We’ve never threatened the first division, but despite being perennial also rans there was always passion and usually effort. At the moment I sense that for a lot of fans they’ve pretty much given up and accepted that the end is nigh.

Am I wrong? We’ve had times when the crowd wasn’t a crowd and some god awful players but a loss on a Saturday spoiled people’s weekends. Not so now I feel.

No,no,no….The only passion lacking is on the field…don’t know about anyone else but losing hurts.
For years I thought an away win was a cause for celebration, times have been much worse, we’re only here because we survived re-election so many times and only God knows why

Agreed, there's been times I can remember when I've genuinely thought the end was just around the corner. Although we're going through tough times on the pitch I don't feel the club is close to going to the wall. And we've certainly had worse runs of results and squads in the past imo.

I think Craig Harrison's tenure was the worst time for Pools. Relegated from the FL, losing regularly, staring relegation in the face and the club going bust. Currently we are not in a comfortabe position but there is still time, we have a better squad than Harrison and as far as I know we are in no danger of going bust.

The whole period since IOR sold up until the present apart from the play off season.

Sorry, but Pools existed pre IOR and it was an eternal struggle apart from Gibson driving the bus erratically (but with a decent team) that collapsed, this is a doddle in comparison.

I worked in Yacker-land for 25 years, and have lived here since 2010. One thing I got used to pretty quicky was the piss-take off all the Sunderland fans for being a Pools supporter.

Now they give me genuine sympathy and tell me what a shame it is how far we've fallen.

If that doesn't confirm how shit we are right now, then nothing will...

Losing should hurt, It certainly bothers me the following days.

Attitude is everything in SPORT, And sometimes i just don,t see it and sometimes i do.
So what is causing the differance from one week to the other.

When i was a young lad about the same time as Snowy
We went to games home and away and expected nowt
And enjoyed the wins like we had won the facup.

Now i think fans do expect.

I remember once when i was about 17teen having words with Tony Parry
In the Manhattan club,(Sat night) Because me in my wisdom knew everything lol
Just let him know i thought the attitude was not there, He was not pleased.

We've been shite for probably upwards of 80% of our time in existence.
A couple of managers spells spring to mind as being pretty dire Moncur, McCreery, Scott, etc
Off the pitch we've had blanket collections for weekly running costs, numerous times when players weren't getting paid on time, similarly winding up orders by HMRC, sometimes at the same time as shit managers and players. Never Say Die was a very appropriate choice of motto.

Yes you are. I think you're talking about some fans on here rather than Pools' fans in general - and that your comment is an age thing. Pools aren't lacking for young supporters who are passionate about the club - in fact there's a sight more of them than there were back in the 80s.

Even if the worst happens this season and we drop into the NLN, I'd have money on there being 3,000+ Poolies for home games and Poolies outnumbering the home fans at Darlo, Spennymoor, South Shields and Blyth. My biggest fear is liquidation and a phoenix club having to start again even further down the football pyramid.

We are the most underperforming club of our size (outside of two or three crisis clubs) in the country. This is proper low.

Yes

I am impressed by your optimism Mr Hogan, but us realists should not be ignored simply because of the existence of the modern "cult of positivity".

A turd is a turd no matter how much you might polish it, and being a Pools fan is certainly not for the faint-hearted.

Having said that, even in our darkest hours the good folk of Hartlepool have usually put their money where their mouths are.

Being the world's most famous "Cinderella club" doesn't mean that we can't get the odd tuppence-tickle from Prince Charming every now and again...!

True enough, but I still take issue with Mr I's suggestion that " At the moment I sense that for a lot of fans they’ve pretty much given up and accepted that the end is nigh."

The end is nigh in what sense?
That Pools will be relegated? Nah, we're pretty bad but there's some that are even worse.
That Raj won't be able to sell the club and Pools will go into liquidation? You need a crystal ball to know the aswer to that, and 'most' fans are still optimistic about an American takeover.

And if you actually go to games you know that Pools fans are as phlegmatic and 'seen it all before' as ever. When did we EVER throw in the towel?

Ignoring your cheap shot at the expense of those of us with mobility issues, I pretty much agree with you.

Enjoying the roller-coaster ride of being a Pools fan is "character-building" if nowt else...

Mr. Bottles, I had no idea whether you go to games or not when I posted that. How would I? Sorry to hear that it's a problem for you.
The comment was in line with my first reply to Mr. I. Dunno where he's got the idea that fans have 'given up' when it's obvious from home attendances and the 1,500 who went down to York that there's still plenty of people hoping for better results.

Despite the run we’re in I think the club is doing well in comparison to what was the norm for the majority of my time supporting the club.

It’s fucking really bad, we are losing and scrambling points from teams with awful budgets and support and none of the players I would miss if they left (the 2 Mani’s are our best 2 players) -am discounting Mancini from all of this as he only player a few games.

Add to that the manager seems like a nice bloke but has no answers to the malaise and the chairman wants to sell up and we have the Sage albatross hanging over us

We really are a zombie club and it’s so sad to see after the Bristol game which seemed to galvanize the whole town so much.

Lots of blame to spread around but I really hope Hartley has a shite Xmas, arrogant lazy twat who thought he could do the job on the fly and absolutely ran us into the ground in 3 months….worst managerial appointment in history

I only started going to watch Pools when Mick Tait was the manager, I got addicted’ after that. I remember Vince Barker owning Pools along with Garry Gibson and Harold Hornsey and most of the managers who come and went, the financial issues and the number of times.Billy Horner kept coming back a bit like Tony Sweeney when some one gets sacked.did follow them in The Mail.
In the days gone by Pools were ‘protected’ as they was no automatic relegation which if there was where would Pools be now ?

We'd have long gone out of the league and probably into oblivion but for the system of re-election and our club chairmen pretty much begging others to re-elect us.
For many years the entire set up was a laughing stock, and in some ways we still are. But going back to pre Mill House Stand, portacabin dressing rooms, no spectators at all on the what is now the Cyril Knowles Stand due to the old Stand being taken down and not replaced for what seemed like years, (mind the old Stand was absolutely dangerous with sheets of corrugated tin flying a out from the roof and back whenever it was windy).
Hopefully if the news about a consortium submitting proof of funds a new regime and possibly some success may be on the distant horizon.
Unimaginably for some, it has been worse and could very easily be again.

Even the Wealdstone commentator said its sad to see what's happened to Pools.

exactly. if anyone wants or wanted success season in season out pools are not the club for you. its just since the harrison days we have had players i just cannot take to where even in our bad days we always seemed to have some you wanted to do well but never did. we might have had less fans inside the vic and the gallows humour was never bettered but we did not expect as much as we do nowadays from the team, managers and owners.

was that when they were 3 nil up or after we scored our 4th.

Fair enough mate, no offence taken.

Some people do like to make a pissing contest of how much of a fan they are, but glad to know that you're not one of them.

Cut us all in half and it says Hartlepool United all the way through

I sort of agree with Mr I - we've had some really godawful times (as others say, most of the time) but my problem with the last few seasons is that it has been pretty much self inflicted - in the Barker days we had no cash and little chance - and we knew and accepted that. We had some high times under Gibson and Harold and were then spoilt by IOR. Spoilt but they built a foundation and expectations - we seemed to be a professional outfit on and off the pitch - and since then everything has been lost. Was Harrison worse than McCreery? No. Was Curle worse than Busby? No. Sure Hartley was worse than anyone before but the rot had set in. For me the final death dive started with Dave Jones - and since him every team has, just about, been the worst in our history. So apologies for not having a dig at the usual target but for me Dave Jones and the Crooks did Pools in. Permanently.

OK, I'll get my coat.

hartley, jones, curle and now askey have had success as managers before they came to pools just why have we had to see the opposite side of them all. ok we would have been lucky all 4 coming off but you,d think at least one of them would have. pools should twin theirselves to donny rovers who have equally got the worst out of managers like the one stockport built a statue for only to become a joke figure at rovers. there must be something deep down where blokes fail at pools and it aint always the money and injuries.

In terms of league placing maybe, kicking around fighting relegation in step 5 of the pyramid. How angry and frustrated the fans are i would say its certainly one of the lowest too. It feels like something big needs to happen. As others have said we were spoilt by IOR (the younguns dont remember much of the crap before that)and i dont see another oil rich owner coming in happy to write off a million a year. That type is going to dissappear over the next few years from all lower league clubs. How many clubs will have points deductions next season?

I’m not sure about Harrison and what was going on. Before Pools he was a highly successful manager. Came to Pools and flopped. After pools he is again a highly successful manager.

He was a fall guy in my opinion. Were the players signed his choice or were they handed to him and told to use them?, because watching that first game against Dover I realised the so called players we’d signed were the football equivalent of a cut and shut car….useless.
I actually felt sorry for the bloke, but got the impression he had no real power and his ‘owner’ had a distraction for the fans to chunter about.

Can't agree, he wouldn't play any of the players who he didn't sign.

Who are you on about

Harrison

Harrison as far as I could see, signed no one. A load of players appeared from God knows where and he had to work with them I understand.

I think Keith Curle was dealt a shit hand too.
Let's not forget he couldn't sign anybody after that fat scotch knacker Hartley blew the budget on shortbread- he had to wait until the January transfer window and we were well adrift by then. He did sign Dodds and Kempy as well as a raft of other shit - but think he'd have kept us up had he arrived when Hartley did.
I just wish we'd appointed Pete Wild from Halifax, who is now at Barrow- he's doing a hell of a job there- instead of that fat scotch knacker.

I think that would be Torquay. but yes not far off

I bet there is around 200 colliery lads at every Pools home game, maybe more

I'm one of those Colliery lads you mention and there's plenty of Colliery lasses who attend games regularly too, and have been (personally) for nearly 50 years now, it always struck me particularly in my early days as a Pools fan how reluctant some Poolies were to accept that anyone from outside the town perimeter could be interested in following Pools, as if it was a them and us attitude. I mean using Sunderland as an example or Newcastle, I'd guess of the 40k who attend games at the SOL over half are not from the city itself, they're from Consett, South Shields, Easington, Spennymoor, Seaham, Washington etc etc, or even further afield, in the 70's /80's a group of us would travel to Pools away games together, picking up at various Colliery villages by car or van depending on numbers especially if it was a cheaper option than a bus from the town.
I do find that most Poolies are more accepting of "outsiders" these days, but you still get small pockets who find the idea abhorrent for whatever reason, and I do think that this has been detrimental to Pools' expanded support over the years.

In the Welsh Premier League !

Funny that, something that never ever bothered me, but there again why should it.
Being a Poolie is a state of mind, not geography…..mind you, my mind’s in a state.

And the Champions League

from my own personal experiance nobody questions my sanity anymore coming up to the vic like they used to do in the past. think being an exile is more a regular occurance at clubs than it used to be along with others supporting clubs in the lower divisions who have no connection to the town their club is based in.

this thread should be titled is this the worst period for injuries in pools history. others living more locally might be able to give the answer.

I don’t remember The New Saints (TNS)winning the Champions League, in fact did they win a game in the Champions League ?

I think the thing is that Pools is still the nearest professional club for most people in East Durham. Blackhall for example i think is really close and even Horden and Peterlee are closer to Hartlepool than Sunderland. People should support there nearest team and for many colliery lads that is Hartlepool. Look at Billingham, how many people from Billingham go to pools games regualrly versus Boro? Being a Hartlepool fan definitely doesnt mean you have to be born or live in Hartlepool.

Does that role reverse for Man U fans

We have been here before and for me its the norm.
NSD

The catering has got much better.

I would have given the job to Williamson who is a terrific manager.

I was shouted down when I said that earlier jn the season , apparently our smash and grab 2-1 win was a tactical masterclass !

As a football proposition we’ve been terrible for so long. Anything within the football area that we see any success with promptly leaves. Until that changes, we will be a graveyard football club. It’s truly sad we are debating whether we are in the shitest of shite periods…

We still haven’t seen our first 1 mill player for instance. Even fellow strugglers in Rochdale have done well in the last 10 years in the sales of players to higher leagues. We let ours go for free. The one time we hand out 2 yr deals we are lumbered with rubbish we can’t get rid of. Typical, so typical for Pools!

Curle also did dip into the market when he joined. He tried hard to fix it in Jan. we had something like 36 players turn out for us. It’s unfair to say Singh didn’t at least try and salvage our status. Dan Kemp was a master stroke for instance. It was just crazy we then fired Curle after this window and handed that bloated squad to JA and basically said, please try fix us. He nearly did but we deserved relegation and we currently deserve NL relegation battles.

I am more indifferent to Pools than ever. At times I even find myself laughing at the levels and records we set for all the wrong reasons. It is fairly epic to support such a poor team. Good for the resilience, character and humour I suppose.

If somebody asks who you support… ‘unfortunately Hartlepool…’ to which a sympathetic wince from the other person, ‘ouch.’ … ‘indeed.’

Desperately need a gift from the gods. The sugar daddy. It’s the only way now.