"Always depending on who takes over of course.
It's not the band of hope, I hope (no pun intended)"

Perhaps a supporters group could get together a consortium of people with links to the town? That would be pretty sweet.

Hope? What is this 'hope' you speak of?

Always depending on who takes over of course Why has Raj walked away

It’s Hartlepool, most people don’t give a toss about Pools.

Hint, the consortium already happened.

Who were they…’consortium’ means nothing to me, I want names and faces of the alleged consortium.

Bit like dealing with Raj, Don,t you think.

Even if Dodds n Mancini drink miracle water all summer n return fully fit the mass clear out has to happen.
To many pea hearted passengers in this present team.
Things can only get better.
UTP.

We have to do what KP said in one of his first interviews... which btw has backfired terribly. Do not sign any kids on loan whom have no mens footballing experience nor desire to get onto that pitch and give 110% - its a shame we cant trial these loanees before we agree to take them for half a season. If we are going after loan deals it needs to happen early and grab the better ones been made available by their parent clubs. We need to be asking academy coaches, are these kids any good and whos the best you got ready to take mens football by storm ! (i know we down the pecking order but you never know). More Tyler Bureys through the door early please !

KP will hopefully have seen enough of this league now to realise what is needed. What wins games and what shithouses you need in the team to achieve that. Plus some real talen. A good few players is all the difference at this level ! Just Look at Solihull and Alti for instance !

Mani D needs a strike partner and we must have a bench next season with 2 good first teamers on there too ! Scrap the extra GK like DC did and put another striker in there - if we do go with young raw talent then at least make sure they can change a game when they come on !

Prey we also keep Joe Grey - Mani D and Mancini !

I wish I had experience of dealing with Raj or even personally knew anybody who has genuinely had the experience.

Since he swatted the consortium into touch there has hardly been a squeak from them. Has the whole thing died the death, have they given up or have they and Raj agreed a secret deal to be enacted at a later date. It all went so quiet too quickly for my liking. On top of that we have this hard nosed ( and yes they all are) investment banker with £14 million in his arse pocket just meekly backed off or is he part of the secret.
We need answers.

to be fair most people in any town do not give a toss about their local team and a matchday to many is an inconveniance with extra traffic about and clarence road being shut. probebly thats the only time they realise that it matchday anyway. as for consortiums without names being put to it the thing will never exist in my eyes. whats the point of the secrecy.

i.e. you're nosey and frustrated that you couldnt find out the goss.

Mr Porter and Boyd- is your man Snowy
He knows everything

Though still waiting on him to tell us when the new Hollywood Consortium are taking over- he clearly must still be in high level talks with all those A Listers he knows, that are fighting over Pools like a ragdoll!

I held my breath and am now going from Indigo to almost blue- come on Mr PB share your wealth of knowledge - or are we to assume you're just a know nowt bullshitter?
Surely he wouldn't do that!

Why don't we sign the Spenny keeper who played for us in the Playoff final (whose name escapes me) He's clearly done well at Spenny- they'd won 7 in a row before their last two games.

Saw an interview that Simmo did with him before he signed for Spenny and he hadn't played a game since that day at Bristol - the excitement clearly got the better of him!
Sure he'd come back in a heartbeat - and would have plenty of credit in the bank with the fanbase

Mr Porter and Boyd is a Mackem.
Believe me.
He came on just as SUPA KEV was appointed.
Hes since put on all sorts of rubbish on here about consortiums and the like, including a spoof letter about the closure of the non existing Pools Supporters Group after the Gateshead result
Go read... its pathetic.
The bloke is just a childish wind up merchant.
You would think he would have more to do with his time after a 5 1 home hammering the other day.
His boys took a real beating.
Karma.

After asking for the Trust help in finding a buyer as no one would deal with him directly due to his reputation Raj turned down the offer which remains on the table ,fact.

Name those who refused to deal with Mr Singh directly due to his reputation.
Who are you talking about exactly Mr Essex?
Or is this just a product of your unusually active "toxic" imagination....yet again.
And would you like to expand on what you mean by Mr Singh's "reputation" and what and how you know about it?
Have you had business dealings with him?
Perhaps you are a customer?
Please tell.....don't be shy.
WE believe me are all so very interested in what you have to say.

Mr Porter and Boyd- is your man Snowy
He knows everything

Though still waiting on him to tell us when the new Hollywood Consortium are taking over- he clearly must still be in high level talks with all those A Listers he knows, that are fighting over Pools like a ragdoll!
[/quote]


The Hollywood consortium he refers to has five members.
I contacted them at Porter Boyd Inc in Wallywood.
There were originally six members but Walter Mitty backed out leaving The Three Stooges to team up with Laurel and Hardy…another fine mess they’ve gotten us into.

You still there Mr Essex?
An hours a perfectly realistic amount of time to allow you to put together a reply to my questions surely.
Are you thinking what to say?
Or maybe how to say it?
Or both?

Does it not seem strange to you that after not being able to find either investment in club or an interested purchaser Raj asked the trust to seek out an interested party and several came forward who would deal via the trust but not directly with him. An offer was made and rejected his right to do so, as were an increased offer left on the table which he has not answered.

I'm sure the Trust stated that the increased offer had been rejected and negotiations had ended? Nothing at all said about leaving an offer on the table?

He's ignoring you. Most people do.

Most people or group of people hoping to buy a club like everyone to know just who they are.
Most see themselves as saviours and generally love the attention, seeking attention for their plans and a bright new future, but I have no idea who these saviours are or were….very odd this faceless attempt at a takeover …bit like the man that never was.

It’s kind of refreshing not having some attention seeking, billy big b’s though isn’t it? Didn’t they say there was a Hartlepool connection, so maybe they actually were sincere in what they said? That guy from the trust on the radio came across well to be fair. I got the impression he was having to be a bit careful with some details for legal reasons.
All academic though as Raj changed his mind about going in February so there’s now a weird limbo. Genuinely don’t know what he’ll do next, which isn’t ideal and doesn’t give me much confidence in anything.

Twaddle is like Gareth in the office trying to talk to Tim who has already walked away bored shitless

I see it as a good sign that they are not all 'me me me'.

Bit like Randell and Hopkirk deceased.

It’ll be a first if they aren’t all me me me……..come on Imp, I’ve heard that it could only be Mother Teresa with an approach like that and last time I checked she’d shuffled off her mortal coil.

Nearly 4500 to 5000 fans turning up to watch national league football at 20 odd quid a pop and we are utter shite does not pount to a lot of people in the town giving a toss. Lets see what sort of fan base we would have if we ever get money decent players and win some games.

you could add another 1,000 on that if we were playing well, but thats just a drop in the ocean when you look at the towns population. we have a hard core of say 3,500 plus others waiting in the wings and seeing the odd game. no way we,ll need a vic with a 15,000 capacity that will see a sold out sign on a matchday. the interest in the team or football in general does not get numbers interested like that. lots of football fans just cannot get the fact that others have no interest in football and is the last thing they want to do is go to any match on a saturday afternoon or watch it on the tele either.

We must be the most oversupported team in NL given how shite we are..
Maybe one day the potential can be realised.
Reality to me n thee

Without wanting to come across as pedantic, the 4500-5000 figures aren’t the actual attendance as season tickets are counted whether the person attends or not. Actual matchday figures are less and sometimes noticeably so.
My worry is the number of people buying season tickets this summer when there’s uncertainty and a lack of joined up thinking. Lack of sales will really hit our income further.
Agreed that we are very well supported for the level we’re at and how average we’ve been this season. The potential is there but I don’t think fans can be taken for granted next year, although there’ll always be a hardcore who go whatever.

Had the dogs out in the garden and started barking when a ball was kicked against the fence from the garden that backs onto us and realised it was the son who’s about 8 in his full Sunderland Kit…..and they definitely ain’t the ‘Bank of England Club’ as they were once called anymore, just bog standard Div2 (Championship my arse) but that’s the trouble here like most towns, there’s always an element who mock their hometown clubs and travel out.

but do they travel out or just have all the clubs merchandise but only ever watch them on the box. we,ll always have people who will travel out of town like a cousin i had who went to the boro regularly but would never set foot into the vic. on the other hand we,ll have fans that travel in when there is a closer club to them. it aint the 20,s anymore when all you got in a ground where people who lived in the town or nearby villiages. doubt there was a thing then called the away fan even if transport was far better and cheaper than it is today.

3 weeks from now I am going on holiday, by some of Pools recent performances some of Pools players have or realise their career at Pools is coming to an end soon and have thrown the towel in and preparing for their holidays, I doubt Raj will throwing an end of season jaunt like IOR used to do.

a self catering weekend in morecambe might be a possibility for them.

My dad travelled away to matches in the late forties and fifty’s if he was ashore, which surprised me when he mentioned it.
I naively asked him how he did it and made me feel a fool when he said by train …loads of options from West Hartlepool and not pricey…and he told me that in the 80’s.

after the family moved to yorkshire me and my old man used to take in all pools away games in lancashire and yorkshire and we felt that we were the only poolies at the game. possibly the reason was that there were no away ends then and you just stood where you fancied. we shouted and clapped the team without feeling our lives were in danger but the usual defeats that happened for us would have helped matters. only problem i ever faced was leaving valley parade in 1963 after another defeat when a local took a dislike to my accent pushing my then girlfriend to the floor.

Snowy in the middle to late fifties there were special trains for Pools away games. Me and my mates used to go down to the railway station after school in our uniforms and get half price tickets (under 14s) then just walk through the nex day. I vividly remember going to Stockport,Accrington,Rochdale and Stoke in the cup when there was three trains put on. Remember not many had cars those days and few coach firms. (only can think of Bee Line)

funny mentioning cup games and how different fans viewed them then comparing to now. if we played a team from our division or lower that were not local in the qualifying or rounds 1 and 2 we would get a far lower gate than for the league fixture against that club. surely not all season ticket holders swerve these games because they have to pay again.

I remember the stories of the fans wrecking trains years ago.

I remember a football special going to Aston Villa 1974

One surprising thing my Dad said about travelling in the 40’s and 50’s wasn’t violence etc, but the crowd management at grounds and having a few scares when leaving grounds due to the crush of the crowd.

I remember once being carried along by the crowd with my feet off the ground, that was slightly worrying but a great experience.

I cannot remember any violence on the trains or in the grounds in the fifties. We all came from decent families and our parents had no worries about us travelling to matches. There was no segregation in grounds even for derby games against Darlington.

I asked him about that in the early 70’s and his reaction was ‘ violence, why?’… I just think in all honesty they were more adult at an earlier age and most had done military service…there must have been nutters but they’d have been thin on the ground.
Also the police force would have been common sense and muscle then, before the police force we have today with humanities degrees and woke attitudes.

never did national service and was really glad i didn,t. however not doing it never made me think of being a nutter with opposition fans. always remember we could be an opposition fan as i doubt anyone woke up to think i,ll support pools if they lived miles away and its just either geography or older family members that made us into poolies in the first place. lots of us had self discipline installed by teachers and parents and still remember when i was old enough to go to matches on my own the words behave yourself was the last ones i heard on leaving the house.

National service has nowt to do with it though I shared an office with back in the 70’s with a bloke who said he was Teddy boy, always in trouble and National service put him on the straight and narrow. But I was referring to the people in charge who’d been in real conflicts and had their lives changed by the experience and had to grow up in their teens.
I think people in this country live in la la land sometimes….tallking to a barman in Ostend, back in the day he told me the trouble with the British is we’ve never experienced what it’s like to be under foreign occupation …it gives you a totally different attitude, I suspect he was right.

regarding football i,d guess the poles and dutch are as bad as us but have been on the recieving end of bad occupations by others.

I think you've got something there.

I'm hearing about a cost of living crisis in this country but airport traffic is hitting record levels and new car sales are doing quite OK. Perhaps hardship for some is only managing Benidorm once a year instead of the usual twice.

I think it is also shown in the attitude towards Ukraine. There is quite a determined supportive stance taken by the wider public in certain countries and an indifference or negativity in others. Quite a distinct pattern when you look at which countries have a population who may know what the Ukrainians are going through.

The idiots complaining about military aid and its cost to support Ukraine are just dumb.
Ukraine is doing the fighting and dying for us because if it falls and Putain apparently wants the Tsarist lands back, so there’ll be real trouble and let’s see how the moaners like it then when they have to do the fighting.
Mind you, one look at the West and our Pronoun society, it’s no wonder they think were a society of wimps who’ve lost the plot.