Watched the Heed v Mags game. Heed played very well against a good Mags team. Winning 2-0 lost 2-3 played out from the back all game. Played fast one touch fooball very effective and very impressive. Yes its only a friendly but if Heed play like today they will outplay n surprise many teams. Also noticed Billericay slaughtered Southend 7 - 2 worrying times. York & boro 0-0.

Gateshead ended the season in fine form, won something like 11 out of the last 15 certainly a team to look out for.

Pre season means nowt, not worth looking into.

Tough start on paper them 1st 2 games.
But fully expecting to win game 3..
Im still on patience mode and dont expect promotion this season.
Rome Wasent built in a day.
In John Ceasor Askey we trust.
UTP.

there problem is they cannot seem to increase fan numbers and have to sell to just survive. one thing they have seems good recruitment that we should copy.

They need a decent ground…even an bang average ground, their present arrangement is soulless.

multi sports stadiums have never been popular in this country but there are many of them abroad. cannot think of another like gatesheads apart from bradford park avenue where likewise they struggle for crowds. once there used to be quite a few about including wembley with dog tracts, speedway, banger racing as well as athletics. never went to bramall lane when they played cricket there and imagine it must have been awful for watching football.

Anticipation for many supporters across all the Clubs builds up in the hope of a good season.

Unfortunately by the end of September after 8/10 games most hope is gone!

I recall Newport years ago where the track around the pitch impinged upon the corners of the pitch…

and the shay when they had speedway and you had no run up to take a corner with the pitch above the track.

Remember when they played at Redheugh Park which was a greyhound stadium. They were voted out of the league when they ended up in bottom four. Many said it was because of the ground as rarely was a team voted out in those days. Just ask Pools who I believe have the record for number of re-applications under those rules.

Foam wasn't spilt on a tray...

do not know whether it was true or not but their was a rumour told to me by my old man via a director of halifax town that it was a blessing in disguise for the gateshead directors being kicked out.

yeh they have a habit of finding really good lads for this level.

finished in fine form under Williamson - will bet they will be a decent side again this season.

can see us at least being in the top 10 with them and York come xmas

Wish I had put a bet on them for promotion. Lost a very important manager then had a little wobble followed by promotion form again. Beat Barnet away on Saturday 0-2 then defeated Solihull away 1-2 . This tiny football club is way way way above its level and it goes to show its people not money that can bring success. Reckon we will meet them in the playoffs.

My belief all along, not how much you spend, but how wisely you spend it….then find your best 11 and stick with it.

They are obviously doing something right that we are not doing. Whether they just have a better scouting system, but they keep picking up good players. We celebrate 4 points against bottom 4 teams, yet they have just gone and beat two promotion rivals away in a few days. Standards and possibly ambition seems to outdo us.

Nobody is going overboard about 4 points - and York aren't bottom 4 and won't be anywhere near the bottom come the end of the season. If Pools get a result against Bromley on Saturday that will count as evidence that we've finally turned a corner.

All credit to Gateshead but will they still be in a play-off place in 25 games time? I wouldn't bet on it. Incidentally. Carl Magnay is now one of their coaches.

If you go to two top 4 teams in a week and beat them both, good chance your going to be involved. We should be looking to beat bromley saturday.

We should be looking to beat Bromley Saturday - really?? Surely we go to every game looking for a win? That one must be straight out of the elite coaching manuals lol.

let them worry about us and just respect them and no more. no team in this league are world beaters by a long way and that includes chesterfield at the vic next month.

Bromley are doing what they do every season in this league - nice little flutter at the top. Sitting well pretty most the season in the top 7 then either they loose some key men or bottle it and never quite manage to get out the league.
who knows this maybe their year but i cant see it. There is horses galloping up well behind the pack and one being the Heed !

Looks like my " Dark Horses " are galloping home to the playoffs. If you have noticed any of my Pools predictions this season I have always stayed positive and always believed we can got a result. However this game tomorrow looks bleak, I see us getting beat by 2 or 3 goals ....would love to be wrong mind but just doesn't look good. It's so annoying to see a tiny club like heed out doing us in this "micky mouse " league and infact a total embarrassment. Taking nothing away from heed but come on pools this is wrong on every level.

Speaking of Dark Horses - Spennymoor under Spike Lee are now 3 points off a play-off place in the NLN with 2 games in hand on the sides in 6th and 7th.
Could be a derby fixture in the NL next season - prefer that to it being 2 ships that pass in the night

Can you use the phrase ‘Dark horses’ in these strange times….?

Isnt it funny how lee has been quite well backed at spenny and has done a fantastic job, did ok for a while at pools then like Askey looked out of his depth. Phillips also starting to now struggling for results here, all these managers struggle at pools i wonder why?

I wished id backed them for promotion, look on a different level to pools the times ive seen them. Had a lot of the team dismantled and still a great chance for promotion.

True

Simple, too many useless players.Quality not quantity is the way ahead.
But…….

And the manager left for MKD what they have " well overachieved " is staggering really.

Never rated him when he was here, so I’m not gonna be a hypocrite, his end of season farce for us was out of order.

Yet we roll out the excuses week after week for this shambles.

One day when we get people inside he club with some sort of clue, the penny might drop.

We just about standing in the " last chance saloon ". Raj needs to down his whiskey in one bang the glass down on the bar, then head of back to his ranch to start purchasing the very best livestock avaliable. Otherwise the town folk may well run him out of town.

Smart transfers and succession planning so when Williamson left, took the coaches and some players with him, they could continue on the same trajectory with the same style of play.
Would never catch on at Pools, much better to rip it all up and start again every summer...

Fair play to the guy he played a blinder pretending to put the club up for sale, got most of the heat off his back, remember he said he sacked a manager before the fans turned on him as well.

Looks like we are stuck with him for at least 1 year yet, nice cheque from the football league for one final season. So we might as well hold our nerves and probobly have to write another season off before anything happens, not sure how many more summers need to pass before fans realise we arent going to get the size of this club deserves.

Could be wrong but I believe Williamson left on his own and the job was handed down to those behind him. As for the players again I am not sure if any followed him but 5 or 6 loans ran out and needed replacing.

His assistant and a physio/coach left with him. He took Wearne and also Lofthouse (who was on loan but the loan was cancelled after Williamson left so he could go to MK). Rob Elliot, who was technical director, was given the job with Magnay and another senior player as coaches. They also managed to replace the loans who left pretty well with kids from academys, something we always struggle with.

Wearne is the only player to follow Williamson so far, attacking midfielder.

Like i said before there isnt any real standout player for them - they all work hard and know their positions and what to do.
Dinanga is probably having one of those standout seasons and has hit form at the right time ! Again nothing too special about him and he wouldnt probably get in any team in the league above, but hes doing his job and its paying off for the team.
Think it was Daz Kelly who hit the nail on the head with what was wrong with the club behind the scenes and what it needed ! Shame his philosophy and way of workings didnt work out as it all sounded promising. Not sure Joe Monks is the man either to sit in such a high position and also do the recruitment etc. There is so much change needed in and out of this club before i think we see another strong march for the NL title !

Fair enough Krampesh

I'm stuck between Optimism Realism Failure n Hope.
But expecting KP to resign in Autumn due to lack of backing from God.

Maybe April now

Southend to sneak into play offs.

Lincoln come from nowhere to a chance of Championship football next season.
Same size club as Pools.
So why not in about 10 years.

Welcome to kpgs world of fantasy football.
UTP.

Beat Chesterfield last night guaranteed a play off spot, Chesterfield have lost their last 4 games as well.

Looks like Chesterfield are just rolling over……not fair on their supporters and not fair on the teams competing for a playoff place.

Looking at the other teams from 2nd (Barnet) and 3rd (Bromley) down, it's anybody's guess who will win through the play-offs. Massive missed opportunity for Pools

doubt their fans are bothered as they did the job they all wanted weeks ago. like you said though some clubs are lucky as they are playing them at the right time where others did not get this extra advantage. thing is there is nothing anyone can do about it including the league. knowing chesterfield they,d find some way around it to their advantage if there was.