The Poolie Bunker

I can safely say that so far this is a worse team than last season..by a country mile.
Tactics? …what tactics…defensively we appear to stand off when defending it’s a bit like the channel crossings…we accompany them from the halfway line but never challenge……Kidderminster were onto our forwards instantly making contact and challenging our players quite effectively.
We look lethargic, disjointed, players seem disinterested, I see no,pride or determination on the pitch, frankly it’s embarrassing.
I noticed the two local commentators towards the end, were a bit wary the pat Pools would strike based on the the hype that we were going to be one of the favourites, the sounded surprised at what turned up.
I was prepared to give Clark a chance and disappointed at the appointment…but seasons are too short to find out you got things wrong if you intend to win anything.
We’re haemorrhaging points, this has to be stopped.

Once again away from home the ball retention was mostly non existent.
Hit n hope long balls to Kidderminsters defence about 80 % of the game.

We got out of jail at Aldershot with the penalty and v Woking with their late missed sitters.

It could be a lot worse.
Clarky not up for the job.
But he was offered it so you can't blame him for accepting it.

Bromby been totally useless.

The dressing room n team spirit has gone.

A major fix needed that will take time.
But I can't see the fanbase showing anymore patience especially at the high entrance fee.

A none FA Cup run is probably needed just to break even now.

Adam Clayton a cracking player but as a coach has brought zero improvement to our midfield.


It ain't looking good.
UTP.

think we have short memories. last seasons team was the one knocked out of cup competitions by teams well down the pyramid. however this side at its best were only slightly better but most likely on bigger wages. feel too much was expected from a player at the fag enf of his career who cannot fo 90 minutes and harris and nolan who have both had mixed careers and we look to have the poorer versions of both. the big question to ask is will be look and get better when all the injured players are back. if the answer is yes then the manager needs more time. if not then its a P45 after the worthing game if the situation remains the same on the pitch.

Good idea, let's wait until six more points have been whittered away and then dismiss the hapless Clark before the Scunny and Harrogate games which were probably zero pointers even when we almost looked like a half-decent side. I've never seen so much hostility and contempt for a Pools boss even during the pre-Sarll dismissal. In my view Clark needs to be gone before the forthcoming Alty defeat, Chris Beech installed as caretaker whilst Landon goes for Maynard and reviews the continued involvement of Bromby, Maxwell and a section of the players, et al. Big shouts yes- but time is of the essence here, the club is seriously fcuked up and corrective action is needed ASAP .

Clark has to go…end of.

Hasn’t Beech been sacked from his previous 3 management positions, I would put Featherstone in charge, he might steady the ship, oops Featherstone just joined Hull, who else is there, is Tony Sweeney or Challinor looking for a job ?

I agree that Beech doesn't have a good track record but at least he has experience of the ups and downs at managerial level of decent and respectable clubs unlike Clueless Clark. Besides, in addition to Beech already being at the club being employed by Pools and a short term managerial appointment, as Pools 'Head of Recruitment' he has to take responsibility for the signing of several players who are simply not fit for purpose at NL level - perhaps he could bring out the best of the player(s) that he thought he had signed?

We will get better with the players back but he still should have been sacked 2 weeks ago, it’s clear as day he’s not got a fucking clue, there’s literally no chance we get playoffs with this style of play and the system imo, surprised we haven’t been absolutely battered so far but it’s coming.

Agree with everything said, a review of bromby is massive and very necessary as the squad and manager are an absolute shambles imo, even the rumours before Clark was Lee fucking cattermole! How inspiring

Midfield issues aside I think we’ve got a better squad / team than last season it’s the tactics / organisation or lack of that’s the main issue IMO.

Despite my misgivings of the Clarke appointment I really wanted it to work as I think we’re all sick of the revolving door manager situation we’ve been stuck in.

Unfortunately it’s becoming increasingly obvious that Clarke hasn’t got what it takes to get this team playing. Don’t think it’s going to improve. Change required or this season’s done before it’s really got started

I think a lot of us fans would give time to a manager if they had any sort of relevant success (in the last few years) or we could see what they were trying to do at the very least, Clark hasn’t had success in 15 years and we look more a shambles then the Sarll era imo, I get the people wanting the consistent change of managers to stop but to want that to stop with this dinosaur is absolutely baffling, more likely to go down then up with him in charge imo.

The reason's not difficult to spot. Poolies have endured getting on for 2 decades of mediocrity. We've had one good season in all that time - and that went straight out the door when Dave Challinor left.

Finally our prayers are answered. We get a new owner with money and big ideas. Best of all he seems to have a solid plan to get us back into the Football League and stay there.

To see it all fall apart in less than a month because highly paid consultants made a lousy managerial appointment is too much to stomach. I'm sure the new regime doesn't realise how bad a sign it is when Pools' away support turns on the manager and players so quickly.

There IS only one solution and that's to get rid of Clark as fast as possible and bring in a proven manager at this level that the fans can get behind. Got to be Maynard.

With hindsight either would have been a disaster - why do football people assume that individuals who have had fantastic careers as players will automatically evolve into even half decent managerial material? As things stand it's highly likely that both will be looking for new employment within the near future. As players both Clark and Cattermole are well respected as local heroes on Tyneside and Wearside - and Cattermole on Teesside to some extent. However that cuts for nothing amongst Poolies which I guess is partly why Clark is getting short shrift from the fans.

Owners with little real experience of the game do tend to think great players automatically make great managers, two totally different jobs.
A bit like comparing a navvy to a civil engineer …ones brawn and the other has the brain….but still they give the Civil engineers job to the man who digs the holes…result, the fecking bridge collapses because they haven’t got a clue..

even early in his career he did ok but ended up getting the sack from every job he has done. who do you blame the most him or the clowns who employed him who might have been taken in by what he had to say. his get out of jail card will be the injuries we are suffering and he,ll elequantly state his case i guess. Looking at his victories alone shows he is not really up for the job but where does the club go next. they have tried since challinor every type of manager available and none has really succeeded but might have been better having patience with some. clark is in the sarll/hartley class even if some of his recruitment looked better.

Until we get a Manager who is prepared to hold their hands up and admit that their vision and tactics aren't working and take a different approach altogether we will keep going down the same avenue. Sarll wouldn't, Curle wouldn't, Featherstone kept bumbling along with the same tactics, we need someone who can get the best formation and style of play to suit the players we have, the current tactics just ain't working. To be honest it just seems to be "kick and rush" footy.

we,ll have a long wait to find a manager who will admit to making a mistake. seems something in the dna of people doing the job where its never there fault but the fault of others. the ones who question themselves do not last long in the job or nice guts either.

The trouble is, they come to the job of managing with a players mindset and that’s where they fall down.

problem for them is when playing they do not exactly have good role models to follow if they want to become managers. not everyone has the personality to be a cloughie or a fergy. how many managers did nicky featherstone played under full time or temporary who were all found wanting but one. even doing the opposite of one might not make it right as someone else might have failed doing that.

Both. Fuck knows what bromby were thinking appointing him but if he can’t see some of the basic things all us average fans can see so clearly it’s also his fault. Also the club haven’t really went down every route, unless I’m forgetting someone have we since Challinor left went for a manager thriving in the NLN/NLS. Challinor wasn’t exactly what as he’d just been sacked from Fylde but he was alot more in that type then the shite we’ve been appointing recently.