The Poolie Bunker

Talking to one or two fans at last nights game the subject of home form kept cropping up and on the way home I pondered what we talked about on this issue.

I was told of a section who seem to enjoy giving Behan loads of stick throughout the game and another lot who seem to have it in for Peter Hartley and some who don't rate Scott Flinders etc etc.

Of course during any game our passion can get our sap rising and we will vent our spleen now and then at players/refs/managers and their actions.

But to be constantly having a go and getting on the backs of a player at EVERY opportunity will not make that player play any better than the sort of game he is having on the day.

We all have players who we dont rate from time to time for one reason or another and we all have moments were sometimes our gob is engaged before our brain, BUT for 90 minutes next Saturday can we ALL put our positive head on and help the team we love get our first home win.

ANYONE who was there last night and watched the passion the players had when we scored and the way they came over at the end and celebrated a good win with us,I WILL CHALLENGE ANYONE TO SAY NOT ONE OF THEM ARE IN IT TOGETHER WITH US POOLY'S.

One man deserves to be singled out for praise was Chris Turner he kicked every ball with the players and his passion was massive last night even with minutes to go and three up he could be seen jumping about like this willing each and every one of them on to victory,he summed it up last night by the way he went onto the pitch with the players.

Totally agree,it seems some fans go to the match just to find fault, as soon as a player makes a mistake they are slaughtered for the rest of the match

Poolymad I totally agree with you, in fact I will go further and say some fans dont even wait for a certain player to make a mistake. They have deemed in their own little minds that because a player had a bad game in the previous home game he will do the same in the one they now playing in. Those fans (if can be called fans) will then start having a go as soon as his name is announced over the stadium tannoy.

Its been done down the years, it will carry on being done. And I for one dont know why. Yes I have disliked certain players for a number of reasons but dont simply have a go during the game simply because I dislike him. I will at least wait for a mistake by whoever it is

I dare say some go even as far as not applauding/cheering if the player they having a go at plays a defence splitting pass/ saves a goal or even scores a goal.

I've never heard anyone giving a player constant abuse all the time....but if they are then they can fook right off. Seriously I don't care if our attendance is lower as a result. If they're giving out so much abuse that if effecting a player's performance then they can stay at home. I can understand a moan every now and then but that is not on. If they stay at home and it makes us play better then we'd get more fans coming to watch anyway.

I noticed some chavvy teenage Oldham fans abusing their reserve keeper at half time. Then when Dean Brill came out and was warming up they sarcastically cheered every time he caught the ball. I thought it was great for us because it will have knocked his confidence and given us a better chance of scoring more goals. He didn't make a major mistake in the second half but if he had of done then it would served the abusive Oldham fans right.

When we celebrated Behan's goal it reminded me of how we celebrated under Cooper with every player delighted and UNITED.

stockport

Both near Manchester. Both shitholes.

i tell you what, i noticed that too. What i also noticed was at the end of the match, the players were delighted, they were hugging each other and celebrating like they had just won promotion. it really MEANT something to them. The fabled 'feel good factor' is definately starting to rear its beautiful head once again

Have I really just read this?

David. Foley.

poolymad i agree with you
the away crowd seem to get behind the team so much more than the home team.
maybe this is why the away result and perfornances have been much better.

even the few at Gillingham made a fantastic sound.

its early days tey and with all these new players we need to give them time to gel properly.

watching the team celebrate on friday nigh the togetherness that can only come from within them and i think there is much more to come so lets get behind the lads and support them not slag them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe we should organise a 'proper supporters' area in the ground, so that all the fans who go to the away matches can stand together, and create the same atmosphere that they do on their travels. At the moment, for various reasons, the away supporters are spread thinly around the ground, and aren't able to have the same influence, or drown out the moaners who always seem to be there in larger and louder numbers.

Yes TPP I didnt(dont) rate Foley I dont believe he has it to make it at the level we are currently at (League 1) but I NEVER had a go at him simply because of that. My point was I believe some fans have a go at players because of previous performances, I gave him support as I do any Pools player, but like 99.9999999% of fans did "have a go" when he underperformed at certain times in a game. Just like I will air my views at any player who is underperforming at a particular time in a game, more with encouraging comments than simply lets have a go at him because he just made a poor pass/missed a sitter etc, that will not be carried into the next game or the remainder of the game being played.

I actually hope Foley proves me wrong I just don't think he will.

I've got to admit to being a non singer, most of the time, at home matches. But, on the odd occassion I manage to get to away games, I join in the singing, mainly because it's going on all around me. The Town End would have to be the site of our home singing area, unless we could get the Rink End back, with it's lower roof it would be better for acoustics, as the away fans often show us.

I think there should be a load of wireless microphones handed out to those who want to sing, and stick the speakers in the Rink End.

Just shows you,from small acorns doth large oak trees grow.

Talking to one of the players about home form v home crowd over the weekend and he talked about certain sections of the crowd on players back at every opportunity and how this has an effect on the game.

So along with the singing can we all keep the positive vibes going throughout and ONLY judge the performance after the game and not during and keep off those some may dislike just for 90 minutes.

Well done to those who got the singing corner going and hope it pays off and we get our first home three points. Who knows if it is just awsome then I bet the club will look at more of the same.

Can flags be included on Saturday also as my granddaughter is one of the best flag wavers we have and will get the kids involved too.

I was talking to Barry Conlon a year or two back (nice bloke actually), and he said abuse from aways fans was water off a ducks back but when it was the home fans who did it, it did affect him even if he did try and ignore it.

Steven Haslam seems to be the figure of abuse from a few of the dickheads near me in the Town End.

I'm sorry but I don't really buy this.

The reason they are getting stick is becuase they aren't playing well at home, if we were playing well these dickheads would be drowned out. I'm sorry to say we'll always have this element among the Pools 'support'. It's great people are making an effort to do something about it though. I never (out loud) would get on a players back as it's counter productive, but I also find it hard when I'm watching something that is poor to be happy clappy.

But I do feel Turner is going slightly OTT on it, if our results were better at home the crowd wouldn't be mentioned. It's as if we are being blamed for the home form, he has to take some responosibily as well with his team selections and the players have to have the bottle to stand up and be counted.

Saying that I'm looking forward to Saturday already, I' convinced we'll win and the atmosphere will be great

Mr EAD's favourite band.

'I want it all.....
I want it all........
I want it all.....
And I want it NOW.....'

Softly softly catchee monkee, look at Bristol Rovers. Look where we are, look at the fixture list.

Pull your necks in, have some patience.

We've taken 17 points from our last 19 home games.

That isn't the crowds fault.

We've only played 4 home league games this season. You've been I haven't. Charlton and Norwich. Did we expect to beat them?? Bristol Rovers, four years in the building. Wycombe. Managed by an international class manager.

Come on marra, be realistic.

I expected us to beat sheff wed a few years ago, the general attitude at the club twas a bit different then.

How so??

Peter Taylor an international class manager

I've got a mate who is a Leicester fan and if he was in a room with room with Peter Taylor he'd have to be restrained Look I get what you're saying but you can look at a lot of our home games and say "that's a tough game" it still doesn't make getting something from those home games any less crucial. Wycombe are a team we should look to be beating at home and we never really looked like doing it.

I am a lot more encouraged by what I am watching this season but the last 19 home games are still relevant. It's why we are down to less than 3,500 home fans and it's why it's not taking much for some of them to become restless.

Well you are basically saying we should expect defeat cos it's charlton and norwich.

Back in the day, well about 4 years ago, we'd roll our sleeves up against the bigger clubs of the division, humiliate sheff wed at home 3-0, we wouldnt now.

No, I used the word realistic. Compared to us they're rolling in cash. They have international players on huge salaries. They're embarrassed at being in this league, we've never been above it.

Yes, give it a bash, but don't be surprised when we get turned over. They aren't in the turmoil that Wednesday were in when they were in this league.

Who the fluck is an international at norwich? And if they are that means nothing if there playing at this level.

Sheff wed we're not in turmoil as we played them in cardiff and they went up.

We were garabge against a poor Norwich side who've only clocked up one more point than us though. Wycombe didn't have a point away from home.

I can accept that we played Bristol Rovers and Charlton who have started well, we actually played ok against Rovers and deserved to take a point out of the game, we still didn't play well though.

We also have some good players who should be doing better at home if we return 17 points from our next 19 home games we will be relegated. Now I don't think we will be I'm just saying although I agree the atmosphere needs to improve inside the Vic the only way it's really going to improve is if of our performaces do. We have good to enough players and a strong enough sqaud for it to. We'll do our bit, it's time the players did as well.

Owain Tudur Jones, Stephen Hughes, Michael Spillane, Wersley Hoolihan...................Paul McVeigh.

Yes Wednesday were, they'd had 99 managers in seven minutes and the board were trying to sell the whole shooting match. The club that beat us at Cardiff was FAR different to the one we beat 3-0 in somewhat inclement weather.

The teams that played in the play off final were almost (infact ours was) indentical to that night we gubbed them 3-0. It was only a few weeks before.

Paul McVeigh - Northern Ireland, need i say more?

Jones - Wales, see above.

If there top quality internationals i'll eat my own foot.

But what does that mean in the context of us playing against them on a different ground, in different weather in different circumstances on a different day?? Not forgetting that we're also a different team with different players from the 15 previous home games you keep quoting??

The only common link is the shir.......oh aye, we've changed that as well......

No-one said top quality apart from you.

Listen it's 2.15 am, I'm not Mr Mutley, I'm not indestructable so I'm going to bed.

It has been truly delightful to debate a subject we all care about deeply with you both.

We all want the same thing right??

Night night.

Sleep tight mr spender, if you dream about me, just let me know what happens.

Good night Mr Spender