..and yes things can change, but there seems precious little to be excited about on the signing front, and we know what we were left with is grossly inadequate.

When you are left with praying Hastie miraculously turns good, and looking like the likes of Lacey and Murry will be in our defence you know you are in trouble.

One positive is Askey, but right now this is shaping up to being an absolute disaster.

You do keep banging on about Murray and Lacey First, Pruti, Burton and Dodds can all play centre back as well - neither is a guaranteed starter even now. Second, they aren't as bad as you make out and are hardly going to be outclassed in the NL.

Results will varify the different opinions this thread will have.
Still take 5th bottom under this Regime.

I think we are underestimating this league if we think weak slow players like lacey and Murray will some how fair much better than last year.
There will be a lot more physical high ball stuff (if thats possible) and I dont trust either of them in that regard--I like Pruti but he needs a big experienced player next to him.
Otherwise the amount of hit and hope goals we will lose will be infuriating......these are the two centre backs from one of our worst ever league teams---yes they are that bad !

As said before, Lacey won the Title with Luton and made the playoffs with Notts County. Murray will be good at NL level, he improved towards the end of last season.
If Hastie can learn to take his man on, he'll be a threat on the wings and could become a top player in the league. In my opinion, of what I've seen last season watching the National League.

I for one are still looking forward to next season, with the squad we have, hopefully a few will come in and a few will leave.

I'm remaining hopeful and positive.

Fair enough I hope your positivity is right--
Lacey was released by a conference side when we got him....Murray I think people are suffering from a false comparison--he went from catastrophic to not very good

No one has a crystal ball and we may feel differently once afew more signings come through

I get the feeling if we do actually do well there’ll be some disappointed people.

Not saying Lacey is a world beater but he's experienced at that level and had some success as well. We 100% need new recruits but he's one player I think could come good.

That emoji gets u away with a horrendous accusation.

How on earth can anyone suggest the signs point to a bottom half finish when we haven't even started pre season training? To do that you'd need to know what the other 23 clubs have got available, how their squads will gell, how good their managers and coaches are, what luck they'll have, etc etc
So really there are no "signs" at all, you're just guessing (hoping even??).
If we can keep Umerah we're probably ok defensively and goalkeeper, midfield there's decent options apart from a lack of pace and width, Umerah needs someone to help him out. I very much doubt there's 12 teams in NL with a better manager and squad as it stands.

I thought I’d get a BITE…

As I said no one has a crystal ball--but its worth remembering we were utterly fucking abject last year and have lost Kemp, Sylla and Sterry since then--arguably the 3 best players we had.
Unless we sign at least a half dozen decent players i dont see the current lot doing anything above treading water at best.

Completely agree. Let’s not forget this lot are serial losers. It will take an almighty mentality shift and a complete uplift in quality for them to be mildly successful in the National League. We will win or die by the recruitment.

Umerah will be gone. Will be like when we kept Paddy Amond for a game or two in the NL post-relegation. Someone will get him by the time the window has closed, he’s on quite a lot of lists (I know this as fact).

The concern is the crop of under-performers currently bolted on 2 year deals on big money. One in one out I imagine. I bet that wage bill is considerably bloated vs where it needs to be.

I have no doubt that there is a bloated wage bill after last seasons shenanigans…but that would invalidate the claim that the Club was getting players on the cheap.
I’ve always believed it wasn’t about the money, it was how the manager spent the money

A different theory would be that last year's wage bill was average, but this year's, despite what Raj says, is particularly poor. We are at least 700k worse off per year now we have been relegated. This particular payment is separate to the payment which is parachuted.

Can't see how last year's wage bill can have been average, we had more players on the books over the course of the season than I can ever remember, and with Cooke, Hastie, Lacey all reputedly on well over 2k/wk. For all he was absolute dogshite I don't suppose Leon Clarke would have come for peanuts either. Plus there were 2 managers and their teams to be paid off.

its really sad aint it. football seems to bring the worst out of people by being totally overconfident or the complete opposite. for some you get the impression if they go fishing they,d be only happy if their catch is zero.

[quote="loyal_fan"][


As I said no one has a crystal ball--but its worth remembering we were utterly fucking abject last year and have lost Kemp, Sylla and Sterry since then--arguably the 3 best players we had.
add umerah to that list and find out we actually looked better without all 4 in the last too games of the season but i suppose there is an excuse for that like catching teams on a bad day etc.

we have no clue really how good or bad he is by partnering murray when he was absolutely dog poo and been absent since november. even when he did play he looked the better of the 2. with his previous pedigree he could come good with the better murray or pruti alongside him. think its the other end of the pitch that could be a worry as goal scorers are hard to find at any level and with money to burn.

Howay Snowy you know that's nonsense. The signs aren't good, you know that.

The number of players means absolutely nowt if they were all on peanuts. If you judge it on quality or source club, then I would say that a lot were not on particularly big contracts. They certainly didn't deserve them anyway Reputedly? Total guesswork. 2 x managers to pay off? Not if they were in a probation period. Can you really imagine many clubs in L2, looking at the signings they made, offering worse terms than us? Even the ones who doubt have wealthy backers. Even the transfer window, which was anticipated as a chance for us to dig ourselves out of a hole months before it opened, was a disappointment. Lots of arrivals, not much in quality.

it suits peoples agendas by saying players were on good wages who were poor even if they do not know the full facts. my old man was a pro, i know many of them including one who was best man at my wedding. one thing they all had in common was i new a few secrets of them but never how much they ever earned. even in the same team there is guess work about players due more to where they came from than anything else and no knowledge of the exact amount the lads next to em earn.

Same as it suits those who constantly say we pay peanuts isn't it?
None of us know for sure, or ever will. So to say one guess is wrong but another's guess is right is nonsense really. I'm guessing here but we must have had nearly 40 players on the books over the course of the season, and on top of wages there's accomodation, NI, admin fees for signings, agents fees, and legal fees for contracts in/out, termination agreements, etc etc. Curles probation was completed when he was appointed permanent manager wasn't it.

think what we have witnessed since the last promotion season has been some players being paid too much whilst others have been paid too little. people who cannot wait to get out of the place have at best made sideways moves and not upwards in their careers.

Permanent roles get probationary periods.

The amount of players we had on the books was maybe slightly more than average last year. Not an indication of a generous budget but due to our panicked last minute sweeping the shelves clear in the transfer window.

I refer you to my reply to Kev on this post of mine…..

You’re doing it again Snowy! I’m getting deja-vu from last year. Let me say this again as I said to you last year - let the football do the talking & judge signings on the pedigree with which they have operated at.

Make your own judgement on it. Do these signings look good for the NL, does our team look like it’ll stop losing more games than it wins?

You entrusted and hailed Sir Paul Hartley last summer for his signatures in the most bizarre transfer policy in the past few years in the whole footy league.

We ALL want Pools to do well, rest assured. I’ll be positive when there’s something to be positive about.

Some of us just called last year’s pre season for what it was, it was so apparent we were gonna be shite. You erred on the side of ‘you want us to lose’ ‘we’ll be great’. At the moment there has been nothing to suggest lightning won’t strike twice aside from JA being at the helm.

It’s still early days - plenty of time. We’re not jetting off to Portugal and asking for local ringers yet… then we can worry properly again.

Just out of curiosity, could you tell us all what you think last years wage bill was?

I am amazed in how many fans have backroom knowledge and in-depth knowledge on Pools and Raj finances on here. No wonder why we have never been successful or won anything. The fans don't let the team win, all they can do is moan at them.
The only time we actually won something, 96% of the games we had no fans in the ground we have been hung drawn and quartered before the players have even started training or before the fixture have been released

FC Hartlepool here I come

Moments of quality are the difference between games drawn or won - and there’s so many games in the NL that sit on a knife edge, close fought ugly battles. We proved that with Oates, Armstrong and Holohan in the season you reference. Langstaff / Mullin last year in the NL. Wrexham and Notts weren’t always blowing teams away.

Pools - one of the lowest scorers and highest conceding teams in league 2 last season, wins at an absolute premium. Not writing them off but they need help with quality in key positions. Especially when Umerah departs.

We’ve got the right manager in place but will he have the tools? All will be revealed over the coming weeks!

I'm very glad to be able to tell you what last seasons budget was. It was shite.

You don't need backroom knowledge. The writing is on the wall.

Keep your wig on and check out the post above Kev sent in response on the topic.
As for this season, if Askey walks we might as well take up watching extreme ironing on the telly…… I hope to be proved wrong.

I'm pinning a lot of hopes on Askey too.

We all are.
The pressure n expectation from him is almost Fairy-tale material.

See were we are about November. That should be an indicator of how the season is going ti pan out.
UTP

just have a feeling in my bones that askey will be stuck with a number of players he does not want and the club lacks the money to pay em off and recruit better. can see us stuck somewhere bang in the middle of the league with hopefully a real clearout at the end of next season with JA still in control to move us on

I sort of agree, but it’s a dismal prospect.

Like ive previously said.
Patience required a bit like Fergys 1st full season an Man Utd. .
Then we crank up the Ambition 24/25 wirh JA working under new owners.
Not a nice prospect writing off this season but come on ya got to be a lot brain dead if ya think we getting promoted.

no the prospect isn,t exciting but i think many clubs need a season of consolidation and sorting stuff out when they,ve been on a bit of a rollercoaster ride. my main worry is fans getting on askeys back when things do not go our way because expectations are higher than what he can realistically give us. ok we need to be looking at the top of the league and not the bottom from day one as teams who play just for safety alone end up in a relegation fight. can see the whole place going in meltdown if we dare lose to the dorkings of this world with little said if we beat the chesterfield ,sbecause a lot expect it.

Pools have 4 of the most expensive players in the NL according to the mail.

Given the team isnt league 2 standard - it is however a half decent NL side the way things stand. Its no way a bottom half finish.

you clearly have not watched much NL football since we last ventured. There are teams still playing part time brick layers in there...

Oxford City although gained the right to be here should not be and got lucky.

we just need another attacking presence up top and some wingers - possibly a good creative CM too.

Lacey is getting some uncalled for stick too - hes more than capable for this level and has been and done it before. I have no doubt should he be fit then we will see a good player out of him. He was let down by lack of fitness for L2 level...his partner in CB (Murray) and also the lack of guidance by Killip. He also notches in with goals as we seen. Looking forwards to him being back tbh.

I wouldn't pay too much attention to that - one of them is Jake Hastie These £100,000 + valuations only begin to make sense if they take the player's wages into account.

I think the fixtures are released tomorrow and it will be our luck that we are drawn away to Southend and come back with a victory.

Southend are in deep sh*t with finances, some players and all the non playing staff do not appear to have been paid for weeks.
They owe HMRC and in court again within a couple of weeks and have not paid their water bill and this has stopped them watering the pitch and training facilities.

There have been ongoing talks about a takeover but their chairman/owner Ron Martin has stalled on this many times.

I can see them being thrown out the NL and if, say, we had played them and won, any points would be null and void.

Those rules are so bad - so the first few teams who play them early on collect some much needed points off them then for all its worth then get them stripped away should they get booted out.
but yeh be Pools' luck - stuff them 4-0 and get robbed of the points come xmas.

it should all happen prior to a ball being kicked - give them till the day before the first match

Watched a program called ‘teams in trouble’ with Southend being one of them. Conclusion was teams paying more in wages than they recieve are heading for trouble.Posters on here should note this when they say we should offer players like Oates etc more money to keep them.

Rhys oates was one of the main reasons we got promoted earning the club over a million pounds in extra revenue, if we think like that we would never pay anyone more wages.

As this program concluded you pay more than you can afford you go bust.

Totally agree. If we have to let all out best players leave for free then we may as well turn the lights off, lock the doors and go home right now.

The hard part is speculating on which player to spend the money on though.

So Southend (based on a chance they will go bankrupt )and Oxford city we fancy ourselves to be above, need a few more than that to make top half !