It appears that we have a smaller playing budget than previous seasons so the manager has to be very careful how he uses it. So far his signings seem to be of a decent standard but we definitely need another experienced G.K. A lot might depend on S.T. sales but they seem to be well down on previous seasons. As John Smart used to say ‘ Its a chicken and egg situation’.

A good defence needs a very solid keeper behind jt. Without that you end up with a confused defence and the balance is gone immediately. The who!e team then p!ay 10 yards further back then they shou!d. That's a keys signing. Allows we all know keepers need a special character to succeed. This has been a huge issue for us for a long time.

surely clubs budget for a 12 month period and not just on season ticket sales. if we didn,t sell any but got the same number of fans every game the club would actually make more revenue across the season. we,d be in a bigger mess if everyone who did attend had bought a season ticket and the money was not used wisely.

Everything points to a smaller budget if thats possible then recent years. First of all Phillips then Sarl said we want to get the business done early, Philli0s gets sacked, then sarl all of a sudden changes his tune. Goes from getting buisiness done to we must take our time, then talks about loan system and follows it up by bringing about 15 trialists in against teams none of us will learn much from.

So even if we start signing more players they will have very little chance to get any game time in, or get used to how we are going to play.

The same fans get fooled every season, about three weeks ago some were saying oh wheres all this money coming from? Coming from? we got rid of about 15 players and signed a massive 4. The standard of teams we are playing this pre season and the standard of trialists we are looking at is pretty poor,

Can,t comment meself on the quality of the tralists, Not seen them play.
And i think Snarll will know better than ME whats he requires.

The squad numbers article on the OS gives a lot of clues in my opinion as to what we "may" do moving forward pre season, Dixon has been given the No.1 shirt which hints he's being given a second chance?, the latest signing Sloggett has been given the 15 shirt, the only other outstanding numbers between 1-25 are currently 9 (a striker?), 13 (new keeper?), 17 and 19, which possibly means 4 more to come in or offers on the table for 4 more?.

What surprised me about Sarlls post match interview at West Auckland was he specifically mentioned Alfie Steel the academy centre forward being out injured, which as he's not been given a squad number suggests he may think he's ready to join the first team squad or he was going to feature in that game at some point so he could run the rule over him.

Yes mentioning the kids like they were first teamers worried me…but not as much as having Dixon as our starting keeper does !

Small budget? Nonsense.

Adam Campbell offered league one wages plus other EFL offers for a player in top form.

The other 3 all had offers on the table and chose Pools.

In the past we'd have 30-40 players turn out for us in a season, granted not all on the books at once but that's expensive when you consider signing on fees or agent fees.

Sarll seems to be putting his eggs into one basket e.g one small squad of players. Will it work? Time will tell. But evidence of small budget? No.

If we were signing 5 trialists calibre players, that indicates a small budget but that isn't what we have done.

Mani D will be in demand, whys he stopping here? Because he's paid well and knows he needs to be in a top side to get a big money move. Not some sideways step to another NL team or poor League two side.

Your case for the budget NOT being reduced is guesswork and has more holes then Swiss cheese but nobody knows for certain either way of course, that is true. To me the scenario that Raj is all of a sudden digging deep is probably less plausible than the opposite.

End of the day we just got to hope this newish midfield works better than the last 2 seasons.
Takes the pressure of our defence n creates a lot more for our forwards.
We should be aiming to keep up to speed with Gateshead who despite there off field problems will be back up there again.
Still last chance saloon for me or we slumming about in the non league scene for the foreseeable.
UTP.

Last time we were in league 2.
It was sideways steps that ultimately took us out of the league.
If we payed decent wages we would still be in div 2.
Even league 1.
As for Manny D he be off as fast as Molyneux etc if he's got a good agent.
Ifs
Maybes
Shuddas
Wuddas
Cuddas.

we have no idea of what the budget is. feel some think its about how many we sign that would make it a good one and the opposite. players wages are a big part of it and the players we have signed are not coming in the hope of benefits maling up a living wage.

Like I said previously the budget probably includes a decent promotion bonus.
Maybe 80% on players 20% to Sarly.
And if that's the case everyones a winner if it comes off.
But if ya take inflation into account then its a looks like one of the lowest budgets ever.

The prayer mats out for this pressing game tactics.
Got to be superfit to do that for 99 minutes.

Remember Orient absolutely destroying us 5 0 a few years back using these tactics.
So maybe Sarly becomes the Master Magician to Promotion.
UTP.

9 players on contracts were released at the end of last season. The loan players who went back to their clubs were all crap. So far Pools have signed 5 - and if the new lads aren't better than the likes of Paterson, Ndjoli, Hastie and Wreh then God help us! The only regular starters released were Cooke and Crawford - enough said.

Fergy n Fevs should of been on that released list.
I'm 99.9 % they didn't get bumper pay rises to stay
. No such thing as God.

Bless you my child (pope smurf)

so there is still over 3 weeks to go to get closer to the 9 that left. last season the only reason we saw so many crap players starting was the injuries with the team picking itself. without that we would have seen less crap loanees getting game time and the disinterested wreh not even making the bench. the team that started the first few games last season was for me better than the one that gave us promotion.

Are you sure? The team that started last season was

Dixon
Seaman
Ferguson
Pruti
Dodds
Onarise
Crawford
Cooke
Mancini
Umerah
Wreh

Subs:
Jameson
Grey
Hastie
Lacey
Dolan

that was without the two manny,s who were out but still the way they played apart from pruti wasn,t that bad only losing by the single goal in 5 against the league runners up away from home. fans forget that gritty performance with 10 men to beat gateshead but prefer to mention the away game much more. its all history now but it would still be nice to speculate how things would have panned out for the team and askey with some luck on the injury front. if our game against southend will be as good as that i,ll take it now for a first home game.

The loan players no matter how crap are taking a position up or cost money so you cant just discount them for being crap. We released a shed loads of players presumably wages too. The team that started last season was nowhere near the team that got promotion. I think we all get carried away with being top. We were top after just 5 games, one of those games barnet give us the run around, we fluked the gateshead win, the team we had with Challinor tortured teams and got top after 35 games or so.

Adam campbell came from footballing giants Crawley from league 2, who is to say they are now paying league 1 wages unless we have seen their accounts.

Wow, from one who continually says we do things on the cheap and pay peanuts - without having seen the accounts!

So when we say we are paying league 1 wages you believe it, when we say our budget is poor which is pretty apparent the type of players the standards we have brought in last few year you choose not to believe hey?

if it had not been oates coming good eventually and we hadn,t got armstrong on loan i really doubt we,d have made the play offs never mind getting promotion. for once in our existance we had some luck on the way that all promoted teams get.

We might not of but look at some of the players, molyneux couldnt even get a game at times, take a look back at some of the footy we played we ripped apart chesterfield, notts county, bromley, wealdstone, we couldnt rip apart a team from the national north last season.

agree with the last post for sure - Also having Sterry and Lidds in the side made a huge difference. lets just hope Dodds can replicate his form from before.

We do need more players of quality its an absolute given - this whole small squad thing aswell is beyond frustrating. lacks ambition aswell as every other team will no doubt have a full bench, regardless of it been kids, watch us be the only ones not to fill it. Surely the new ruling has to be honoured and penalties occur if not ?

The wages we pay don't necessarily relate to the quality of players we get. It's quite possible and highly probable we've wasted money by paying too much to players who weren't good enough.
As for believing what I read on here regarding budgets and players salaries is ridiculous be cause I know it's all guesswork.
See after last night's all important friendly the accusations start all over again that the budget must be shit - as I said just guesswork.

No one has said the budget is shit after last night. Its probobly been shit for a very long time, i hardly doubt its changed now, unless the chairman has taken a different stance. But if anyone thinks we can go into next season by just adding a keeper from that squad is going to be in for one hell of a shock.

Surely even you must be concerned about a managers stance that he wants tobwork with a small squad?

Anyone know what's going on with Brad James.
If fit then got to be a better option than Dixon n Trialists.
Had a great end to season with Spennymoor after recovering from injury.

Not concerned about anything at the moment, it's only the middle of July the players have been back together for less than weeks and we don't play a competitive game for over 3 weeks.
Regarding squad size, what does small mean in actual numbers? I've said since the end if last season I can see a smaller squad being formed for this season with 22 or 23 players and going by the squad numbers released I'd say that's where we're looking to be headed.
If Sarll thinks that's sufficient then he's got to prove it through results so I'm willing to wait and see before I praise or condemn him. At the end of the day it's his job to lose, his reputation to lessen, his future employment prospects to diminish, and I doubt he's come here just for the measly (??) salary that Raj pays.

Signed a new contract with spenny.

They’re not.
Crawlers manager said that couldn’t compete with Pools financially.

Well what a shock that is though by the end of september the excuse will be we blew the budget on paying thousands for Campbell. Bit like Hastie who then is afforded by that massive scottish club ayr united.

Would not use Campbell in the same sentence as Hastie(not), Like

im hopeful in the fact Mr Campbell will be worlds away from the footballer that useless little wage robbing sod was !

Only reason a small squad is worrying and i think people are moaning about it, is the fact we now can utlise the 7 subs. Having 5 players as impact or near starters is going to be the decider for many this season and could well see a mediocre team reach the top 7 as they have used the new sub ruling to their advantage. I dont personally want to see a massive squad of 30 with more than half being kids and knackers but a solid 22 at least.

hoping once the season kicks in we see some good loans come our way too

He should read The Mail, Stelling has identified 21 free agents,
https://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/sport/ ... st-4707198

Some absolute Knackers on that list like - Troy Deeney like really ? is going into management now isnt he ?

there is maybe 1 or 2 who would be nice to have off the bench or for cover type of players.

Matt Smith and Bostock 2 absolute ballers for this level - weird how they have not found new employers yet ?

because they,ll think they are above playing non league football and expect a final league pay day but find like the two we got last season its too late and they are knackered.

Where is Ronnie Moore I thought he was employed to identify potential signings ?

[quote="Eiphos_3"]Some absolute Knackers on that list like - Troy Deeney like really ? is going into management now isnt he ?

there is maybe 1 or 2 who would be nice to have off the bench or for cover type of players.

Matt Smith and Bostock 2 absolute ballers for this level - weird how they have not found new employers yet ?[/quote

Deeney went into management with FGRs, Then was promptly sacked.
Seemed the Snowflakes could not handle his style of management.

His style of management that brought them a win ratio of 0%

Snowflakes.. the guy is a clown.

Maybe Crawley thought it prudent to get more than one player in with the wages and we were happy with just the one and with a small squad. Dunno. Glad to have him but hope it pays off.

There's only one keeper on that list, 37-year-old player coach Josh Lillis, who has barely started a league game since 2020. Says it all really

Pools passed on Jameson so you have to assume they thought they could do better. Question is, are any of their goalkeeping targets still available or have they all gone somewhere else? Guess we'll never know unless one of them signs!

Keepers without a club.

Tomáš Holý

Jack Cameron McIntyre

Lewis Luka Thomas

Conor Brann

Adam Smith

Nathan Harvey

Jordon Smith

Marko Marosi

Jamal Blackman

Nathan Shepperd

James Holden

Rob Lainton