The Poolie Bunker

Football is part of the entertainment business….like a theatre.
You go to be entertained and enjoy the fruits of winning in a competition….it’s simple.
The provider of that ‘entertainment’ is supposed to work hard to provide the best possible outcome within their budget.
You do that by getting the best person to spot the talent and do the job for you.
Get it right, give the customers what they want and the people come, the income grows and everyone is happy.

What you don’t do is alienate the customers by ignoring them.
An aloof management is a road to nowhere….but that’s bleedin obvious.
I have never felt so detached from my club in my entire life..we’re on autopilot and no one’s in a rush to grab the controls and get a grip of the situation as we fall from the sky…but the descent carries on and lethargy on the terraces grows into disillusionment.

There's a definite and new to me disconnect between the club and the fans, back in the day there's been many times when collectively we've managed to rally the club from the depths of despair with bucket collections, Boost the Budget, Save Pools days as examples. Should Raj or his spokesperson ask for the fans help tomorrow I expect there be an embarrassing tumbleweed response.
The worrying thing is that the players are not performing and in some cases not even trying which is unforgivable. We e been through really bad times in my experience and had far less talented players to choose from yet the fans and players were generally all in it together with players making up for lack of talent with sheer grit, determination, and graft. It's not there and too many of them look as if they want to take their wages for minimal effort. We can all blame Raj, and he certainly deserves huge criticism for the state of the club, but on a matchday and in the pitch, the mess is of the manager, coaching staff, and players making. I had reservations about Fev getting the job and I'm prepared to get behind him and the team but he needs to show that he can sort this lot out, I don't believe he's capable of doing it but I hope I'm wrong. What's he had, 9 games in charge and 2 of those have been home defeats to lower league clubs. Words don't cut it, it's results that count and I seriously doubt he'll get another managerial opportunity if he can't improve things.

Spot on!

Down the years I’ve had bad times at Pools…but that’s par for the course.
You carry on in hope…but I’ve never been as low as this in the optimism stakes as in this period of bleakness on and off the pitch.
This can’t go on surely…?

People who read my posts will know I’m a Darlo fan but hopefully will also know that im a friendly one and I come on here to chat.

Football clubs should be friendly places. Fans should turn up and meet friends and likeminded people and join in together to support their team, in a good atmosphere. In good times it’s pleasurable but when there is a bad atmosphere, you kind of think to yourself “why do I bother?” and at this point some drop out, never to return.

Over the years at Darlo I’ve seen huge moments of both good and bad times. Reynolds banning fans and demonstrations- conversely good times when fans pulled together to raise money and keep the club going.

To me, the problem/your problem is the chairman. He is a man (IMO) unsuited to owning a football club. He doesn’t seem to value fan harmony or fan involvement or fan opinion, furthermore he seems incapable of keeping faith with any manager, good, bad or indifferent in fact I’ve reached the conclusion he enjoys sacking managers. I fail to see what he gets out of owning a football club as he doesn’t appear to enjoy it.

To me, you will be in a rut until the ownership of the club changes.

At the match yesterday it was so bad i started laughing at some of the antics so maybe i got some "entertainment" from it.
Never mind only 12 days till the next home game.

I get the impression fans are not that important in the this scenario…in fact irrelevant…..it’s like one of those Hollywood back lots where they create a cowboy town street, where it’s just false shop fronts with nothing behind…..looks the part, but there’s nothing there.

actually think that if we even got the owner we wanted tomorrow nothing would change that much on the entertainment field. we might have a better side, gain promotion and win cup games but the style of football would be the same only with better players. players would still be penalised for what was classed as a good tackle, we,d still get the fake injuries to disrupt the game and shithousery will reign supreme. fans will still have to tick all the boxes the fa and clubs want them to do. the game has gone especially for older fans including those over 30 and not nostalgique old swets like me. it aint just pools its many other fans even at clubs who are succesful who are getting pissed off. fine if all you are interested in wins for your club, but feel there is or should be more in the game than just that.

I must admit I'm at the what is the point stage but replacing the Club hierarchy is becoming no more than wishful thinking, because until either the owner does sell up or has a sea change in his attitude towards progressing the club, we live in a frustrating limbo, limping from disappointment to disappointment.
Raj called it ticking over but the reality is we are limping along, looking back at the ever disappearing prospect of getting back into the top four tiers.
There's not much fun in it anymore, if any.
I've always maintained that Raj will do what Raj sees fit. He will go when he decides the time and no one has been able to alter or shift that stance of his. Criticising him appears to strengthen his resolve and so far the fan base hasn't taken to the notion of a mass boycott.
Oh dear.
Come on Mr Singh, you've made your point so can we now move to a positive, forward looking mode, and you never know, your name might be chanted from the terraces and it won't be Raj out.
We can't go on like this.

Singh won’t leave until he gets his money back. The budget this season is obviously shoestring level and next season it will probably reduce.

I believe that the club will end up in liquidation within the next couple of years as cash is used to pay off debt.

Agree - and no one will buy it because all they would get is a black hole with a bloody awful reputation.

Yeah, the road to liquidation is looming large.

Neither administration nor liquidation will appeal to Raj while he's owed money unless he's prepared to write the debt off which I seriously doubt he will. He'd be better off selling at a reduced price if he can find a mug.

A real businessman woud realise that anyone with serious money wanting to acquire a football club will be more interested in an asset with potential than one in a downward spiral.

The lack of transfer activity since McNally and others got injured is a disgrace. Pools have nothing on the bench except has-beens and kids.

Indeed. It is very hard to fathom Raj's intentions out or what his actual strategy is when it comes to the future of the club.
One minute he gives the impression he is willing to sell and the next minute he appears to want to carry on with the club spiralling into decline.
The club is hardly becoming more and more attractive by the day to a prospective buyer(s) and as soon as a prospective buyer turns up and meets the criteria set out by the seller and, as everything appears to be gathering momentum, the sale goes pop due to a technical hitch or a failure of the funds that were said to be available but haven't been able to be produced.
I think GCHQ would have difficulty in fathoming this situation out. Talk about going round in circles.
I would love to be suddenly rich enough to be able to present myself as a serious bidder with a wedge fit enough get me round the negotiating table and witness first hand what goes on. I have done my share of negotiating but I am really well attracted to this deal. I like a game of chess but this experience could rate at international level. Thinking about it I would probably enjoy the experience or arrive at a position where topping myself would be the option.
Ah well eh.

That's the issue. If he knew you had a wedge he'd want the lot and not the 2p it's really worth. Let it die Raj or sell!

Is football now an irrelevance in this whole sorry business…?

Who would deal in any way with the current owners?

This doesn’t make sense…why keep a football club ticking over…a bit like buying an E type Jag as a restoration project but can’t afford to restore it to it’s former glory, so it’s left out in the rain going nowhere.

Wanting the lot and getting the lot are poles apart. He would either do a deal or I would sit on it until he either does a deal with me or I do a deal with the administrators. Maybe that is what other interested parties are doing.

he has had the chance to do that but seems to value pools higher than the buyers. best way forward would be to get a price the club is actually worth and thats the selling price. will not happen though as we all know that.

Does he fear the possibility that someone might buy the wreckage and make a success of it?

If you want a higher price, you have to have a product that potential buyers think is worth paying their money for.
The ‘product’ we have on offer ain’t exactly setting the world on fire and the ‘customers’ disillusioned with the entire product range….with no sign of it improving.

If it was a ship, you’d say it was slowly sinking by the bows.

if pools made frozen foods they,d be supplying iceland and lidl on there cheaper than cjeap range where expectations from customers is very low.

Wrong post