The Poolie Bunker

Landon, it must be evident the people that you entrusted with the day to day management of your/our football club are failing you/us badly. Five defeats in the eight opening games of the season represents abject failure and is relegation form. All of the good work done since you took over HUFC is being eroded week by week by incompetent management and substandard professional footballers, even at NL level. With all due respect therefore you really need to revisit the town and take whatever action necessary to stop the decline before the season progresses any further. The thousands of Pools fans who returned to the club in good faith following your takeover, buying expensive season tickets only to be totally disheartened by the events of the last six weeks. I'm sure that you are aware that Hartlepool is far from a rich town and the supporters deserve much better than to see their hard earned cash wasted and the towns club ridiculed.

Might just be me but I think a fans question and answer night with the average fan who will speak their mind (within reason) is needed, people who will ask why the likes of rust still seem to be involved with the club, we’ve dealt with this shit for long enough and these people are still hanging on!

A feel like throwing the towel in again.
A possible fixture with Redcar Athletic next season can't be ruled out while that team we regularly did well again are in a play off position for the Premier League
Lincoln City.

It's a not so funny old game.

There’s a depressing expectation of defeat every time we kick off….the irony is the contrast from pre season optimism who had hope and a season to actually look forward to….it was a joy to behold.
But it soon descended into a lethargic spiral of defeats
Shockingly we’ve managed to producce a team worse than last seasons’.

This is the second worse start we’ve made in this league, the worst being 9 years ago.

Something is not right at Pools, good teams have settled sides and hardly any injuries, we are the complete opposite, we have players in for one game then out for 2 or 3 games, sometimes even longer, is it the training, some of our players just don't look fit (look at the picture of one of our defenders on the main site and he looks like he's carrying a stone overweight) is it any wonder we are getting players sent off regularly now, the fact that we train on artificial pitches yet play on grass ones could be the issue?, I look at ex- players like Joe Grey and Tom Crawford and they're playing regularly now with their current clubs yet were constantly injured at Pools, what's going on?

its not bad going when we have merrick. kouogan, mckeown all out with no idea when i own players will be back. add that to a couple hampson and charman who have not kicked a ball yet it does show where the big problem lies. add that to the sendings off where players are really struggling.

but who gave us the pre season optimism. think it was more us than something coming out of the club. we knew the budget would be higher but when mentioned i cannot remember any of the new players having bigger expectations than some from the past. we got our divorce from raj, but like all divorces once the excitement of getting rid wears off and the newness of a new partner does what are you really left with. We have two choices walking away or staying. does the club and this side actually deserve more fans inside the vic than 12 months back. NO, especially over 200 mugs travelling near in 150 miles on a wednesday night to cheshire.

The team's not worse than last season, but the manager definitely is.

Pools released 12 players in the summer after 'failing' by finishing 9th in the league. None of them is pulling up any trees away from Pools.

Vadaine Oliver hasn't been able to find another club. 5 dropped down into the National League North. 6 are still in the NL, but only Gav Holohan at Boston is getting a regular game.

Alex Reid, who supposedly should have been scoring loads more goals for us last season, hasn't got on the score sheet yet for Barrow and has been relegated to their subs bench.

Hindsight says Landon Smith will be kicking himself for a long time for not making funds available to strengthen the side as soon as he took over last January. I wonder who advised him against going for it when we were in touching distance of the play-offs?

Maybe Stello.
They both gone quiet recently.

I never went by individuals, but by team results….so far this season we have failed to impress and that’s being generous.
Things could change under a new manager, but Clark is not that man.
The ‘manager’ ain’t the Captain to steer our ship.

I bleated on about not taking a punt last season when the chance was there. When opportunity knocks and all that. Big big mistake at the time and hindsight also tells us that the mistake making didn't stop there. There has been a few more since which are proving much more catastrophic.

In my opinion the club was not ready for the step up to league football last season. Even when Landon took over it was best to see out the season, re-group, recruit decent players on a good wage over the summer and really go for it.

Landon made a big mistake getting in a fledging company to be in control of matters. They have failed miserably!
I have always preferred to see the manager in charge, none of this first team coach crap etc.
One manager, he selects his assistant and leave everything else to the manager, who he recruits, who he selects for the matches and his tactics, which he can adapt from game to game, mid game etc. Someone who treats the fans with respect and more importantly he earns respect from the fans.

I am afraid this lot don't have a clue!

Get rid Landon of this stupid management structure, admit you made a mistake and get someone in who can get a tune out of these players.

It is not working!

[quote="derwent"][quote="Flying Hogans"][quote="Snowy"]There’s a depressing expectation of defeat every time we kick off….the irony is the contrast from pre season optimism who had hope and a season to actually look forward to….it was a joy to behold.
But it soon descended into a lethargic spiral of defeats
Shockingly we’ve managed to producce a team worse than last seasons’.[/quote]

The team's not worse than last season, but the manager definitely is.

Pools released 12 players in the summer after 'failing' by finishing 9th in the league. None of them is pulling up any trees away from Pools.

Vadaine Oliver hasn't been able to find another club. 5 dropped down into the National League North. 6 are still in the NL, but only Gav Holohan at Boston is getting a regular game.

Alex Reid, who supposedly should have been scoring loads more goals for us last season, hasn't got on the score sheet yet for Barrow and has been relegated to their subs bench.

Hindsight says Landon Smith will be kicking himself for a long time for not making funds available to strengthen the side as soon as he took over last January. I wonder who advised him against going for it when we were in touching distance of the play-offs?[/quote]

I bleated on about not taking a punt last season when the chance was there. When opportunity knocks and all that. Big big mistake at the time and hindsight also tells us that the mistake making didn't stop there. There has been a few more since which are proving much more catastrophic.[/quote]

There was certainly an opportunity to have fun going for the play-offs.
And would of probably worked out cheaper than bringing B n P in and the other coaches.

No transfer window so players were available.
All water under the bridge now.

Smithy needs to upgrade his employment skills in Football.
Because apparently he's a successful businessman I think or read about it.!!!!

Smith needs to get his ar** over to Pools for a few weeks instead of fleeting visits and actually witness how his cash is being spent well squandered. In this day age with the internet and remote working he can surely leave the running of his company to his staff, one things for sure you can’t run a football club remotely over the internet. It looks like Bromby and Partners have sold him a dummy along with their managerial appointment.

Fully agree with you Jamie. Bromby and Partners have taken advantage of Landon and must be laughing all the way to the bank!

They sold us a dream which turned into a nightmare.

Football by numbers does not work!

Can we just start all over again and organise a club along traditional lines rather than by a glorified talking shop…….. and revert to the position where competent Managers should be able to choose who they sign….and the paperwork should be looked after by a competent General Manager….how it should be …… and free the owner leave it to others.
Appeals to me.

Unfortunately Pools owner is 1000s of miles away and put his trust in Bromby, would Smith sanction another managerial appointment recommended by Bromby ?

Just making the play-offs would have been feckin' brilliant for the fans.

Lots of successful football clubs are owned foreigners, they find competent people to run the club on their behalf. The exact opposite to what we appear to be doing.

And Featherstone might have been offered the job!

You may say that would have been better than the current shower, but Pools needed a clear out, but not to end up with this lot!

I’d like to revert to a manager managing and a chief Exec running the show, too many mouths to feed Jamie for me and it doesn’t appear to be working so far.
Surely our owner could contact a competent Chief Exec as easily as he does the present tenants.

Smith appointed a company which was only formed in January 2025, a company whose members have had no previous experience in advising, managing or running a football club. 2 of the directors Bromby and Henderson both played football but have no management experience. Webber May 2022, Webber came under criticism for his role in the relegation of Norwich City from the Premier League at a protest outside of Carrow Road.
The person who recommended Bromby to Smith have a lot to answer for.

We definitely needed a clear out but we have ended with up this lot unfortunately. The question is how much of a clear out is needed now???
The manager, the coaching staff, Bromby et al, the recruitment team etc etc are all under scrutiny. It has been a litany of mistakes or bad choices if you like.
The hard fact is it is a bloody farce. We can measure what the fans reaction is by the number who bother to turn up on Saturday. it won't be anywhere near the 5836 or so who packed the park against Barrow, that's for sure.

Bring back Ken Hodcroft!

LS must have met bullshitters and others who are not worth a penny in his successful business that he has. just why like so many before him get running a football club so wrong. its not as if he is copying our most succesful sides in the country by running it this way. it might be seen as old fashioned now but we are not playing at the top levels of the game. having people running the club on and off the pitch that players and fans would run through brick walls for would surely be a better option than the present where i guess many are looking for an excuse to miss tomorrows game. could give a few legitimate reasons why i,m not coming up especially after having a ticket but basically i cannot be arsed.

We know the manager is the problem…but so far we are performing worse than last season and the team always reflects the manager…but how long do you sit in a rubber dinghy with a slow puncture before jumping into another one…?
Time and points are not on our side…this is going to cost us.

know we are all older but i,m sure we have all seen pools sides who have lost a bigger percentage of games than this side has. as i the only one who thinks the biggest difference is the dislike of the manager and unlikeable players on view. only the hartley lot were as bad on the eye and even cam john looks half the player he was under featherstone. next will be illunga who will join the rest.

He has never run a football club in England before and put his trust and his cash in the hands of Bromby which at this time appears a huge error of judgement.

He’s never ran a football club full stop.
But someone must have recommended this option, which for the life of me I cannot see the point of.
It’s like being run by a committee, asking the question who is in charge of this group, what’s the pecking order….?
A manager for all team business and chief Exec for the rest of the business, simple and direct…oh and players selected are under the Managers control, not dropped on the manager and told to get on with it… give the playing and business parts clear demarcation lines.

thats more or less how football worked at league level for 100 years. just the chief execs job had a less grand title. now one club foes it and the rest feel they have to follow just like formations and tacrics.

Maybe the Recomender didn't like Fevs when 3 good signings for me would of given us a good sniff at the top 7.
I mentioned at the time when we beat Morecambe get there best 2 players in ASAP
Plus 1 more.

Looks like we gone down the more expensive unproductive route.
Probably there's the budget BnP to cover your wages and the recruitment of a manager n new players.

The pesky R man.
Who could it be!?