The Poolie Bunker

Season ticket holder for 35+ years.

Has anyone just not been bothered when we concede, loose, miss a chance, miss a penalty etc….

Open question but my feelings for HUFC have diminished very quickly over the last 2-3 years with Raj Singh in charge. I know he’s been in charge longer.

I have no empathy at all if we concede or lack effort which is regular.

Anyone else feel that same lately?

Not just you fella. I don’t think I’ve felt anything since we went down from League Two the last time. No matter whether we win or lose, play well or play crap, I just never have faith that we’ll get back to the halcyon days of League One. Everything at the club just feels stale or like it’s getting worse. Management merry go round. Poor recruitment. Stadium falling to pieces. Dwindling crowds…

Taking the 'not' out of the title reveals the question that should be asked of everyone associated with the HUFC Club. I think my faith in the club began to go out of the window following the last relegation to the NL, one which should NEVER have been permitted to happen.

However the current situation is much worse, with not just poor recruitment, performances on the pitch smelling of apathy etc but as you say dwindling attendances, the stadium falling apart, many of the floodlight bulbs not working, the OS website not being updated, stewards not doing their job etc almost makes one wonder if Raj has an agenda to deliberately run the club into the ground and piss the fans off to a state where even the diehards no longer give a monkeys.

Never mind the 'Halcyon days of L1', even the days of regular re-election appeals can consider to be' halcyon' in comparison with the dross being served up today. OK so we are still just outside of the playoff places but that purely serves to indicate the weakness of the NL this season. Back in the day we had many individuals who played with a passion for the club, they were prepared to give their all, chasing down lost causes even when the odds were against them. Who remembers Willie Waddell at Darlo '72? Later, Billy Ayre being every fcucking where, Big Bob Newton putting opposition keepers into hospital or Neil Warnock in hospital after rupturing his spleen going in for a 50/50 also at Darlo 72. Players readily geed up the crowd to get behind them, Gordon Watson' driving the bus', Boydie taking the piss out of Sheff Wed and other defenders despite having the shite kicked out of him.

Where is such passion today? The answer is there isn't any, well nothing is visible at the Vic, not from the home side anyway. Perhaps Feaths boring, crab football, strangulation tactics negate anything resembling aggression, risk taking or a little flair? Claims that its because we don't have the players to play any other way is cobblers. The negative, tedious football isn't working either so Feaths and his coaches need to either change tact and go for it with the players they have or Raj get your finger out and shuffle the whole pack before it's too late. Apologies if the above rant has offended anyone but I would rather see us lose 3-2 than meekly lose to a single goal aftet hardly mounting a theat to the opposition over 90 minutes.

Why hang to something you can’t appear to make work…?

Spite? Hope that someone is stupid enough to pay the ridiculous asking price so you can walk away with a couple mill?

Listen fella, not even a big feath fan, but i think it’s about the recruitment more than anything you can throw as much as you like at it but nothing will cover lack of talent. Having watched us jostle with many of the mediocre teams that make up this league we simply do not have enough to compete. That’s down to poor recruitment. I don’t think featherstone is actively coaching creative play out of the lads as much as they simply don’t have it. Look at our squad after all, it’s a mismatch of non-league misfits and hasbeens. You can’t simply throw on 5 attackers and pray that it works.

I stopped watching on DAZN but then listened to the commentary instead now I don’t bother with that and just follow the score online. I just can’t see a way out of the current situation as long as Singh is in charge, it’s like Chinese torture a slow death of Pools.
I did have hope in the Challinor days, really enjoyed the games then promotion but due to the wrong management appointments and lack of investment it was inevitable Pools would get relegated again.

No

For some reason, this club appears to be going through the motions.
I see no progress or improvement, just stagnation, no hope, no meaningful/constructive collaboration…just a flat view to the far horizon of nothing in progress.
Anyone with a knowledge of Dickens must associate our predicament of that of Miss Havishsm, the bride left standing at the altar who spent the subsequent years after, living in her home in her wedding dress and wedding feast waiting for her groom to return…but never did…..our ‘Miss Havishan’ complex needs sorting out.

Sorry you've reached that point. It's clear quite a few have, but no, I'm not one of them.

I still enjoy going to the Vic. Sat at home watching away games on a pc, not so much. It helps that I remember lots of times (most of them before 1990 admittedly) when the football was worse than it is now and the gates were a lot sparser.

It helps that I don't hate 'modern football' as much as most people on here evidently do. Pain in the arse that teams like York do as much play-acting as they do, but Frank Clark's Leyton Orient team had mastered those black arts back in the 1980s!

I went to the game yesterday thinking there was a 1 in 10 chance Pools might win, 2 in 10 chance of a draw and a heavy likelihood of a defeat. We gifted them 2 soft goals and got beat. On another day...

On another day your first thoughts would've been correct, they were way better than us and 2 shots on target with the first being in the 79th minute for a home side is f*cking dire. The consolation goal doesn't change anything, it just masks how lame we are as an attacking threat.
Don't know how anyone could have come out of the ground thinking anything other than hopeless, although the season may not be dead as we could easily fall into the relegation scrap based on our recent form.

Oh, I agree that we don't have an attacking threat. The new lad from York was a waste of a place, I don't recall him trying to beat his man once in that first half.

Aas a lone strike Reid isn't allowed to play to his strengths - but unlike you I don't believe that the endlessly misfiring Johnson is worth a start either.

As happens all the time at Raj Singh's Pools, the current manager is trying to make something out of a bunch of players that he didn't sign. Maybe you've forgotten that the first thing he did was drop Walker and bring Campbell in from the cold? That was a big plus for the number of chances Pools created, but Campbell has faded a bit in recent games. Probably because the opposition has worked out that most of our attacking play goes through him.

On another day we wouldn't have gifted Scunthorpe a 2 goal lead and taken a point. Not good enough for some, but I'll reserve judgement till we sign a proper centre forward to play alongside Reid.

mind you just whats the point when our opponents score the first goal and all we expect after that is a draw at the best. seems light years away from beating harrogate at the vic after being 2 goals down. at least yesterday did not ruin the holiday as it once did so you can be thankful for something.

True, but Harrogate were rubbish that season, they weren't chasing promotion. They finished below us ever after Pools' form fell off a cliff under Lee.

that does not matter. the fact that the result has not been beaten since is. we managed to balls it us at sutton this season after coming back from the dead.

Where have I said that Johnsons the answer? What I've said is that Reid can't play the lone striker role but ouranager seems to disagree.
There's no sugar coating that yesterday was a dire home performance and that players who have looked half decent now look to be poor. As an example I was over the moon when Sheron signed a new contract after having a good season with us yet now he is dog shit - and he's not the only one is he, why?

Earlier this week - you said results were better at the beginning of the season when Reid and Johnson were playing as a two and Pools should be trying that again. You claimed that was undeniable. I said it was undeniable that Johnson has got worse the longer the season has gone on. Ring any bells?

I'm pretty sure that's not actually what I said though is it?
I did say results were good at the start of the season with Johnson and Reid as a strike pairing, and they were so it is undeniable. I don't think I said it was the answer or even that we should try those 2 again, what I said was that Reid needs a strike partner.
If you're going to try to quote me try actually using my words and not embellishing them with your own.

Fevs holiday camp.
Loads of shite players not giving 100 %.
Basic recipe to continued Failurism.

Add that to the muppet show boardroom.

There's ya answer.
And its going to get a lot worse for sure.

Nah. We'll be rescued when 'the great saviour' Tony Webster gets going.

Or has he already left?

I think i’ve said this before but there was a time when a Pools defeat would spoil my weekend. Now it’s more ho-hum and onto something else.

I only know the score of matches now because I have the alerts on my phone

I'm just not that interested anymore, which hurts. But it's just he same, the club can't even update it's website, why bother that's the problem, total lethargy throughout

Oh and the nonsense with the mail and BBC is dumb beyond belief

It's the slow decay - and ultimately death of HUFC by sheer neglect - but no-one with any authority or standing within the ownership or board of directors has the balls or decency to step up and admit that this is indeed the case.

Finally someone nails it.
Mite take a while to catch on like.

Paper tickets for Boxing day said Saturday 26th December and the website says the match v Rochdale is at 3.00pm not 7.45pm.
There was insufficient staff on boxing day doing the catering at the Mill House stand and they ran out of hot water.
As far as the radio Tees issue!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You cant make this crap up!

Can’t blame Pools for the catering as I think it’s a private company who didn’t cater for a 4000 plus crowd.

but where they informed that the crowd would be bigger than normal. they are a catering company with possibly no interest in football and boxing day crowds.

lets face it once you stay away it will be harder to go back without good reasons to do so. games and those running the show are reasons to stay away rather than give the club another chance. more or less they do not deserve the fans they get.

But interested in profits, stock levels based on average crowds, better to not over order stock and then put in the garbage.

I wouldn't be totally surprised if there was a Club announcement before too long advising fans to bring their own food as the club cannot guarantee catering facilities to be available.

I abandoned the catering offering last year i now bring my own picnic.

Very nice, I presume the smoked salmon and sliced venison are added from the fridge just as you set off? Good colour scheme too is it from the club shop by any chance?

i bring my flask anyway and somehow i can get through a couple of hours at football without the need of any food. id i couldn,t the last thing i,d do is buy food in the ground anywhere. at least the vic is cheaper than many places. my lad bought 3 burgers at stockport and knocked nearly 20 quid off his bank balence.

One got it from Fortnum and Mason which is a cut above Harrods imo.

One agrees with one.

King Smithy.
I give you Legendry status for very quickly ending the above torture.

UTP.