The Poolie Bunker

Dieseruvwe Doubles Up As Wood's Garrard Grabs Glory - The Enterprise National League https://www.thenationalleague.org.uk/di ... lory-84091

That was a good move for Mani career wise then.

Even without the - getting nutted by the team captain in training thing - I don't blame him for a second for buggering off to pastures new. It's not ideal though that it's left us in the ridiculous situation where we're starting league matches without a center forward.

Fair play to Mani
Just shows what happens if you get decent service into a good attacker
Doubtful he'd have had that many by now had he stayed at Pools.
Still onwards or upwards though it does feel more like sideways and downwards!

Hes well suited to the style of play they use at Rochdale, I forecast he would get 30 goals for them this season and he's well on course for that. At least Rochdale have an owner who's ambitious and will have them back in the EFL in quick time.

Ambition v ‘ticking over’ is the problem.

Billionaire local owner versus Millionaire Boro fan probably makes a difference too.
When Ogden took over at Rochdale they announced a 3 year plan to get back to EFL, they had a decent season last year and look like improving by means of continuity and astute tweaks to their squad, we don't have any continuity and fans and owner demands instant miracles.
They're doing now what we did when IOR arrived in town.
Grayson maybe needs 2 or 3 seasons rather than a 6 months probation?

We seem to have a mass ‘changing of the guard’ every season with the traditional sacking of managers mid season.
We need to plan for the long term and stop demanding instant success, because unless you’re ready to splash the cash to finance instant success….. your wasting your time…..we have a dilemma.

Yep we need a longer term plan, very few teams get instant success in this league and if we measure success in terms of gaining promotion then nearly 92% of the teams are unsuccessful. Not saying instant success is not possible but it is rare and we should be thinking 3 seasons ahead right now with the intent on improving year on year and this time next year it should be the following 3 years and so on. We've proven 3 or 4 managers and a massive clearance of players every season isn't the answer, madness to expect any change.

Exactly. Ogden is using his money to build up Rochdale's fan base too - full price season tickets this summer were £200!
The problem for Pools is that there's serious money in lower-league football almost everywher you look.

Barnet looked to be bucking the trend when they won the NL last season - going for continuity rather than trying to buy promotion. But they're not paupers by any stretch of the imagination - their owner owns companies worth £250 million.

Pools are left waiting like the plain lass at the local dance for a football daft multimillionaire to make an offer even Raj can't refuse. With the best will in the world I don't think Herd Group had that sort of money - none of their big plans in the fillum industry announced 3 years ago have come to fruition.

feel there owner is a hell of a lot more realistic than many poolies are. expect promotion every season when its not really on. grayson has not a blank cheque book and its a 3 season project for him as well.

Patience is not one of a football fans characteristics.

Sorry but it feels like going nowhere at present. Us remaining Pools fans must be amongst the most faithful and patient in English football despite the fact that we are shit upon every season. Most of us don't expect much in return, certainly not silverware or immediate promotion. However it would be nice to actually participate in the playoffs rather than simply 'challenge' to qualify for them.

Personally I don't think it will ever happen until such time that Raj Singh leaves the club. As for the present managerial regime, In my heart I retain some hope that Grayson and his latest assistant will eventually produce a team capable of making a realistic playoff challenge this season but any confidence remaining is being slowly eroded and I have a gut feeling that we continue to be shit upon.

its not grayson who is shitting on us. he,s not exactly making good players bad or trying to play tactics unsuitable for the players. he can only do his best with the tools he has and he like us cannot change the ownership situation that might give him a better budget for recruitment. even thats not nailed on either.

can understand fans whose clubs splash the cash being impatient but not those at clubs who have a small pot to piss in even if it does not leak. every fan knows quite well we have no plan A which is buying ourselves out of this league but there must be other plans available to make up for that.

Where did I state that Grayson is shitting on us? As you say, he can only do his best with the tools that he has at his disposal. Although he must presumably had an input to the recruitment of those tools, his hands are tied by the playing budget and the ambitions (or lack of such) of those who are pulling the strings at the club. No point in going into that argument as we are all well aware of the seemingly eternal struggle.

I forcasted 30 as well, When he left/was shown the door.

Or certain owners.

I was fully behind SG pre season/August.
What bothers me is this.
During August he repeatably stated that when the EFL window closed, We would be able to pick players that did not find a club.
We then went on to sign 2 free agents, Who of course could have signed weeks earlier and we are now waiting till they get fit
Which i find difficult to believe, As a pro would surely keep themselves at peak condition.

its this being fit and fully match fit they seem to see the difference in. doubt any player now comes back a stone overweight after a summer of booze and takeaways like the old days. big question is why it takes a fit youngish bloke so long to go from normal fitness to match fitness where they can play a full game. then the other question is the length of time it seems to take in signing players now. some are actually at clubs a dew weeks before they ctually do sign and we know nothing of them.

your last sentence gives the impression that you are to me. it does not matter anyway as we cannot alter things.

Yes I can see why my sentence gave you the wrong impression Accy however I was referring to the club generally, certainly not Grayson as an individual. I can't think of any scenario where a manager would shit on the fans and/or the club as he would effectively be shitting on himself! Perhaps Sarll was the exception....

I suspect Mani was on his way out six months before the end of last season by his body language…. Dunno if he was a ‘born under a wandrin star’ type of player and our time was up.

exactly. he,d have gone anyway if we had reached the play offs and gained promotion. not because he knows his standard is where he is playing now but the type of character he is.