I ever got to betting was taking my granda’s bets down to Pinckney’s in Blakelocck when I was 9, waiting for someone who’d take it in.
He was an inspiration though to me, he only won once (1962) he got so excited he asked me nana to go down for his winnings….. it became family folklore, she stormed in with his riches …”2/11 (15p) all that way for that!!!!!!!)” ..couldn’t wipe the smile off his face.
Lesson learned, no bloody point.

Just looked at the fixtures again for August. Wow this is going to be tough.

You always get a tough month somewhere down the line, might as well get it out of the way now…. but at this stage, who’s to say they’re gonna be as big as their own trumpets.

You say that, but if Pools start the season badly the miserabilists will be out in force well before August is done. No use saying 'see how it's looking after 10 games' to a lot of football fans.

If Paul Hartley has Pools playing good football I'll keep the faith while the new version of Pools is finding its feet. Chris Turner's team got off to a truly dreadful start in 2001/2 but most performances were better than the results suggested. Pools were bottom 4 by early September and stayed there for over a month, but ended up reaching the play-offs!

You’ve just contradicted yourself with your first and second post.
If ‘les miserable’ aren’t moaning about that they’ll be moaning about something else. We’ve had good starts and faded, and who’s to say we’ll have a bad start.
I’ve been listening to whining gobshites at Pools for years, I really don’t care any more.
Look on the bright side and see what turns up before giving up.

Which posts are they? If you mean first and second paragraphs, I didn't say I was miserabilist did I? Didn't predict there'd be a bad start either

I'd prefer a decent start, if only to avoid the Bunker going overboard on the doom and gloom all over again come August.

I’d like decent start too …… but I was just contrasting the reaction you portrayed of the miserables compared to your own more optimistic approach.
By the way, people say it’s a hard month, fair enough, then I checked how it would contrast with my birthday month and that looked a bit crap too, then the wife’s birthday month, crap again,…so I suspect whatever month it was swapped with would have the miserables whining on.

or some going the complete other way if say we win our first 5 league games. hartley would be king, raj the kingmaker and the players some new type of greek gods. there is never a middle ground at pools.

Sing when we’re winning….. says it all.

Singh when we winning
UTP,

so true.