The Poolie Bunker

There’s defeats and there’s defeats…but that’s a game changer, what we saw was our paper tigers turn into wet hankies.
No shape on the pitch, no apparent tactics, no fight, no nothing ….. just bland shuffling.
The next home game would have you asking why go, because that was a shocking display and not acceptable even away, but a display of that ineptitude at home would be unforgivable .
I don’t know what’s happening with the players, but something has to be wrong to produce dross like that.
Time to turn a page and order the skip.

A shocking performance, and that was, on paper, the easiest of our remaining fixtures. had to agree with the Wealdstone commentator when he said that Folarin and Oliver have come on and they don't even look like footballers. Probably summed things up perfectly.

The full club is a jokeshop Holiday Camp.

If Bromby don't sort it then we fucked forever because Hope does nothing but shit allover ya major style concerning Pools.

The club is like some old boys/ boot room holiday camp where football has took second priority to not rocking the boot.

My apologies..when I said how can we carry on, should have been how can they carry on because that for me showed how we can go up and down performance wise like a lift…promotion is won by consistency…not the occasional flashes of brilliance mixed with dross…which cruelly gives you something to hope for but disappoints in the end.

We carry on by getting a proper manager, proper backroom staff and we have to spend some bloody money on players or at least try and bring quality in. Im sorry but since landon has come in this football club has still still been a joke, quality of signings have been piss poor, im starting to think not much is going to change over the summer either. Talking the talk but yet again zero action. If this was an attempt to make the play offs or have fun doing so then im sorry but you have probobly already lost 500 season tickets next season. We are basically bluffing our way through this, signing kids and not even getting in the squad is some sort of joke at this stage of the season.

We always have an excuse, we need time etc etc, well yes you will do if you dont sign anyone who can string 5 or 6 good games together.

in some ways i am glad that happened. imagine if we ha made the play offs it would have been hard to make changes to the coaching staff or give new contracts to average players. its not like we have not been hammered before and can still remember the second half at gateshead and home games against torquay and evertons kids. however there was something different about last night where we were carrying a whole team plus subs.

was this play off talk just talk and nothing else. by the look of the signings there is no way this has been a promotion push. fans aint stupid and can make there own mind up or a conspiracy theory. lets say if you had been living in a cave for a few months you would not know if pools had changed ownership.

I think his interview with BBC Tees was totally uninspiring after the game.

He repeats he didn’t see it coming multiple times. And how he knows they are going to come under stick.

He hasn’t had the answers to not seeing it coming 4 times now. He can’t be trusted for next season, surely not.

I hope and its now my last remaining one is that he was tipped off bout the manager the mess and thought right changes happen in the summer. But whats happened is we have totally wasted three months sorting on the pitch. We really should be assembling a squad for next season and with that manager. Must admit ive got serious concerns now.

Have we got the aldi bersion of american owners?

Absolutely embarrassing and for the manager to state for the umpteenth time he didn't see it coming is even more so, there's a few on here predicted it could go wrong (not so horribly though).
Featherstone and LL need to be out of the door asap, worst results and dullest football in my nearly 60 years of following Pools.
Raj had his faults (and many of them), but he wouldn't have tolerated this and Fev would have been sacked by now. He cannot be allowed to be in charge next season if they expect to achieve any measure of success or sell STs.

he is a dead man walking like philips was after that hammering at gateshead. he,ll never recover from a defeat like that and in the manner it happened.

What I have found interesting is the series of events. New owner comes in, says let’s have a right go at it.

Feaths says he’s going to get the players to play his way, signs Sinclair, Caton and Ekike. Persists with 1 up front before eventually moving to 2 after undue pressure to do so. Scrapes wins vs Truro, Eastleigh and Morecambe. Fever pitch again amongst the fans!

Tells the press he’s due for more new players to help our push and they’ll be in by Thursday….and ends up with Jay Sway, a promising youngster from Huddersfield who didn’t make the team last night. This, despite the fact, Hunter has been in at centre back and our defence being very suspect since the move to 2 up front. The back line is threadbare and still we don’t look like we have true strength in depth. We faced a team with good mobility, tricky and fast players and they absolutely tortured us.

Has he been hung out to dry a bit there or what? I hope as part of the master plan that Landon basically wrote the season off alongside Bromby and partners who perhaps said hold fire on investment here.

If Landon didn’t know before, he sure does now. Hartlepool genuinely the hardest job in the land right now, bar a few who are just as tragic as us.

Embarrassed big style by that fiasco. My first thought was something has triggered this off but then I look back and recognise it has all happened before and far too often. A great opportunity was available to Landon to make a big impact and, for reasons best known to himself, he spurned it. The fans were euphoric at being what many believed to being released from the descending spiral we appeared to be swirling down. A light appeared at the end of the dark tunnel of despair, a hope, a chance to be better, to enjoy going to the match again. We were behind Landon virtually to a man. We expected better times were just around the corner, we only had to wait for the inevitable improvement.
We are still waiting.
Meanwhile cries like "pack the park", let's have a go" and "have some fun" are sounding aa bit hollow right now.
Whereas, at the time of Landon's arrival, excitement was brewing, last night's performance really sat us back down on our arses. The change we expected has not happened and it is questionable whether anything has changed from a positivity perspective, apart from the initial upsurge in fans response, which no doubt is only going one way unless some immediate dramatic action is forthcoming.
Bromby's path is clear for me. Clear out, clear out , clear out.
You have to get your plan into gear, Landon and do it without fear or favour and do it from today because the natives are beginning to get restless and mutterings abound.
The problem facing you now, Mr Smith, is we've seen it all before and, quite frankly, we're fed up with it. You have mentioned the importance of the fan base, it is now time to show us how important you think we are.

Landon did not need to hire Bromby, advice was and still is freely available on this forum!

I never listen to the post match interviews win or lose, because generally speaking you get interviews with people whose interview capabilities are poor as pish.
If Wealdstone think they’re stars now, they’d best give themselves a reality check…..because that was the biggest communal surrender I’ve seen in a long time.
When it got to 2-0 I was thinking we can pull this back, but apart from the briefest of flourishes, we rolled over and died….even I had to suspend the faintest flicker of hope when the third went in because by then it was surreal as the goals just kept coming.
There’s something rotten that needs sorting out, because that last night was a clear sign we need a complete revamp in the Management and squad.
If….Featherstone is here next week, let alone next season, we’re on the road to nowhere fast.

It was truly awful. Featherstone sounds like he’s given up and just doesn’t know what to do next. Any time we’ve been successful we’ve had a disciplinarian in charge, Featherstone sounds like he’s having a kick about with his mates.

He’s got to go, no ifs or maybes about it. As for the team, as we’re out of the play offs, drop them all and play anyone who wasn’t involved last night including the tea lady for the remainder of the season.

HEARTS THE SIZE OF PEAS, Get lost the lot of ya!

we needed changes before a ball was kicked last night. at least last night might have got more to start smelling coffee. problem yet again is who will be in the hot seat and the type of player we will or can sign up. i,m not holding my breath to see the pools revolution starting.

Spot on you cant bullshit the majority of poolies for too long. Action is certainly required. In fact im going to say since he took over the signings have got worse, believe it or not.

Maybe this is rajs american long losy cousin and we have all been duped

Jamie mentioned a car that can run on salt, well we’ve got a club that can apparently run on bullshit.

Hope the players have been given a day off today to recover...... poor darlings.

Well I'm beginning to think this Takeover wasent what Radio Tees reported.

A 100 % deal with no future payments to Radgy.

Hope I'm wrong and Bromby are Gunna shape us up.
Well it's nearly afternoon and this crank Fevs is still in a job.
Surely to God he ain't in charge on Friday or we all been hook lined n sinkered by this Yankee gadge.

I'm fearing more Failurism.

Pools have stood still in the 3 months since the takeover. In one respect we went backwards - signing Nick 'Teflon Hands' Hayes on a permanent to replace the 2 excellent loan keepers we had in before the New Year. He gifted Wealdstone their seccond and third goals and put the game out of reach after 22 minutes. He was shite against Morecambe too. His confidence is absoluely shot at this point.

Putting 5 subs on at half time just underlined that we haven't got any quality on the bench. Shit goalkeeping cover (Adam Smith!!!), no centre back cover, a lot of half-fit over-30s and a couple of kids.

Yeah, maybe spending a bit of money on players in the last 3 months instead of fireworks and consultants might have been a good idea. Ain't hindsight a wonderful thing?

Well at some point someone has to invest in the team. Infact i might of missed it but ive not really heard of many plans of whats going to happen. Signing untried 18 year old kids at pools rarely works so if this is the future then we are in for some tough days.

Landon needs to get tough. My opinion is that he is too much of a "nice guy".
He needs to show his nasty side! Hopefully he has one!
Otherwise this club is going nowhere!

He's absolutely bent over the half season ticket holders.
They must know that by now.
I smell anutha Coxall.
But some will disagree.
That's OK.

Football eh n Jamies politics.
Bunker heaven.

He probably doesn't have a pot to piss in n hire purchase has been maxed out.
It's all turning out as usual again.

But.

Make judgement in August eh.

UTP.

I’ve been advocating on here since he arrived to use the end of season to prepare for next season, but importantly getting a new manger in with time to spare to build a team….sadly the lure of a play off place seems to have taken precedent…but now appears to have finally crashed and burned…..so what’s gonna happen now…are we going to drift into the and of season with this lot intact…?
We are killing time, that’s all….we need positivity and the longer we cling on to present set up the worse it gets.

Well going by the signings so far it doesnt look like the pot is very big. If the idea is to get youngsters in to sell them on great idea if you have people at the club with some idea, we appear to have none. I think landon will get a shock in the summer if we dont make quality signings and quite early on. None of this wait till the end of summer rubbish we hear every year.

I was expecting something with this takeover so far im struggling to see anywhere that looks improving anytime soon.

Well if we get anutha oversize crowd on Monday.
Then he's Gunna think what's wrong with these people.
I've not spent a cent but I've got the crowds up.
Maybe these idiots think I'm Hollywood (2)

What this season demonstrates that having some good results and performances against top NL sides does not prove that a team has the ability to gain promotion to the E FL. Consistancy of performance comes from having solid pattern of play that does not change when newcomers are slotted in. Thiat requires an experienced manager who knows the game at our level and realises that 'playing out from the back' etc are for very talented Premier League players, not non leaguers!

The brutal facts have got to emerge sooner or later, that is obvious. Are we going to get investment or not or have we another situation were we live within our means.
I think LS has to come clean with us and that will, at least, fulfil his commitment to creating a strong link between the club and us fans.
I said at the height of the euphoria and hoo hah that I was experiencing nagging doubts but I was keeping them to myself. Well they are beginning to emerge, not only from myself but from others as well.
I was looking for signs that would give me hope and no more false dawns and when there were no signs of any sort of wow factor, the doubts started to creep in. Something held me back from diving in to a half season ticket and I honestly think that a lot of people who did dive in will be a tad cheesed off now. They will not dive in again with the same sort of enthusiasm and blind trust.
I think the length of next season's season ticket queue will give the answer.
Personally I took a wait and see stance and I will have to see positive action before I commit to joining that queue.
I want to be wrong in this, I want to be pleasantly surprised and I want to join the queue, so come on, Landon, stir me blood and put a few cards on the table.

Let's take LS at his word. Buys football club pretty much on a whim (because he can) and effectively writes off the rest of this season because as a businessman he realises he needs to know stuff to make a success of his latest venture.

So, no matter if this season's NL was so poor that reaching the play-offs was a realistic ambition, that would involve spending money that he's not prepared to risk at this point.

With "premier football recruitment and advisory firm" finally in place, fast forward to the end of the season - and tough shit to anyone who thought the future started in January.

Hang on though, weren't we fans encouraged to get right behind the new era from the get go? With our own money?

Growing concerns now being asked about our hero owner.

Well we Gunna know we're we stand during the Summer
Half term report is very underwhelming.

Life goes on.

I know we had a dire 1st half but, when we were over run and outpaced all over the park, who in their right mind would turn to Oliver and Walker - both sloth like, neither match fit? Was it Featherstone or LL who came up with that masterstroke?
There's absolutely no way I'll be buying a ST if Featherstone is still manager.
"We have to stick together as a management team, coaches, and players" he says, NO Nicky you can stick together as you walk out of the club you phoney.
Longevity as a player counts for nothing when you take on the managerial reins and it's clear he's out of his depth. The football has been awful, we've had at least 2 of the worst results in the clubs entire history and the home loss to Gainsborough and he never sees anything coming, he doesn't know why these results happen, proof positive of his ability.

Every post you make is an attack on Featherstone. Have you really got nothing else to say? The conversation is passing you by.

When he gets sacked (which he surely will) will everything in the Poolie garden be rosy? As plenty of others have pointed out, it will take real investment to get Pools out of this hopeless division. Any sign that's going to happen? Why is the Pools bench so pitiful in the first place? Got any answers there?

My take on it.
Landon Smith always had his eyes on next season. He told us from the start to be patient and he was going to give current staff a chance. I think he's done the honourable thing by giving Featherstone an opportunity, but by the lack of incomings I get the feeling they don't trust him with the purse.
By getting this recruitment company on board it doesn't suggest to me he's going to toss it off, and I'm pretty sure once the season is finished we'll see some real action. Would you really hire a recruitment company of their standard to keep hold of Fevs and employ second rate players?
I don't come on the forum very much, but I'm surprised no one has mentioned the rumours about Landon buying the rec with the suggestion he's going to build training facilities there.
I'm not overly concerned about things, I think we've got a lot more to be hopeful about than be critical about. I honestly don't think Fevs will last a fortnight after the season has finished, if not before. I'm excited about what the summer will bring for the first time since we were promoted.

I'm awfully sorry Mr Hogan (or is it Mrs Featherstone?) if you're upset at me pointing out our managers incompetence, but that's my right and I've done the same with other managers believe it or not. Do you think he's got the best out of the squad during his tenure which includes losing to Gainsborough, Ainstey, and last night's debacle on his watch?
As for why is the bench so weak, probably because he's been bullshitting us for months about bringing quality in when we've brought in nothing but kids then not even played them.

This is my theory and purely my theory. I have heard no rumours whatsoever. Wondering if some of the senior players have holidays booked at the end of the NL season so didnt want to be in the play offs. Therefore they persuaded everyone to put on a real shit show against Wealdstone but then found it got out of hand...planing for a Woking style 4-0 but more goals went in than planned. Once they surrender at Scunthorpe the play offs will likely be mathematically impossible so they might put on a bit of a show agains Rochdale. They will try, I am not saying they will win. As I say , just my theory to explain why a team of professional footballers could perform in so unbelievably badly.

He is a business man.

“nice guy and business man” Nah

Featherstone was never the future.

I’m sure most people on here can’t understand why our performances are so inconsistent and I think I have the answer. When we are good we play with a high press and have a good shape. We play with energy and set the tone and stop the opposition from playing because every man is tight to their man. When someone loses the ball another is straight in to retrieve it. There is an intensity and willingness to drive forward which creates purpose and creativity. However, for some reason normally after a good performance the players revert back to our previous default position of having players behind the ball including the midfield. This is just too negative. Against Wealdstone we had pockets all over the field and all of the previous offensive and proactive tactics went out of the window. The gaps where so large an aircraft could have flew that midfield and defence. So why is the team jeckle and Hyde ? The answer solely lies with the manager for not continuing with a high energy offensive approach. He can’t see what he is doing and he is just not motivating the players enough. Ironically the more the team has for preparation the worse they play. Would Challinor have stood for this. Never in a million years. The players have shown they have capability so I don’t believe we are not capable of finishing 7th. The reason we have failed is because of Featherstone. Yes we have a small squad and not loads of quality but Featherstone is just tactically inept . He just hasn’t got the ability to build on successful tactful positive processes . Sorry but I have seen this for along time . That’s why in his interviews he is just clueless.

For me if I was the manager I would studying in great detail the games we have excelled in , studying the processes and embedding those processes whilst continually analysing and improving on them. Featherstone doesn’t have an analytical and forward thinking mindset . Too cautious and never learns from his mistakes . He couldn’t motivate me. But Challinor would have me playing out of my skin in every game .

Newsflash.
From a reliable source leaked by a club employee.

Fevs in talks to be offered a new contract.
Probably explains why he ain't been sacked.

So, we’re fucked then….if true…

Well hopefully the new contract is for a post nowhere near picking the team.

It would interesting to know who brought Liddle in, not the most ambitious appointment.

all this pessimism because we got dicked at wealdstone. owners honeymoon period is over. feathers is crap and needs to go. what would reactions have been if we had bored them to death and came back with 3 points. ot would not make us a good side but papering over the cracks. there was more to be gained long time from that defeat than any win would have given us. can guarentee now we,ll do better at scunny than we did even at woking but proves naff all.

I think the pessimism started before this as a result of the absolutely mind-numbing football we've been served up since Featherstone got the job permanently.