The Poolie Bunker

More and more people don’t actually give a shit any more. Either that or everyone has lost hope.

Ther's plenty who do still care. Raj and his clueless advisers have created a very volatile situation. If th next couple of home league fixtures go as expected another 'Chairman's Statement' is just around the corner.

Lethargy is hard to shake off…the club is slowly dying on its feet.
We need a saviour, but they’re thin on the ground… mores the pity.

After watching highlights of Saturdays game where they played Pools of the park I woke up this morning not surprised by the result.

there are still 3,000 on a saturday who do care plus others waiting in the background who will be back once he has done one and a bit of success comes back to the club. the biggest laugh about it all is raj would sack someone who he thought was lowering the gate by there actions.

There is no hope. Give up.

I've genuinely lost interest I think, I went to the Gainsborough game on Saturday, they were awful, but I've seen pools be awful for decades.
What I don't like is the banning of Rob law and Robbie S, the total disregard for the fans and the insanity of constantly sacking managers - oh yeah and the silence from the chairman and the "Board"
And the fact that pools are now an embarrassment across football to be associated with, not because they are crap and never win anything, but because they are shambolic in how they appear to be run and reputationaly damaged - hopefully not beyond repair, Jeff still does his bit to give us a bit of national coverage but the current owner and "Board" appear to the outside world as poisonous

Raj is not likely to walk away without getting some if not all of the money he feels he's owed.
What really surprises me is that we're changing managers at the rate of every 17 games or so on average for the last 5 incumbents. The big question for me is if the board (Pearson who claims to have been instrumental in the Sarll appointment, Lennie who's been involved in them all, and others) are continually getting the Managerial appointment wrong then surely they're not the right people for the job?
Yes the Chairman is accountable for the whole shit show, but being owner he's going nowhere. The board and recruitment staff seem to be making wrong decision after wrong decision without any repercussions.

For me personally I do care a lot, but I said to myself at the beginning of the season that I wouldn't spend another penny on the club until Raj is gone. There are probably hundreds of supporters who feel similarly. The second he goes my support will return. In the event that we end up with a phoenix club, my support will be even greater, as at that level I feel that any investment that we make as fans would go even further. I will buy a season ticket every season, every shirt, matchday programme etc. Again, maybe there are hundreds of fans who feel similarly to me.

I feel powerless when it comes to Pools at the moment, I'm sure we all do. Ceasing investment in the current regime is the only small retaliation I can make, the only tiny thing I can control. People always say "vote with your wallet". I have.

As for the division between the fans, we all need to give our heads a shake. We all want the same thing surely, a successful football club for the town. Our common enemy is Raj Singh. Anyone that can't see that at this point is so braindead and lost that they're not even worth considering anymore.

Up the Pools. Fuck Raj.

I don't see attending games as supporting Raj. We've had better and worse owners for sure, but come a matchday all I'm interested in is the game and result not who the owner is.
We all have our reasons for going, or not going, but for me if I stopped I dare say I'd find something different to do and never go back.

totally 100% spot on. i,d still do my 170 mile round trip and actually come up more often if the team did show the never say die attitude and i never saw a white flag again. It might take a few years to get back where we now are but the journey could be worth it. might actually feel like a respected fan then than just a customer at asda like i feel now. id we did start at rock bottom a good number of the stay aways would be back. macclesfield actually got bigger gates at the start of their journey than they got as a league club and now bury are back at gig lane there gates are not that poor either. the only problem we could face is being stuck below where we are now and end up another workington.

I guess it's that I don't believe that my hard earned money is actually being invested, certainly not invested intelligently. I'm in my 30s so granted I've not experienced many owners, but really? We've had worse? Gary Coxall was a literal criminal but at least he was gone pretty quickly. I feel like a dog who has been waiting to be put out of his misery for years, while simultaneously being told that everything is actually fine. Again, the man is all about power. Not giving him your money and telling him what a fucking dickhead he is online (we know he reads it because he's a narcissist), is the only thing we can do at the moment.

Seriously? Have you forgotten Coxhall and Duxbury, and TMH? Remember how close to the precipice they took us?

I haven't, but given that a large number of fans think that a phoenix club would be preferable to the current situation, I think you can make an argument that this is worse. It's ripping the bandage off quickly vs lobsters being boiled in a pan, slowly. Not even realising how bad their situation is.

I'd rather in football matters that we don't go any lower than NL irrespective of ownership. I appreciate and respect that others may have different opinions, but I'm too old to see any possible benefit from starting 3 or 4 divisions lower than we are now and with so many unknowns.

I can definitely understand and respect that point of view. As others have said on the board, there is no guarantees and it could take decades to get back to the football league. Maybe all things considered it would have been better for it to happen back in 2016 or whenever it was. We wouldn't have had the 2020/2021 season, but even that was somewhat spoiled by covid.

The OP makes a good point - when people stop going that's often it, they can't be arsed going back. Doesn't bode well for the future.

I agree really. Just don't want to drop any further. If (and it's a huge fat if) someone did come in, dealing with the debt is crucial to whether we can bounce back or not.

The next Tuesday night home game is going to be interesting with an attendance of 2800 unless he lets the skool kids in for free.

I went to the Aldershot match but really questioned myself why.. there are plenty of alternative sources of entertainment that I could have spent that time on. Likewise, Sutton is a fixture I can get to on Saturday but is now way down my priority list. I've not even been to a home match this season - it costs me over £140 to see one (along with a very long day trip) and I've lost hope of seeing a win. So.. I'm out.

I might have mentioned it but I believe a Phoenix club is a far better option for reasons that I have stated many times. Yes we’d have to drop down a couple of divisions but we would get back without question. The fans would have a genuine stake in the club and passion would be back. We’d be completely debt free and crucially we’d have a ground at a peppercorn tent.

Yes we’d be part time but we’d attract the very best of non league players and spend a couple of years enjoying easy promotions. We’d build momentum which you can see at Wrexham, Stockport, Scunthorpe and a few others has been critical. Success builds success. That has to be better than this slow cancerous death.

You make it sound so exciting and I've got to admit watching the team winning regularly again is very tempting, as is the club owned solely by dedicated dyed in the wool Poolies, that would be comforting. My biggest concern is how many would be prepared to start the journey and stick with it.
Some of us have trudged through previous lean years watching in an echo chamber and it is not a pleasant experience but hey if it means the club goes on, I'm in.

And the guarantees that we'd attract the best players and gain easy promotions are based on????

…and passing wildlife.

What guarantees are there now…..it’s like being on a ship with none on the bridge…….you hit the rocks eventually.

none, but life is a gamble anyway. the gamble is swapping an unknown for the present shit show. if we had to start in the northern league i,m sure we could attract the best available there if the money was right on top of playing every home game in a proper football ground on grass. going bust surely means the club would only be in admin anyway with the vultures circling to pick up a club on the cheap or what its really worth and not the raj valuation. we,d have a points deduction that would likely relegate us and even if the national league refuse us next season then we,d be more likely starting in that evo stick thing.

Agree totally. People no longer give a shit because there is only so much folk will accept - and we've had years of promises, false dawns. shite and more shite - and add to that the fact that folk now realise/ accept that there is sod all that 'we' can do. So, whilst I've disagreed with MR I on this for some time, I now reckon that a phoenix is (and was) the best solution.

Think we have been on the rocks for some time Snowy.

problem is that eventually those who still give a shit get worn down and total apathy takes over that without some leadership and hope they,ll join them.

This situation is not going to change, in fact the club seems more firmly fixed in the present owners orbit and there’s always those who’ll touch their cap and be grateful for anything rather than face the future.
It’s safe to say that apathy is spreading amongst the fans as there’s only soo much that they can take, especially when there’s no future in sight or an alternative to cling to.
The only cure is success on the pitch….but I wouldn’t hold my breath on that score as the same old failure to succeed stumbles along the toad to nowhere.

I said after we managed to scrape our way out of the league of doom that if we ever went down again that was me done with going to the Vic as I wasn't prepared to spend good money on watching shit football, shit officials and invisible away fans and I've stuck to my guns.

I now spend Saturday afternoons from 3-00 pm in Wetherspoons, go home Half cut and in a good mood even after watching the live scores on my phone and not being too surprised or bothered that we are still shite. Nothing is going to change in my life time .....sadly.

what surprises me even more is the keeness of fans to attend games even at a succesful club. the whole game is so sterile now with players hard to relate to, tippy tappy football and real full blooded challenges likely to be penalised and fans of all clubs being the same as the rest. even obtaiing a simple thing like a ticket to the match has become a task we never once thought twice about. club owners getting a higher profile than anyone else at clubs. football mirrors the present way of life. boring with so many rules and regs involved to piss you off. more cant do thats than what you can do without upsetting other fans one bit. if pools did go then i,d quickly follow for good. meeting up with my lad at stockport today but cannot say i,m looking forward to the match even though i do not give a flying one about the result. once games like this were relaxing compared to a pools game but have become more boring than a bbc schedule.

"in fact the club seems more firmly fixed in the present owners orbit"

Its like watching an episode of "Brass"

OR Blind leading the Blind OR Watching sheep grazing.