The Poolie Bunker

How did he pass the medical?

Was he really injured at Pools?

A player who with 20mins on the pitch can turn a game on its head.

He could make all the difference to Rochdale quest, Imagine bringing him on in a play off final.

He’ ll do great for them another clusterfuck of a decision by the club

Double figures for goals I predict

its a bit harsh to say he wasn,t. best you can say was he did not give a good impression of rushing to get back.

after the last two years with us i predict a double figure of starts. unless fans there have changed they will be far less forgiving than many of us were.

I'm absolutely gutted we never gave him a contract, best player in the national league by a country mile.
I don't care if he didn't tackle, he was a joy to watch.
I'd have quite happily seen him sign for twenty games a season.
Good luck to the lad, it was an absolute pleasure to see him play for Pools.

That’s my take on it too.

Very disappointed to see him leave

He’s been given a contract by a footballing side who made the playoffs and took the piss out of us twice last year, that probably tells you how stupid of a decision it was not to offer him a contract, head and shoulders above anyone else we had or have the last few years.

And there is a lot of bollocks about him off
The ball the amount of times on a 50/50 bouncing ball he was able to get his body there first and get possession or draw a foul obviously went unnoticed because he wasn’t flying into tackles

Bonne chance Anthony!

When he plays us he will get the biggest cheer at the Vic ever!

That's assuming he plays against us & isn't injured!!

really doubt our league positions in the two seasons he was with us would have been different if we had never signed him. even when available on a good day he did show his magic but never consistantly for a full game apart from the pre chesterfield away days.

you cannot say things like that about ex players in todays climate. you know he is going to start and finish every game they play and become the leagues top scorer with the most assists on top. then a dream move to man,u dor 50 million quid plus add ons to make rochdale the new brentford.

Dunno like, the game against Boston changed our season. We were on a really bad run and I think starting mancini saved limbricks bacon.i don't think mancini was fit enough to start tbh but limbrick was desperate for the win. Mancini won us that game, I think if he hadn't started we wouldn't have won and would have finished the season very close to the relegation zone.
I'd argue the same about the oldham game where mancini won us the game. Manicini MOTM against boston did change the end of the season for us.

The less tangible but important thing is he was fun to watch, I actually got enjoyment seeing him play and try stuff out, Rochdale fans are going to love him, he’s one
Of the few, random out of the box positive things we’ve had in 3 years….and we gave him away…for nothing
Yet another stupid self sabotaging decison by the
Club

No need to worry...we've got Brad Walker now....who's played even less games than Mancini in the past few years due to injuries.
Only at Pools.

It was largely down to him we beat Oldham 2-1 at the Vic.

He only started 7 games for us all last season - half as many as the season before, when he really was knackered by the torn hamstring.

I can't get my head round Limbrick not even putting him on the bench once after the Oldham game on 1st January. Was he really never even fit enough for a 20 minute cameo in the last 6 weeks? He was on the bench more often than not in the first half of the season.

There's definitely a rabbit away somewhere. Limbrick never struck me as a man to bear a grudge, but still... it's hard to believe Mancini flat out refused to play. And now suddenly he's fit and raring to gol?
Feels like the decision to release him was made well before the end of the season.

I doubt Mancini was refusing to play. The way he played he was very susceptible to injury, you could say a bit of a luxury player. But a very good luxury at our level and maybe bringing him off the bench will be the best way for Rochdale to use him. Clearly though his hamstring problems he will be better suited by the hot weather and the cold and damp of winter he will struggle.

These are his minutes played from TransferMarket since he came to England. His fitness must have been an issue as Accrington released him after the half season there.

24/25 National League Hartlepool United 917'
23/24 National League Hartlepool United 871'
22/23 League One Accrington Stanley 124'
22/23 EFL Trophy Accrington Stanley 1'
21/22 Premier League 2 FC Burnley U23 662'
20/21 Premier League 2 FC Burnley U23 1.783'

In his first season away at Southend he was superb that good even the home supporters named him mom and when he went off near the end was applauded by the whole crowd. The only player I have seen play for Pools away as good was Jan Ove Pederson in a victory at Colchester's old ground.

Last season he also had to play under a magnificently clueless fuckwit who valued kicking the shit out of the oppo and punting it as far as possible as oppose to playing football, truly tragic

Pointless having someone who you can't get more than 10 games out of no matter how good he was in patches. Having said that to then bring in someone who also hardly plays could only happen at pools. Clueless.

I believe you are talking about Walker, Would you rather have him than Mancini, ? for all.

Obviously two different type of players. But considering we already have about 4 of the same sort then you are always going to take mancini than walker. Unfortunately either mancini is crocked constantly or feigning injury no good to us that.

still to be convinced that he made more of his injuries after the first one than others. if we were in a play off position with a chance of going up automatically we might have seen more of him and at his best. be interesting what happens with him at rochdale depending on there league position.

Very much a Luke Williams. Great player at this level just never fit.

You just can't afford to carry him unfortunately. If he had even half a season in him I'd sign him.

Any examples?