The Poolie Bunker

I’m sure that the due diligence done by the new owners will have included an analysis of players and staff so yesterday won’t have come as a complete surprise. What it has done is underline that the Rochdale result was a fluke brought about by a once in a season terrible performance by Rochdale rather than Pools suddenly becoming world beaters.

Hopefully Smith will recognise that the club is in a mess top to bottom starting with the awful pitch and the shite we put on it every game.

true, better than a new owner bounce that would not last and a false feeling going around the place.

Yesterday was only a good thing if something positive emerges as a result of the that shameful and embarrassing fiasco. ie Langdon Smith jetting in next week to be briefed/advised of what actually needs to change within the club in order to properly turn around the fortunes of HUFC. I feel sure that most of us would advocate the soonest removal of Monks, Dickman, Featherstone and at least six or seven of the current squad for starters.

The question is - who is going to to advise Landon of the failings of the above? Certainly none of the above-mentioned as Turkeys rarely ever vote for Xmas. I would therefore cautiously suggest the Stellings, maybe Rob Law coupled with a few senior members of the fanbase who know Pools inside out and will tell it as it is.

Unfortunately I fear that the renewed feeling of goodwill towards the club generated by the departure of Raj Singh will have been diluted by the underperformance of both Featherstone and the majority of his players yesterday and we may not therefore see the bumper crowd predicted for this weekend - so sad.

"The question is - who is going to to advise Landon of the failings of the above"

Probably similar people who advised Deadpool

Trying to explain yesterday's performance, the only thing I can come up with is the players were very happy with Fev's tactics against Rochdale and maybe thought that was to be the norm going forward. So when the manager reverted to a so called safety first mode against Woking they rebelled. Listening to the commentary Robbie Stelling was bemoaning the fact that we were starting to play at least four or five yards further back to how we started at Rochdale. We were defending well into our own penalty box, instead of a higher line.
I think the players enjoyed the greater freedom of playing further up the pitch against the league leaders and obviously enjoyed the experience, the result and the appreciation of a sizeable turnout who backed them all the way. Yesterday they couldn't handle being shackled again and displayed their anger. They wanted to have another go and if my theory has any mileage, who can blame them. Some of the football in the first hour against Rochdale was light years ahead of what we have been used to and I, for one, gave Fev plaudits for finally getting his tactics right but yesterday he reverted to type and the players weren't prepared to go along with it and I don't condone that attitude but understand any frustration they had. They chucked the manager under the bus.
That is the only summary that goes anywhere near reality, for me anyway.

Thing is who was the analyst who advised him and on what basis did he buy Pools ?

I'm sure Smithy will of done his homework on how shit we have been ran for years.
And sees this as a great opportunity to improve the club.
Obviously the Wrexham
Deadpool thing will of come to mind.

No point getting angry till May.
That's when this Proper new Era begins.
UTP
UTP

Even when we were getting beat he still continued to stick to his policy of ‘build a wall and keep them out’ defence posture…even more so when two goals down, instead of changing it completely to a more aggressive formation, since we had nowt to lose.
But this stodgy behind the barricades and hope plan is not the way to play.
It’s bloody boring as well !

I don't think there's any deliberate revolt against the manager, I think it's purely that he's asking them to play in positions and to tactics that don't suit them. When you're drumming into attack minded players that their first duty is to defend the clean sheet it's just stifling them.
They broke the mould against Rochdale with a high press and a more care-free approach and we absolutely dominated the game for most of the match. So why not keep doing what worked against the league leaders?
I can see Reid is going through a period similar to Mani D when deprived of service, looking as though he doesn't want to be on the pitch. Mani got through them by creating things for himself and his efforts with back to goal, Reid doesn't have those attributes. Fev had a decent start and we actually were starting to show game on game improvement and more expensive football developing but we've regressed massively, take the Rochdale game out and he's presided over some of the worst results in our entire history and some of the worst performances in recent years. His after match interviews are as depressing as Askeys were in that he doesn't know why performances are so poor yet he picks pretty much the same team and plays the same tactics - there's a clue there Nicky.
Saturday will be a real eye opener for our new owner if we put in a performance like the Woking one.

in work how many times have we been asked to do jobs we fif not agree with. we might voice an opinion but we just got on with it. why should footballers have a devine right not to follow orders and just earn the hood money they get for at best being average pro footballwrs.

I get what you're saying but I don't think it's quite the same in pro sports. You can maybe get by with loads of journeymen play anywhere types but if you haven't got those types of workers or players you're better off playing to your strengths imo.

Rochdale, York, Forest Green, Carlisle, Southend - former FL teams with new ownership making meaningful attempts to get back up with big budgets. Look at the top 7 - this is a brutal division to get out of.

I think as supporters we've been so starved of anything sustained in terms of success (outside 2 or so years with DC) that we can't help but get excited at the smallest signs of improvement or change. But that's seeped into the standards at the club, media & further where even the most menial things spark strong optimism - (a win against a good team, a new signing, a THIRD new manager in a single season)

For example - when Hartley was appointed, his record looked good in Scotland & he was genuinely celebrated as a good pick ... but he only came in because we'd lost a manager who is seemingly making his way to the championship. When Askey got us ticking in the final third of the relegation season, big hopes we would complete the great escape, before capitulating at the very key moment vs Crawley (who we had already beaten away that season!). We've had 'strong starts' to seasons in the NL, sitting 2nd & 1st at points after 5 to 6 games, before an injury or squad depth/quality has exposed us. We've had new Signings in the summer - including Folarin, Johnson & Walker - who arrive to fan-fare (look at the comments on Johnson's signing post now, it is pretty ironic!) based on good performances they may have had against Pools in the past. The reality is - it all ends up the same in the end at the club right now. Under-performance, standards seem to drop, it goes from the brilliant to the downright terrible in a flash and we always sit in a bracket of level 100% below that group of the top 7 right now. We're one of the most consistently under-performing 'sleeping giant' former Football League teams in this division. It's just football & we know its Pools/lower league/we've never been good etc - before anybody jumps on that...but f!!k me this is so difficult to support & get behind at times.

We have made a smattering of decent signings from within the league or lower - Mani D, Francis, McNally, Kougun - but have lost absolute club gems in Molyneux, Oates, Grey, & Armstrong (and then Mani D) for what financial gain? Nothing. You can't keep losing your best players for nowt and expect to make any meaningful moves forward.

We beat Rochdale after a string of dire performances & results. Fanfare and praise aplenty. Before immediately resorting to type at Woking. How many times have we seen that? How many times have we played against a club on a long-spanning run of defeats either home or away, for them to break that streak against Pools? So many times...

When you look at York, they're something like 13 games unbeaten, with a really strong squad of players that they simply will not sell despite interest (see Stones up front). They won't wildly celebrate the odd win here nor there, and they will go out and sign sought after FL players in Pearce, Ajiboye last season, Stones etc. Miles ahead of Pools but another club with our new ownership we might be able to replicate in the coming year or two.

The season we got promoted - we landed on a miracle set of variables with Dave Challinor as manager, the unexpected success of Sterry, the perfect wing-back system with Fergie, the goal-scoring midfielder in Holohan, the industrious Shelton & then a ruthless forward line in Oates & Armstrong. Even Mols couldn't get in. But when we actually got promoted (on a quite frankly bonkers toss of a coin tie where a goalkeeper scored a header & a penno shootout where the first 4 or whatever got missed)... we ended up starting the next season as a decimated version of the team that took us up. We then finished that same season struggling to fill the bench. I mean, come on, yet another 'Pools-ism' where you can only roll your eyes or actually laugh at how daft that is.

But using the examples of Rochdale, York, Carlisle etc - they are going out and spending big money on the very best in this division and even above - and not holding onto managers due to their long-standing histories with the club (I.e Featherstone). They're going and paying for the best & at the first sign of a drop in levels, going and getting better again (Hinshelwood replaced by Maynard at York). I'm not sure the Uggla's would have confidence in a manager who oversaw defeats to Gainsborough, Anstey Nomads & a 4-0 smashing at Woking, nor would they be 100% sure a manager with less than 20 games experience is going to have the man-management & leadership skills to deal with the type of ego's you're going to bring into the dressing room by signing football league players to play in the National League. Feaths has done what Sweeney wouldn't do, by putting himself in the club's firing line, which is unfortunate because there is obviously a role for Featherstone at the football club. Just not as the manager.

This season is written off - but the pedigree of both the manager & the players that come in over the summer will tell us just how much further forward we are going to be versus now to actually compete in this horror show of a division to get out of. But as above & generally the keys to success, the main reason DC was swayed was probably financial, but general standards and ambitions did have a bearing - as he inferred around when the he spoke broadly about how when a club's expectations no longer marry up with the manager's - then it is time to leave. And leave he did. To a team in the same division at the time... who will likely find their way to the Championship this year or next. Good look for for them. Awful look for us.

Landon, if you're reading this... please help us.

Good post.

hope our new owner reads that rather than taking advice from the self appointed club experts. i,d guess the opinions of both the stellings will be similar to that post. get the impression of american business men being really ruthless to succeed. Lets hope thats true and he is that mould.

Yes in some respects it was a good thing that brings us back to reality, hopefully the new owner wasn’t ruled into a false sense of security after the Rochdale win.

mind you most fans were and hoping for a match that was a season changer. it can happen regularly and for the long term future of pools i hope we do not have a big reaction after woking and do the same to alty and gateshead. just gets people thinking and missing the point that we have an unbalanced team of mainly average nat. league players with a few good uns in there. getting excited because charman was back really says it all.

Things is nowadays at Pools a player has 3 good games in a row and they get cult status and the poor games before are swept under the carpet.

Like DC used to say.
Good teams win 5 6 7 in a row and show Bouncebackability from a horror show.

Wasend Sings biggest fan but he showed a tad of effort for that Promotion season even though we carried a fare bit of luck in the play off games.

All about the Summer Recruitment now.
I'm confident we can upgrade the Squad for the new season.
UTP.

I,m also in no doubt the squad will be way stronger than now.
The management and staff will also need to be upgraded!

at this moment of time i cannot think of any out of work manager who could be our savior. things could easily change by april with decent managers getting the chop because they failed to meet owners demands of promotion. lets not be too hasty with kneejerk reactions.

What's Mike Williamson doing right now

Out of work I think after his stint at Rangers as first team coach came to an end in Oct 25.
Assume it was a rhetorical question as I don't think many would want him at Pools?

Hes had an up and down managerial career but ive always thought Darrell Clarke would manage pools one day. Had a mare at Bristol Rovers and out of work. Worth a shot if Featherstone gets replaced!.

Realistically our season is over.
Cant go up or down.

Id rather wait till the Summer to bring the new manager n players in.
Obviously upgrades.

Maybe this is the Patience Smithy asked for from our fans.

UTP.

Saturday could be interesting, make or break match for Featherstone in front of the new owner, depending on what Pools team turns up, Rochdale or Woking team.

Agree that we certainly won't go up but I wouldnt be 100% realistically confident that we will not be dragged into the usual end of season relegation frenzy. We are currently 14 points clear of the final relegation position but given recent performances- with the obvious exception of Rochdale - we are looking at 7 points out of 21 which may not be the stuff of relegation - but it's not much better than that.

Struggling NL clubs will be looking to bolster their squads for the forthcoming battle and I cannot see the shower that currently mis-represents Pools raising their game for mid-table mediocrity when they couldn't even do so when a playoff place was up for grabs. Neither can I envisage Feaths inspiring the players - nor himself - to produce the goods with a group of players with one foot on the beach.

I would therefore much rather see Landon Smith do what must be done NOW ie, replace Feaths with an experienced manager and coaching personnel, all with decent track records who can utilise the the next six months to become accostomed to the club, players and fans, eke out the time wasters and start building for a proper playoff push next season.

This change of regime is an ideal time and opportunity to reboot the club and I would sincerely hope that this is not wasted on a 'more of the same' philosophy that is totally broken at our club - and has been for a lengthy period of time.

Review/change is desperately needed at HUFC and it needs to happen NOW , not in six months time.

Take away Williamson's stint at Carlisle who were a basket case during his time and he's got an almost 50% win rate at Gateshead and MK Dingdongs over a period of 4 seasons. He certainly had Gateshead punching well above their weight. I'd love to see him here.

How is the new owner with no experience of football in the U.K. far less the National League, let the season run its course and allow him to bring his own team in for next season.

Why not sweep clean now and give a proper manager the rest of the season to assess what he's got and needs for his rebuild in the summer?
Featherstone won't even admit where our failings are so he's never going to change to try and put things right. Why should we put up with another 4 months of turgid football, why write off any feel good factor from events off the pitch with shite performances on the pitch? Where do you see crowd numbers heading if we don't start playing decent football, scoring goals, and getting results? There'll be more leaving due to the performances than those coming back because Raj has gone.

I have summarised the reasons above as to why I believe that the reshaping of HUFC needs to start NOW rather than at some random point in the future. PTID has also provided a few additional reasons ie dwindling attendances etc. If the club had been even semi-successful over recent years the reshaping would probably not be necessary or at the very least not as drastic. But - as most of us are well aware, HUFC has been a basket case of a club for the last five years.

The hatchet must therefore fall from the top ie any remaining directors who have not made a positive impact during their tenure, the first team management, recruitment, coaching, playing and backroom staff. Of course the above is not going to happen overnight but hey let's give the guy some credit - as a very successful businessman Landon will have already have his own trusted advisory staff on board given the investment he has made thus far. Coupled with input from English football connections he should be quite capable of turning this small club around.

'Never Say Die' and 'In Landon We Trust'

only if he ditched williamson ball for something more exciting.