Winning 1-0 at home to a relegated side. If they can get another 2 goals they go into the last play off place with two games left. What a job by Lee who was originally signed to save them from relegation.

It's tight at the play off end of NLN.

Good luck to Spennymoor n S Shields.
Maybe the final.
Nice derbie either way.

Squeaky bum time for both Darlo and Blyth Spartans, Darlo have Farsley Celtic at home on Saturday who occupy the last relegation spot, and Blyth have second placed Scunny away and third placed Brackley at home in their last game.

4-2 now. As a Darlo fan I want Spenny to win this.

5-2 top seven

As a Pools fan, I want Farsley to win on Saturday

As a Pools fan, I want Loids to win on Saturday Bring back those Derby games.

from a personal point of view i,d prefer chorley to join us but please, please not sodding boston to come up as its a journey from hell getting there. problem with another NE club coming up with smallish grounds it will be a derby that possibly season ticket holders only can see the away games live.

I don't normally like what if's.

Oh to hell with it. What if Spike Lee hadn't been sacked from Pools. Where would we be now? My what if tells me we'd be better off then we currently are.

Hindsight engineering is great, I am sure we have all made decisions we regretted.

we would certainly have been no worse off for sure. he could quite easily go down in history as the clubs last full time league manager. not bad for someone who did what most wanted, keeping us in the league after the pre season recruitment problems, taking over from a popular manager and having fans excited about his work in his early days. if he had made a cock up early and then improved to gain the same league finish we would not have had to suffer hartley for sure.

Not sure what you mean " last full-time league manager " surely that must go to Askey Or am I not seeing your point Accy.

If Lee was sacked because of a bunch of poor performances at the tail end of the season then Phillips must be sweating

I wasn’t massively impressed with Lee but doubt we would have went down with him, the ‘job’ Hartley did should be in a museum as an example of self sabotage

living in Preston I also would like Chorley to be promoted, give me two local fixtures to attend Fylde and Chorley

Have you not taken your " Love KP " pills today Loyal.

Based on his statements about the chairman I assume they are suppositorys

I know it's impossible for any team to hold onto there leads for a full season but I'm sure we have blew over 22 pts this season.
Hindsight

I think GL was hard done by especially after the shit load of cash he made for RS that season.
His state of play interview words were. My job was cup runs n stay up for a very good promotion budget the next season.
Facts not fantasy.

That's interesting Kev. So it is a fact that Raj was preparing to provide a very good promotion budget to Mr Lee. Others have said Hartley was backed the same. Now I don't know if any of this is true but I do know that Hartley was dishing out two year contracts willy nilly. Some people would have us believe that Raj's budgets are nowhere near what is needed for a club our size and the magnificent fan base backing us and yet you are in possession of fact that tells us he was preparing "a very good promotion budget", according to Lee. KP is constantly telling us that the chairman has yet to refuse his requests and is backing him up. That is being construed as arse licking. Funny isn't it that if managers say what people want to hear they are believed whilst other managers who say things they do not want to hear are ridiculed.

Oh yes it's very funny.

I do blame Hartely more than Singh for where we are now....Singhs greatest sin was hiring him,

That tells me I'm right on the money. Thanks Kev.

I must go down to the sea again.
The lonely sea and the sky.
Then up to the promenade.
For chips, peas and a pie.

The road from Newark to Boston is a nightmare, I like North Norfolk but the drive for some reason is a never ending nightmare.

I'm not sure whether that is intended to keep us out or keep them in.

Classic Poetry.
Male version of Pam Ayres.

Derwent’s far prettier than Pam Ayres.

Lee’s going was his own fault, he bolloxed the run in when it was the time he should have been planning for the following season……his departure was self inflicted and no one was up in arms about it.
If Speenymoor weren’t up there, he’d be a forgotten footnote.

Biggest mistake was bringing Nelson in as his assistant, he stood on the tough line hands in his pockets, never liked the fella after he celebrated scoring against Pools.

I dunno like.
No hat trick.

I agree. For Lee’s first job he should have had someone with experience next to him. I still think he deserved longer. We were playing mainly play off contenders in those last games who had more reason to perform. Lee had some good players lined up for Summer too.

sorry, should have said the last full time league manager that didn,t relegate us.

well whoever he did have lined up they could hardly have been worse than what we ended up getting. all new signings are a gamble but hartley gambled at 3 card brag constantly with 5 high. he gave us good cup runs, kept us in the league and thats with a carboard cut out of a failed manager next to him.

I go back to Neale Cooper 6 years at Ross County and sacked, no other managerial experience before, Pools took a chance and it paid off, the players wanted to play for him. Hartley signed players from the bargain basement but he had a different attitude from Cooper alienating most of if not all of the staff at Pools, doomed to failure.

It was said at the time of Lee's appointment that Nelson had applied for the manager's job too and given a good interview, so the club (Raj? Lee Rust?) thought it would be a brilliant idea to have them working in tandem.

How Nelse had a good interview based on being Blyth Spartans' worst ever manager escapes me.

It was Rust who screwed up contract negotiations with the likes of Luke Molyneux, who is having a great season for Donny. Judging from the OS Rust doesn't seem to be involved at the Vic anymore, which is very good news.

Lee said in Switch of Play.Rust should never be allowed near a football club again, he didn’t say why though, might have been sour grapes ?
As far as I am aware he is no longer at Pools.

Nelson went down in my opinion when he had his strike for a better contract and never went up again.

According to Companies House Rust was a Director of Darlington Arena and Darlington Mowden Park Rugby Club between 2016 and 2020.

Makes you wonder how much he knew about professional football - or Hartlepool for that matter.

Absolutely spot on Snowy.

He is a poet.
But doesn't know it.
And tries to get as many words in the last line as he possibly can.

It is being said that as well as Lee was promised a very good promotion budget that he also had very good players lined up.
All this on a so called crap budget (you know the one everybody guesses on). Funny that

Strong rumours at the time were that one of the 1st signings for Lee would've been that lanky streak of piss Fletcher that we had on loam under him. Hardly a sign of quality he's currently at Spennymoor I think.
The bottom line is that as a manager it's down to him to get a tune out of the team consistently, he did well in the cups but couldn't get them playing in the league which to me says he's not a brilliant man manager. Could say the same about Askey too in hindsight.

You could say it about a lot of them, The only thing they've got in common is they talk a good game. Some of them getter better if the cash at hand is limitless, apart from the shower Man Utd keep giving the job to.

Getting beat 2-0 at half time.

Still with a chance of the play offs but I can’t see Shields slip up against a bang average Southport side

yes, and some people are better at interviews than others and many owners are swayed by a players playing career as if its going to carry on in management.