then there is VAT and other stuff taken off the value of the ticket that the club can bank. the club cannot make much out of kids tickets as well. taken all concessions and season tickets bought i just wonder what the break even figure is for a home game when all the sponsorship is also taken into account.

I can’t see Pools making a profit on match days after paying out all the costs, Pools are a loss making club, I can’t recall them ever making a profit ? Every owner apart from Coxhall have had to put ‘their’ money into the club. IOR said they put £1million in a year, not sure that was actual cash or through the IOR group of companies who Pools were part of and were registered in the Virgin Islands.

1952.."Pools are a loss making club, I can’t recall them ever making a profit ? Every owner apart from Coxhall have had to put ‘their’ money into the club. IOR said they put £1million in a year"

...well said and thank you sir...a balanced and reasonable post for a change ...and tbf from a man who knows a bit about how the financial world operates...shows up all this "big club" "massive potential" stuff for what it is..complete bollox..

I don't claim to be an expert but my understanding is that very few clubs actually make a profit or break even from gate receipts and even with the help of sponsorship and tv money, most clubs rely on benefactors with deep pockets to stay afloat. Even when teams get promoted, their costs increase so the losses don't go away. In my opinion, Raj would have been all too aware of this when he took over.

So in your world we not underachieving.
And fans who have league One aspirations are dreamers not proper fans.
Talk complete bollocks n shit like that.

Keep it civil matey
We had our warnings of the Bunker Boss

gloves...:We had our warnings of the Bunker Boss"

..too right..."ya power freak..goodbye bunkerites"..

.... "friendly banter"..."Keep it civil matey"

"He was hanging out of Sing"
"Fuck off back under the bridge"
"Were u busy havin a shit or even sex or most probably a Tom Hank"

Everyone has league one aspirations, who said that they’re not proper fans, what’s the point of supporting Pools otherwise.
Underachieving is a much misused world.

No he didn't say what you are saying he said. Not being very careful at all there are you?

I don't know if we are underachieving or not. It APPEARS that there are a number of similar sized/positioned clubs to ourselves (apart from the odd obvious basket case) fairing particularly better in the transfer/managerial market than ourselves and generally being a lot less "cake and arse party" than we are. That SUGGESTS to me that we don't figure very highly in the league 2 spenders chart at all. Now before people start foaming at the mouth, I don't know whether that's a false impression I have or whether it is in fact true but all those other clubs are spending money they don't actually have and its through running up debts or wealthy and free spending owners.

Or it could be thst Raj is a tight wad. Dunno.

No one is foaming at the mouth.

The answer is astonishingly simple, we don’t have the cash to compete with some other more fortunate clubs with a sugar daddy. Whether Raj is a ‘tight wad’ or just doesn’t have the purchasing power we are at a disadvantage, just like some other clubs in the division, they aren’t all loaded either.
If a new buyer comes along, great, but don’t hold your breath. We are where we are.
If it was in my power to, I’d buy it, but it ain’t. Trouble is no one else has the coin either, so don’t poke the crocodile with a stick.

That's good to know (the foaming bit). You believe they ALL have more money than us? They all have benefactors? Every one of them? Or are some as just as poor just spend it better?

I have a problem with this "shhhh don't wake Raj" approach. Its just as much our club as his. Just cos what he has invested has the queens head on it doesn't mean we have invested less. I'm not up for stifling free speech.

I get you.

Perhaps I am a romantic. For me, no love means no fans and no club for Raj to own in the first place. It isn't about me or you, it's the collective us that has invested in the club and the part we play is equally as essential.

Again I’m not disagreeing with you, but being a supporter is a strange situation in as much I’ve come to believe in a lot of instances we are seen as mere customers who pay to be entertained, but in a way it’s like a marriage, even tribal, while every one at any club from owner to players is transient, we’re there for life. In that sense it is our club, it’s the commitment, but that’s also the Achilles heal, because your loyalty puts you on a spot.
But a football club with no supporters ceases to exist, but that would be mutually assured extinction and we lose again.
Even objecting can be pointless unless you have a critical mass of numbers, but 99% of fans are indifferent and a couple of wins is enough to quieten most down……
I know where we are and there’s the problem the enigma of where we’re going, what is the future…..for a start I’d like to see a manager in place with total control over signings and a realistic budget, I don’t need to know what it is, just that the players reflect it on the pitch.
I have no answers in the present situation, that’s the problem. It’s like being in a rubber dinghy in the sea, I’d rather not be there, but it’s better than drowning…… but that’s not to say I’d rather be somewhere else.

Put the B side on.
Ya boring the shit out of everyone.

think nearly every fan that comes to games have their own wish. from those just thankfull for a club to support right through to those who think we should be pushing above our weight by topping league 1 with every single option in between. personally i do not want to see us struggling where we are but aint too bothered if we are not in the play off positions either. things have gone right before as every dog gets its day with the accringtons and morecambes getting lucky in the transfer market, everything clicking and gaining promotion. as for crowds, well i think every club has its break even figure for them with the rest of the money coming in but without any evedence i,d say pools would be quite high, more than we get now.

Here's another Mail fans' forum update, this time on the Chris Maguire situation: https://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/sport/ ... re-3880553

It's quite long but the gist seems to be Pools offered a contract taking into account the possibility that Maguire might have to sit out a ban when the FA get around to considering his case. The PFA won't allow the amendments to a standard contract that Pools want, so it really is up to the FA to pull their fingers out, have a hearing and decide what punishment they want to impose for the alleged gambling offences. Maguire has been up here training with the squad ever since he 'signed' but the contract is 'off the table' till the case is heard.

I guess that means he's a free agent once again - and Pools have gone with Theo Robinson.