The Poolie Bunker

After beating Rochdale last night and with games in hand it looks like they’ve just about secured their spot in the playoffs,
Time to put the play offs well and truly to bed and prepare for next season.
End of.

Agree with this Snowy but in my mind first they need to decide on the manager do they stlck with Featherstone who has one of the highest win percentages in the last 10 years or twist on yet another manager. This will then let who ever is chosen do the retained list and have a hand in who comes in. No use dragging this out other wise we will be playing catch up as in previous years.

Whatever the outcome, we need to get into planning for next season pronto, simple as that.
No good getting to the football close season supermarket shelves and finding them nearly empty and the sell by dates stuff is all that’s left.

If Fethers had better players I think he'd be fine as manager.

If most managers had better players they’d be fine.
A risk I’d rather not take thank you, especially if he continues the same tactics with a group of new players.

I think it will be NF myself, So we had better get used to it.

Short of a miracle, Pools season ends on 25th April. The first order of business is sorting out a retained list and negotiating new deals with players we want to keep who are free agents on 30th June.

Last season because of Raj's 'Do stay or do I go?' shenanigans, Pools' retained list wasn't announced till 24th May - 2 or 3 weeks late compared with other clubs. And of course, we didn't hold onto Mani and Joe Grey.

Is this even the manager's job any more? If the same brains trust who handled negotiations last summer (Joe Monks, Lennie Lawrence) ared allowed to do it again this, should we expect the same results?

Grayson came in on 12th June. That didn't stop Pools from signing the equivalent of a new team (11 players) between the back end of June and early August. Most players in the lower leagues whose contracts are up don't get signed till after 30th June.

Be nice to think Pools will be more aggressive in the transfer market this summer, but that depends on the money available as well as the manager's ability to persuade players to come.

Just watched the Fevs latest YouTube video and he's blowing up his own arse regarding the win ratio.
Also blameing the home fans for negativity and no patience.

Sort of arrogance comes across that he knows or thinks he will still be manager next season.

I hope not.
Unless the budget is exceptionally good and that makes him a better Manager.

Id say its 50/50 so far.
What will be will be.

UTP.

I have no say in who gets the job , but ain’t gonna accept it blindly.

I agree with Feaths. I mean, why would the fans at the Vic be negative when they have witnessed Pools getting dicked 0-3 to world beaters Aldershot then losing 0-2 Arsenal in disguse Sutton fecking United. Play off rivals Halifax walked away with a 0-1 win. I mean what the heck are people moaning about? After all, we beat Carlisle didnt we? Seriously, what planet is Featherstone living on? Of course the fans are pished off. They have every right to be and if he doesnt understand that he has no business managing a professional football team.

As for Southend, good luck to them. They are vastly superior to Pools. Do they ever get beat 0-3 at home or are they ever on the end of a 4-0 hammering to the likes of Woking? They dont lose cup games to teams of the status of Anstey Nomads. They have a tighter defence than us but somehow have scored more goals (how on earth?) They have home gates of 6,000 because their fans are confident their team will win, unlike at Pools when a home win is the least likely of three outcomes.

Kevin i stated a while ago about his arrogance, Blaming players yet at the same time praising him self and his staff.
Not long ago he was saying poor results were down to having a thin squad.
Was allowed to bring players in (Said he had the final say on signings) well results were just about the same imo.

Blagging.i think

Pools away record at this stage of the season is slightly better than both Southend and Halifax but our home form is quite a bit worse.

Feaths sets the team up better to get a result in away games. He's a counter-puncher by nature. Not winning enough home games has got nothing to do with the fans.

If he carries on with these tactics at home the ground will be nigh on empty for the last couple of home games.
He had an outside chance of the play offs and didn't even give us anything like a chance of actually getting enough points to make it.
Joke if he's still manager next season, bigger joke still trying to sell STs if he is.

Looking forward to Eastleigh on Saturday. Wondering what the excuses will be.

Smith will need to reconsider the Pools management team as I doubt many fans will rushing out to buy season tickets.

Not concerned about our recent away form, but the home form is the elephant in the room and if you can’t convince the home fans you’re on a hiding to nothing…and hasn’t doing the business where it mattters.
Funny how football professionals forget the fans are thereto be entertained and securing the points.

We like that Aussie Soap Opera.

Good Day Sports!

No not Neighbours.
We need a Joel Porter copyman.

Especially as inflation is set to boom.

Fevs staying.

That's a bad Combo for gate Income.

Out of the 8 teams above us, 5 have conceded more than us. All of them have scored more than us.
News flash for Featherstone - scoring goals wins games, Halifax in 8th have conceded more than us but crucially they've scored more than us and hence are above us.
Creating 2 or 3 chances a game is not good enough at home and will deter fans from buying STs and paying on the day.
If NF is to be in charge next season he needs to show that he can get the best out of this squad consistently, that he can adapt the tactics to provide more attacking football at home and when it's needed if we're chasing a game. If he can't he needs to be shown the door.
With respect to his win ratio, it's lower than Kevin Philip's was and Philips had us playing much more entertaining football.

Looks like you are in the minority by the interest, or lack of it, on this board!

Halifax play a lone striker too, but their number 9 (Will Harris) has scored more National League goals (19) than all of Reid, Johnson, Oliver and Caton put together. Matt Rush at Boreham Wood is another who plays as a lone striker and he's got 22 NL goals so far.

They're both 25-year-olds who were knocking around in the level below us before they were picked up by our rivals. Harris is from South Shields and played most of his games for Gateshead and Spennymoor before Halifax signed him.

Why is it that when Pools sign players from the North-East they're always pushing 30 and on the slide? Johnson, Walker, Campbell, Dolan, Cooke - it's a feckin' long list that goes back decades.

Why are we so crap at scouting good young players in our own back yard?

Lone strikers can work if you play to their strengths and they are good in the role. We're playing the system without having a single player on the books who can effectively play the part. Crazy mismanagement.

Barring injuries or sickness it's odds on that Caton and Reid will start up front this afternoon, same as the Truro game.

Remind me what other games Pools have had 2 fit strikers available to start, other than the useless Danny Johnson? Pools had months to bring someone in to address that before Charlie Caton was finally signed on loan.

Well it wont be his fault or his staff, either the fans/players or both will be to blame.

Simple fact.

Instead of playing a system to get the best out of the players.

He shoe horns the players into HIS system.

Caton and Reid did not play as a front 2 last week, they were far too far apart with Caton being out wide for much of the match that I watched.

You reckon? You could say the same about games when Mani and Joe Grey played together. The last time Pools had 2 players trying to make the same runs in the same area of the pitch was when Mani and Josh Umerah were on the pitch together. That didn't work too well

Exactly!

The opposite happened when Carrick took over at ManU. Instead of having big name managers forcing players into their system, Carrick does what's best with the players he's got.

What is Featherstone's ‘system’…because it’s a mystery to me…he keeps shuffling his players, but not his tactics.

Back to the Mathematics.

It's now 7 wins from 8 needed for 7th place.
I sure the open window shuts during the week.

It hasn't been very good all year.

Maybe Smithy holding back to Millionaire fest next seasons new Manager.

I could be wrong this is Pools.

Scunthorpe, Rochdale, Southend, Forest Green among those games.

Rochdale, Southend, Forest Green are home games so we can write them off.

Surely we will do the double over Rochdale!!!!

As we stand this season is our potential second best season points tally in the national league. To make it to outright second we need four more points and to beat Challinor's promotion season we need twenty more points.
What could have been eh, when we consider the number of points we have thrown away, especially at home and with a better and more consistent effort.
Ah well........................................

Pools have done very well away from home, 27 points so far is a good haul.
However as you state, our home form has been disappointing.

Looking at my predicted home points so far, Pools should have been on around 35 points which would have us sat nicely on 62 points.
A case what might have been come the end of the season!
However in my opinion, Pools are quite some way short of a team worthy of an EFL place.
Maybe next season with a bit of investment who knows!

Your last sentence is the all important one and the one more and more fans are clinging to. Will we see that or will we not is the big question.
However another 24 points and who knows........I'll get me coat !!!!!!!

are our results any worse than those of other clubs though. i,d guess other teams fans have had more than a couple of games all season to remember with some pride. looking at the bigger picture the less wins and points we get now to the end of the season the better as we do not want failures stating what you have said to boost there positions at the club.

All I am doing is comparing OUR results this season with other seasons. I would safely say our results compared to other team's results don't matter within that comparison and are therefore irrelevant. As for pride in what we have done, some will have it and some won't If we did manage to go up. I suppose the general consensus of opinion would be that the end justified the means, apart from you maybe. The aim is to get to the EFL. How we do it is secondary. Opinions eh.

In my opinion, we are one of the better teams in the NL, a top half side, but we are much too inconsistent to seriously challenge for the play offs. Yes we beat Carlisle and Rochdale but we couldnt beat Brackley town in two games.We couldn't beat Sutton over two games and capitulated to them 0-2 at home. Aldershot did the double over us. We were embarrassed 4-0 at Woking. Our results are quite simply not as good as our near rivals. We have the nucleus of a play off challenging side but new faces are required both on and off the field if we anything is to change next season.

And therein lies the problem really, the teams above us are in the main fairly consistent, we are only consistent at being inconsistent. Even York, Carlisle, and Rochdale have had setbacks but they bounce back pretty quickly.
We have setbacks and the management seems to accept that as something that will eventually put itself right rather than trying to address it.
Hopefully our new consultancy / recruitment team can see that and help improve things.

You never know, the new guys might also notice that compared with the teams tearing up the diivision this seson Pools' squad is laughably thin. We have made TWO permanent signings since September - Hayes and Holohan. On Saturday Pools had 5 players out injured and the subs bench was an embarrassment.

Ah well, with 8 games left they'll get a chance to get a good look at the 6 or 7 players who are worth keeping and can get on with identifying another 15 who need signing.

Yes and Fev has been blowing smoke about new arrivals to plug the gaps for months too.
I think the message is quite clear after Sundays announcement, Fev, Monks, and LL are not going to be doing any recruitment.

'Blowing smoke' you call it? Isn't it any manager's job to push for funds to strengthen the playing staff? But you're quite right, he hasn't been given any. Be interesting to see if that changes before Thursday. Unlikely, I'd say.

Featherstone = Night Watchman…and dawn is creeping up on us on the horizon.

I heard Monks n Leonard Deffo going.
And I'd like to think the money brakes slammed on Fevs recruitment means he's a goner also.
Now wipe out the majority out of contract constant failures who masquerade as footballers.

Smithy ain't daft he will of done his homework before buying Pools.

Little bit cheeky selling them Half STs on a play off push that didn't happen.
Maybe he showed to much faith to Fevs.

Can only change for the better from May.

UTP.

Wonder if we'll see any Americans arriving to either play or take on coaching roles.

Reading this thread it’s clear, Pools lose because of Featherstone but win despite him

I spoke to lenny Lawrence after the match he was angry that people were booing, got to say I was there right to the end and never heard any, was there any or has he got old man’s tinnitus?

I was in the NC terrace and stayed to the end and didn't hear any booing, everyone was applauding around me, well those who chose too. Think most fans are realistic as to where we are at the moment, the the Vic is hardly a cauldron of hate on a match day, compared to some grounds I've visited in the past.

mind you there was lots of booing during th last 15 minutes of the game you could hear easily on tees. you cannot blame fans for getting angry with one mistake after another where we were looking to give em something from the game.