its even worse when they have the cheek to charge you more for a piece of paper called a ticket if you do not want or have the facility to use an e ticket. then if you are hungry or thirsty you have to ask another fan to buy you something, give them the cash if you only dare carry the coin of the realm on you. then there is the programme thing when you eventually get there. even clubs who get in the lower 100,s have one and surely there should be no loss on a programme if they order the correct numbers of them as years of experiance gives you a clue. anyone who guesses the gate are usually better at that than predicting the score or scorer. which group of fans actually want or asked the club for all this shite. anyone using their car to get to a game knows quite well it costs em more than a couple of years ago and if pools are poor then for some they,ll cut their costs on games.

I have never seen an OFFICIAL report of the club using the words Stella/marquee signing. Who was Hobin supposed to be speaking too, a casual person or giving a speech to an audience? Was this supposed to be at this seasons open day as I thought Hobin had gone.

We are moving into the age of technology where every thing can be bought online and where you can pay with your phone, train tickets, flight tickets etc and not one piece of paper is printed out, no different with football, it’s called progress. We will soon be entering a phase where all the turnstiles will be unmanned, look how the London Underground Operates and even Hartlepool Train Station.

It shouldn't be any different but it is at Pools, have you tried buying a ticket on a match day. 2 lasses usually in the ticket office demanding proof of age for even obvious concessions, home addresses, email addresses, shoe size, etc etc then producing and printing each ticket on demand. The queue moves at snail pace and when (not if the printer or WiFi goes wobbly) it stops completely. An obvious contingency would be to have a number of tickets pre-printrd. I've seen people who are obviously not going to get in until well after KO just go home. Then having someone manually scan your ticket instead of self scan like many places slows it all up further. On top of that you get the idiotic stewards then demanding to see your ticket to get onto the Mill house terracing? Great start to the match day experience for potential new life long Poolies.
We'll probably catch up when crowds are down to ST holders only with zero on the day support!!

If the stories about players out on the lash are true, Pools must have made a few Stella signings after all

Thanks for that Jamie - you really are a fountain of knowledge - I hadn't realised it was down to the age of technology.

That's fine if you properly invest in the correct systems and make them almost bulletproof - however it's always cack handed at Pools.

Even before the electronic tickets were introduced, there was always issues around ticketing, though this has just made life ridiculously difficult particularly exiles, casual
fans and older folk who are unable to easily access the technology.

It also forces people to have a Smartphone - not everyone has one, wants one or more importantly can afford one. Particularly given that Hartlepool is one of the most deprived areas of the country. Which basically stops a lot of passing trade, paying customers from turning up on the day.

When I lived in the town and went regularly home and away- there was always a couple of dozen people in the Mill House Pub who would decide at twenty to 3 that they'd rock up at the turnstiles. That's a lot of lost revenue from on the day casual fans. It's madness that the club would willingly turn that down - given that if they've had a couple of beers on the pub, there is then a very large possibility that they will drink in the ground too - more lost revenue - it's not just gate money, programs (no more) and match day lottery too and the dreaded catering.

But let's fuck all that off in favour of progress!

Well said Kettering

Progress, Modern definition = Your Having It, Or do with out.

like everything in life its hard to find 2 people the same never mind a total set of fans. its progress for some but completely the opposite for others. the so called progressive society also means the complete opposite for so many. gaining entry to a football ground should be made as easy as possible for every single fan with the use of all systems and payments being available. what next, footmarks on the floor of standing areas where you need to put your feet in with stewards checking up if they are fully in them. don,t laugh as its not too long since every game at the vic was basically all ticket and our ancestors would be laughing in their graves at that.

Like it or not this is keeping up with most clubs. If we didn’t people would be saying we are lagging behind other clubs in modernising. Yes we will lose a few but in time it’ll just be normal and us old foggies will probably stopped going anyway. Let’s be honest what we may lose is probably less than what is alleged fiddled at the old turnstiles.

Progress is not always progressive

Never a truer statement.

thing is where cash involved you have always had fiddles. they never last forever do those on the fiddle but they are fiddling a bigger organisation than the single individual. its completely the opposite in the modern world where its the individual who is being scammed the most. never had my pocket pinched or her in the kitchen having her handbag stolen but both have been scammed twice already in the new world order. on the buses most of us made our breakfast money but never at the expense of the passengers pockets. problem was a few bought a car and ran it out of the job.

Progress is what older people take hard. Go into shops and even pubs and the younger generation just get their mobiles out and pay with them. I hadn’t got a clue to do it but sorry in years to come people will be laughing at the use of money. Remember when we changed from pounds shillings and pence took ages for us to get use to it but ask a kid now and they haven’t got a clue what sixpence or a shilling is worth.

The only people i pay in cash are the people who ask for it. I pay by card, clear the bill every month to avoid interest and get around two hundred quid back which I use at Christmas. I have a banking app on my phone and can monitor any transaction within seconds of making it.
On the odd occasion I use a bus my bus pass comes out so no cash needed there either.
I find it a lot easier than having a pocket full of shrapnel as I call a bundle of coins.
Pay my regular bills by monthly, quarterly or annual direct debits/standing orders. I can transfer money around using my phone.
It is progress of a good sort.
Yes I know big brother knows my spending habits etc but I get offers of discounts because they know what I like. Win Win.
Next year I will be Eighty and none of this behaviour frightens or confuses me.

thats all fine paying large bills and purchases that way. doubt anyone expects anyone paying over a certain amount by cash anymore. then there is the opposite where i find the card and phone users have a similar attitude to those in the days of credit card wallets and the multitude of cards in them. surely having a bit of cash in your pocket for small parking charges and a cup of tea at a match is not a hard thing to ask. i,ll meet anyone half way as i,m expected to pay standing orders and large bills by card therefore expect them to do the same for small payments that will inconveniance me if cash was taken away.

To be fair, why would they need to know….. anyway youngsters know everything anyway and even sex was only invented by them about five years ago…a very flexible five years at that!

I'm not against paying by cash and as I said will do that if requested but I prefer the card. That's my choice and If other people want to pay by cash then they should be allowed to do so. The problem a lot of small retail businesses have is what banks charge for providing a cash facility, then having to journey to a bank to deposit the takings. whilst picking up bags of change etc. Time consuming, costly and possibly dangerous. There should be choice where possible.

Many years ago you were always paid in cash even on the dole remember pay day getting pay packets. All changed when you had to have a bank account and wages paid into it.

Well we’re finding out we are now the servants of the banks…..they know what we buy, what we pay and where we go, they have us mapped out nicely.

All trussed up and ready to roast, mate.

Take my hat off to you derwent for being down with the kids.
But i bet you can,t pay at the turnstiles to watch pools.

Was going to go to the cinema the other day, But forgot that i had not prebooked a ticket.
Then just in time remembered i did not need to.

I pay plenty by Card/Direct debit etc.
I also pay for things with cash.

Myself i would like the CHOICE to do one or the other.
It is then my choice.

When choices are taken away , What are you left with.
I,ll let people figure that out for them selves.

Just think on, in a few years time without cash and the banks knowing all your financial transactions and purchases you could get a call from the doctors telling you to cut back on the cream cake you buy three times a week and while you’re at it you’re drinking too much…..and those French classes are fooling no one.

I take your point about small businesses having to pay for cash deposits, But by the same token are we not just allowing ourselves to be owned by big business?

Mr Mastercard, Mr Visa, and Mr American Express take a slice of EVERY card payment. As convenient as it might be, not only are you paying for this via stealth, they also then can map out every transaction you've made, where you've been and potentially what you've bought. Quite scary really - and they are making money hand over fist- not a bad screw that!

This post is getting as bad as Closing Town End debate, same answer move on we live in the age of technology and nought is going to change, the days of paying in cash are being phased out. Here in my second home I am surprised, a couple of years ago it was all cash but now small businesses even the hand carts selling food etc display a QR Code where you can pay using your phone.

We’ll if you don’t like this topic, like you didn’t like Town End topic, don’t get involved, ….but some of us do and see the downsides here in our first and only home and would like to discuss it….l

its funny though why small businesses like chippy,s and cafes, not restaurants, either are cash only still or a minimum of a fiver to use a card payment. many corner shops are like this also. therefore things cannot be that straightforward for them when they are not paid in cash. for me it should be the choice of the individual how you pay for anything with every system in force for the use of them all. once it was the customer who was king without the rules and regs businesses put on them. if you never used these places they would not be around very long.

The bit that scares me isn't the collection of data as such but who gets access to it and the possibility of it being used to defraud me. I tend not to beat myself up over something that I can't control or influence. I know I'll be told that if we all objected or at least enough of us things would change but there are never enough people willing to stick to that. The juggernaut that is a cashless society has been gathering momentum and covid gave it an unexpected boost and I for one have come to the conclusion there isn't enough will to stop it, so I try to get the best I can out of it. Use it to my advantage if possible.

the opinions of the man in the street has never changed things. however once businesses are hit thats another matter. if the whole town refused to pay with anything but cash the firms refusin gthe transaction would bleat about profits gong down and hey presto there would be government interferance overnight.

Not living in the town if I want to watch Pools I have to make that decision well in advance, It is 45 years since I was able to go at the last minute thus having to queue at a turnstile. Until recently I was a ST holder and in my seat well before KO, so very little if no queueing.
I have queued at away matches and paid cash.

The big word there is "if".
High Streets have been hit by changes in activity such as buying online but it hasn't been stopped or interfered with. Cheque books have virtually been made redundant. Online banking is so much easier. I hardly ever visit my bank. I never write cheques nowadays. The only regular cash payment I make is to the window cleaner. If the bank want to track my activity then that's their time they're wasting not mine. I am amply compensated by the amount of time I've saved. Bank opening times are no longer of concern to me. I can do all my transactions on my phone at any time day or night. They even send me messages straight after transactions telling me that a payment has been made so if it is a fraudulent unauthorised payment I can react.
I do back people who want more choice though.

i,m pro cash but the one that gets me is people insisting on using it because they fear some agency of the government chequing their transactions. as if they are bothered about anyone on the bunker unless they are loaded or have had information of them involved in illegal stuff.

I transfer money from the U.K. using a company called Wise formerly Transfer Wise, they were founded by 2 Estonians, if I use my bank they charge a foreign transaction fee and give you a poor exchange rate. Wise give you the going rate and charge a very small fee just under £7 to transfer a £1000.

There’s plenty of companies out there buying up such data, information is knowledge. It doesn’t affect how I spend my money, I don’t really care, but it’s happening.

Jamie- your still here?

I thought you'd said your piece and closed the topic again

I,m not pro cash(although i prefer it for small amounts, And i,m not anti cashless(totally)

What i most definately am Is Pro Choice, And thats the part that bugs me.

Completely agree Mr G!

I remember Decimalisation Day in 1971 very well, despite being a few months short of my sixth birthday. Me and me sister both got a blue plastic presentation pack containing one of each of the new coins, that I seem to remember me mam picked up at the Post Office at Catcote shops. Despite the new money, Rift House juniors didn't get new maths books until around 1974, so I can perform arithmetic on "old money".

What I didn't know until recently was that although decimal money was easier to add up/subtract as a child using your ten fingers (Yes pedants, I know two of them are thumbs) there was actually a method for "finger-counting" small £SD amounts, that used the four fingers of each hand. Each of your four fingers has three joints that conveniently have a crease marking them into three segments of each finger on the palm side of your hand.

This gives you the ability finger-count small amounts of up to twelve pennies (= 1 shilling) on one hand using the thumb to touch the individual segments of its fingers while counting, and use the same method on the other hand for totalling the shillings as you reach each count of twelve pennies. Piece of piss really..!


The Poolie Bunker - the place where you learn something old every day...

I remember the greedy buggers rounding the prices up.

He’ll be doing last orders next.

I know that self employed joiners,builders,electricians etc like being paid in cash. I wonder why?

When you have cash you have some sort of control over your money. If the cashless society does come as it surely will its all about control. All the youngsters now who don't get receipts and live and dies by the cashless route will go to the cash point (if there are any left) one day and put in their pin number to find maybe zilch in it. Its all about control as is restricting places to buy stuff ie on the high street. There will be just the big supermarkets and the likes of Amazon to buy stuff. Take a look at how petrol stations have disappeared so fuel is now mostly only available at you guessed it...supermarkets.

I think you will find most might want cash for minor jobs, if the job runs into hundreds/thousands no as when they take the money to the bank questions will be asked where the money come from re money laundering.

No, the taxman, nice to have some jobs untaxed, to up the profit margins for the little guy in a van.
When we reach the cashless society control will be complete…the Canadian government sanctioned demonstrating truck drivers by freezing their bank accounts, try living without a bank account even nowadays.

I had a garage built by a local well known builder, I gave him cheque made out to the building supplier and for stage payments, I did pay him some cash but it was minimal.

Atually never use anyone who insists on giving you a bill plus VAT. so not mind paying for the work but avoid paying VAT as much as possible. could not give a toss what they do with my money if the job they have done is to my satisfaction.

just wonder what the rough sleepers and charity bucket rattlers will do if we ever reach the cashless stage. can just see em carrying a card swipe machine around with them in a shop doorway when they want a bit of cash for a drink.

You obviously haven’t been to central London lately.

I was in London last weekend and they still exist. We were on the tube when this young pregnant woman got on carrying a nice looking collecting cup and piece of cardboard listing all her problems which she held up. A guy opposite pulled out a ten pound note a gave it to her but nobody else did.
I wondered if they were a team.
Our lass said the problem was figuring out if they were genuine which is nigh impossible.