The Poolie Bunker

Local board for local people is it?

Looking like a pathetic away attendance tonight given I’ve only seen about three of your lot so so far. Our away support as a percentage of home support is far superior to yours. Have that attendance fc.

Bless. Been shown how to post pictures recently have you?

H/T Pools 0-2 up Kouogun, Charman

Brilliant result. Excellent first half, thought Charman and Mcnally going off injured would screw us but we hung on. Well done Pools!

I had to use pictures…..moving pictures still haven’t reached your neck of the woods…the ‘talkies’ will blow your mind

I’m sure mr bigmouth Rochdale will give us all a full match report unless he only sings when he’s winning

Looking at the hordes of Poolies present in the ground you can't fucking count either. Oh and a percentage of fuck all is fuck all. Can you remind us all of the score.

What were you saying about Charman??

What happened to Charman? I went out to grab a cuppa and he was gone when I came back. He was playing out of his skin as well.

Cracking result. We were running rings around them in the first half.

Just wow.
Well done lads.
Happy end to 2025

Took the game to them and deserved the win. Can't fault the effort of any of them tonight, high press and looking to get forward much more than recently payed dividends, hope it's a lesson learned for Fev.

60 years supporting Pools, that 1st half performance was one of the best I have watched, absolutely played the top team of the pitch. Luke Charman was immense so skillfull and such a good header of the ball.
2nd half was nail biting stuff I don’t recall us having a shot.
Having not played for several months, I hope that Charman and Mcnally where only substituted because of fatigue.

Brilliant result, but agree with the above what a difference when Charman and Mcnally went off, I hope they are fit for Saturday.

The extra time went on forever… it was a relief when Rat Boy wanted to go out in the garden….it was all over when I came back four minutes later……

Looks like the ferret thought he was going to see a nailed on win and decided it was time for a wind up……his team looked nothing special….. a bit like his chest beating.

Never saw that coming, it would appear that Feaths and the players have been stung into action following recent poor results and resultant criticism from the fans and media. An excellent away win - well done to Feaths and the lads - but remember this was only Rochdale - the task now is to go to Woking, repeat the exercise and set themselves up for two very winnable home games in January

Superb win and oh dear rkershaw, oh bl00dy dear!

I'm glad we only had to put up with Mancini for a while and not Manni and Mancini for the full game.

I've let them go mentally - but I'm not at all comfortable watching them play against Pools. Maybe that's why Manni's pretending to be injured...

Karma
A special mention to our fans 307 under the circumstances is truly outstanding.

Top of the league and only 1700 home supporters, dear me!
And this for a club that the owner wants to be a self sustaining community owned club. Not sure why he's bothering.

Only 296 South Shields at Darlo last night.

Looking more likely that SS will be our new Derbie game from next season.

Excellent performance last night, first half in particular. Went a bit backs to the wall towards the end but given the first 60-70 mins and the sub changes that's not to take away from it. We lost Reid's tracking back when Johnson came on, and there was little way out from the back and midfield to Johnson alone up front who still seems to treat matches like a jog in the park. Also particularly impressed with Campbell , his pace and effort in closing down was something rarely seen as a pools fan!

To be fair, they were playing at Accrington, as their pitch is being relaid…..I didn’t twig on till I mentioned the ground looked wrong from the times I’ve been there and my son set me right.

wonder if any poolies went to rochdale for the game. know quite well if it had not been on DAZN i,d of ended up going there and the only indication of the game not being played was the floodlights not being on.

yet again the team puts on a good performance away. are they frightened playing at the vic knowing the crowd are going to be on there backs quickly when things go wrong. far more entertainment and good play last night than whats seen in 3 or 4 games at the vic.

The difference was in the formation and mindset from the outset, a bit more of it at home and there'll be no fans getting on any players backs. The performances at home have caused the negative reaction from some fans, not the other way around imo.
The Vic is a terrific atmosphere for the home players as long as they're trying their best to win games, even a crunching tackle gets a louder shout than a goal at some other grounds.
Fev needs to be braver with tactics and we showed last night were as good as most teams in this division, we tore them a new one for nearly 70 minutes with Evans having a very quiet game up until then.

but surely the players know they will get some stick if they try something that does not come off therefore play safe most of the time. once it was the other way round with pools saving there worst for away games and looked different players than they did at the vic.

Great performance and result.
Thats bounceback ability.
Well done Fevs.

Enjoy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88ii3Lwa_2w

Johnson coming on for the last 10 or so minutes all he had to do was run himself into the ground closing down etc, he just couldn't be arsed what a waste of time he's turned out to be.

From what I saw last night and what the Rochdale commentators said on DAZN, Dale's entire game is built on players getting to the byline and putting accurate crosses in. No wonder Mani D has been filling his boots - they didn't seem to have a plan B without him. Obviously they couldn't bring the 41-year-old Henderson on too early!

The Rochdale commentators were discussing the usual trademark crosses style of play into the box and bemoaning the absence of Mani, because their wingers were getting the balls over ….but too high for the players on the pitch … and they hadn’t adjusted for the fact Mani wasn’t playing….doh

Sorry Kettering - for the good of the club you're going to have to carry on drinking!

Granted I got the goalscorers wrong and massively overestimated the crowd but think I was the only person to get the score right - maybe I wasn't that pissed after all!

Don't think we'll see that fuckwit from the Dale who massively embarrassed himself-
However if Pools were top of the league and forced to play at a neutral ground close by I guarantee that there'd be a damn sight more than 1700 'home' fans in attendance - easily double if not triple that.

Sang when he assumed they'd be winning. So pleased we dicked them.

As a committed Poolie (exiled in Norfants)- I'll do it purely for the love of the club- cheers!

You’ll just have to grit your teeth and suffer…..

quote button has packed in. in commenting on rochdales crowd numbers i,d say two thirds of there average home crowd aint too bad with a journey similar to darlo from hartlepool in time and length. think we,d have had a similar percentage playing at darlo if there ground was bigger.

If we were top of the league playing a home game at Gateshead or Darlo we'd have way more than 1700 turn out though.

we would because we would have a higher percentage of home fans to start with. say we averaged 4,500 at the vic then 3,000 travelling to a neutral ground would be the same as them. hate the club and a number of there fans from the past but 1,700 was once classed as a good gate there when ones of three figures were quite regular.

We're a town of what 90000 population, they're about 230000, their support is woeful for a long established ex football league club with a billionaire owner and sitting top of the league.

but it always has been. what have they ever had to offer when you can take your pick of better clubs by a single bus ride from the town centre. its not a big help either having to walk up a steep hill to get to the ground as its not exactly a vic or a shay. then there is a bigger percentage of immigrants there who have other interests but football.

I wrote a post the other day after watching the match the next morning. Was expecting a 5-0 thrashing so was pleasantly surprised with the performance. Unfortunately I must have pressed the wrong button and I lost my post. So, I will try to remember what I said. This is my review of the match positives and negatives . For me :-

Positives

1. Played on the front foot right from the start
.
2. Played with energy, guile and creativity
3. Much improved crossing in to their box. It was obvious to me work had been done on the training ground . Well done Nicky.
4. More shots on goal in the penalty area rather than trying to over play in particular from Luke Charman who worked his socks off
5. Numbers running in to the box
6. Improved heading from corners . The headed goal and build up play was exquisite .
7. High self confidence from every player . They really took the game to Rochdale . Not many teams will go there and take them on and win.
8. The managers decision to play with 3 forward players rather than one lone striker. We must use that match and that performance for a blueprint for the rest of the season. Please Nicky don’t go backwards always take the iniative and be proactive . I think most fans would rather lose 4-3 than watch a dull game where we score a goal and shut up shop. It doesn’t work.
9. High press closing the opposition down quickly and chasing lost causes . It’s a great sight to watch players playing every ball like their lives depend on it .
10. Good shape . Their goals didn’t know what to do taking his time to release the ball. We just sat patiently with a well planned shape. Well done Nicky it was noticed .
11. Defence and goaly brilliant as usual . It was a brick wall especially last 15 mins when Rochdale piled on the pressure. Tons of last minute interventions with everybody throwing their bodies on the line . I loved it .
12. Nice passing in triangles at times . Still needs some work but certainly a big improvement
13. Lots of hustling and bustling from every player . The attitude to win the ball and not concede was fantastic.
And finally:
Negatives - none

How can I criticize that performance . And also just found out today we gave new owners what a great ending to the year.

I really hope now that the lone striker system is ditched . Nicky and I know you read these posts please continue with this system . We are Hartlepool and I am sure speaking for the rest of the supporters please maintain this positive way of playing . If we can beat Rochdalevwe can beat anybody . Don’t go one step forward and 2 steps back . The players have stepped up and shown what they can do. Well done Pools every player played their socks off . I was certainly entertained . Good luck in 2026. Lets now try to win every game that has to be the objective .

Good post Mr Harrogate.

No they aren’t, the actual town of Rochdale has a population similar to Hartlepool, the 230,000 figure is the Council catchment area which covers other smaller towns in a wider area…similar to Stockton who has a population similar to Hartlepool but tags on on Thornaby, Billingham and Yarm to bulk up it’s numbers.

I just googled the population of both towns and the same site came up with the numbers I quoted. We'd still have bigger crowds though if we were top of the league wether we played home games at the Vic or 25 miles away imo. The home support for a holiday game for a team looking at being Champions was woeful.

Look up the population of ‘Rochdale Town’…not Rochdale Urban Area, which covers a much wider local Government area.

Yeah did that, says about 110000 so still nearly 25% bigger than Hartlepool.

But a lot less than 230,000….and a lot better attractions football wise in the surrounding area, but you have to applaud the fans for supporting their local team who do go.
Shall we arm wrestle for it