The Poolie Bunker

..table closely, there are 6 very good teams in this league ATM, Southend in the final qualifying place(7th) can be erratic, then not far behind Wealdstone and us, it would seem at this stage for us to be involved in and around the playoffs we would need to see a big fall off in form in one or two of the teams above us, this seems unlikely ATM, what I would like to see us do is to keep hanging on the coat tails of the teams just above us in the hope they do hit a slump.
In all honesty I can't see us getting in there and if we did sneak in I doubt we'd be good enough to get through, with a fully fit squad and a couple of good additions you never know though.
I'm quite happy to see us where we are now picking up the odd good win and being one of those "difficult to beat" teams and if we finished the season in the mid to late sixties points that would be acceptable to me and an improvement on the last two. I do understand it wouldn't to other fans though.
I don't see us as having a bad season if we don't make the playoffs, as long as we have given a good account of ourselves and made it difficult for the teams above us.
Looking at the bottom of the table there's now a six point gap between Gateshead in 19th and Aldershot in 20th, which makes it look ATM like a 5 team scrap to stay out of those bottom 4 places.

The good thing is that there's lots of teams will be taking points off each other around the play off places and it'll probably be a lower than normal points tally to grab the 7th place.n
Not saying we'll be in amongst them, but once you're in those shoot out games money and form aren't a guarantee of success.

I have Pools to finish on 65-66 points on my expected points thread, which would backup your excellent thoughts.

" if we finished the season in the mid to late sixties points that would be acceptable to me "

No disrespect but that would not be acceptable to me, Nor should it be acceptable to any one at a club our size.
I take into account injuries and suspensions, But really.
8 points out of the last 12 is decent, But we know it should have been more if not for poor tactics. But Fevs learn from that.

The surprise package this season is Boreham Wood - currently 2nd in the table and already beat Crawley 3-0 in the first round proper of the FA Cup.

They got relegated to the NLS two seasons ago but came straight back up last year through the play-offs and are going great guns this season.
Even more to their credit, they sacked their long-service ex-player and manager Luke Garrard when they were in relegation trouble 2 years ago but were big enough to admit their mistake and re-appointed him when they went down. Garrard has already had them in the National League play-offs once (in 2022/23) and looks to have a very good chance of doing it again.

Their chairman Danny Hunter, has been in the job for over 2 decades, back in the days when they were in the Ryman League. In other words, he's evrything that Raj Singh isn't - in it for the long haul, no tantrums and willing to admit when he's made a mistake!

Grayhounded, where do you think we will finish?
And are Pools really better than the teams that occupy 1st to 7th at the moment?

Good ?

For me it depends who comes in, Hopefully a manager who does not regard running stats as a starting figure.

To me there are only 3 teams who i would regard are better than us at the moment.
Carlisle
Rochdale
York
---------
The other 4 in the top 7 I would regard as equal, Injuries have played a big part in our current position.
And without those injuries i believe we would sit in the top 7.

Boreham Wood are the surprise, But deserve to be there, Can they handle it though.

Saturdays opponents Wealdstone are hot and cold, But on the day are a difficult opponent.
Expecting a very good game.

With regard to your ? though.
I will be disappointed NOT to make the POs, Lots of variables to contend with.
NSD

If you read my post I did say that would not be acceptable to other fans though.

I did, And i also read the quote above.
All about opinions really, One thing is for sure this season like others has been mismanaged, And not by SG.
And i don,t believe SG was sacked because of results, More likely because he was sticking up for his mate in interviews.

Pools are 3 or 4 more quality players off a side that will really contend for a play-off place. We are short of cover in all areas - even centre-back because Tom Parkes has an ongoing problem with concussion injuries.

Above all, we're not going to score enough goals to go close as things stand. Valdaine Oliver has only managed to start 30-odd games in the last 2 seasons and could turn out to be another Gary Madine for us - decent when he's fit. Still hoping Reid will get into double figures on goals but given up on Danny Johnson.

Well York playing Rochdale tonight, surely as York are on 33 points and Rochdale on 37 it's better for us that Rochdale win, otherwise York will be 10 points ahead of us if they win?

Titter ye not but Danny Johnson could well benefit from a return to the EFL where he would doubtless receive better service from his teammates than he is currently receiving at Pools. Strugglers such as Newport, Shrewsbury, Cheltenham and Harrogate would surely benefit from the addition of a proven EFL goalscorer to their squads? More especially Harrogate, who are in freefall but unable to change their manager for obvious reasons. Just a thought.

Might give York-Rochdale a watch on DAZN.

Joe Grey is out injured for York and Anthony Mancini hasn't been near a Rochdale team sheet for 2 months. In fact, according to Transfermarkt he's spent exactly 62 minutes on the pitch so far this season.
How many times did Billingham Poolie tell The Bunker what a scandal it was that Mancini had been "allowed to leave Pools"?

Yes agree, surely Harrogate have a player who maybe has been there a few seasons too long and could do with a change of location and club who we could do a little exchange deal with.

Goals flying in tonight, Tamworth were one up at FGR now 2-1 down, York scored after Dale dominating and have just equalised.... listening in on Radio York.

Watching York v Rochdale, 1-1, cracking game, Mani D with an assist for Dale's goal. These teams on a different level to us, pace, passing and movement is excellent from both sides, we've got an awful lot of catching up to do if we're serious about making progress.

York with two goals at start of second half

4-1 to York now.

4-1 to York now, and they weren't even in the game the first half hour.

The BBC York commentators are cock a hoop, making cocky remarks about Yorkshireman, lampooning Lancastrians, and they just stated that this'll be the joint highest wins against another team at 47 for York v Dale tying with Darlington, they then said surely Pools must be up there too in most games against.

Some of the top 6 will definitely fall away. All 6 of them are currently on track to get 92+ points, which would be completely unheard of.

We’re on track to get 66 points, which would be our 2nd best season in the last 18 years. Best was obviously the promotion season under Challinor, when we finished on 76 points.

This sort of thing can happen when you have quality players.

Still 9th

Thought the first half hour was like watching paint dry, York hell bent on playing out from the back, 'moving through the thirds' as their commentators were pleased to say, as if they were watching two PL sides.
BUT they have two top quality NL strikers in Pearce and Stones, who are definitely on a different level to what Pools have up front.
Rochdale had a a real off-day. Mani D looked about as dangerous as he did during one of his barren spells at Pools last season.

possibly you could say the same for a number of other sides in the division. could have said the same thing 12 months back about the team. thats why we have to rely on players from the past like madine and oliver to come in and turn back the clock. with every player back we might have a top 7 defence but not a team capable of success across the rest of the pitch.

enjoy it whilst you can. cannot we play in an all grey kit to mirror the football we are playing.

Looking back to the previous two seasons we had 22 points after 18 games in both with a negative goal difference (-5 and -3), whereas this season we are 4 points better off with a +6 GD, so positives there.

There are no 'sleeping giants' behind us that's for sure. Unless the wheels come off in a big way again a top 10 finish is certainly feasible, top 7 - not so much.

It's a test of ambition right now, for the chairman more than a manager. Making Pools hard to beat, which is what Feaths can claim to have done, is probably as much as we should expect from the current squad. More firepower needed!

I'm curious as to how we haven't been given the option of a postponement of this weekends game v Wealdstone, having two first team players unavailable, if we lose some fans will be asking that question.

Don't you have to have 3 players called up before you can request a postponement?

Till we have owners ready to invest to compete… we will be bystanders.

making us hard to beat away from home is fine but something needs to happen at the vic to give the fans more to shout about and the reason to turn up in the first place. problem with getting more firepower is that these players cost money and we are not exactly missing loads of good chances. we are just not creating many.