The Poolie Bunker

2nd day in a row….

Hartlepool United is delighted to confirm the signing of Brooklyn Ilunga following the expiry of his contract with Bromley.

The 22-year-old left-sided player has agreed a two-year contract at Victoria Park, keeping him at Pools until June 2028. The agreement will take effect on 1 July, subject to relevant approvals.

Ilunga arrives on Teesside with more than 100 senior appearances already to his name across the Football League and National League despite still being only 22 years of age.

A product of the Milton Keynes Dons Academy, Ilunga joined the club at the age of seven and progressed through the youth ranks before making his senior debut in League One during the 2020/21 season.

Widely regarded as one of the academy’s standout prospects, he was named Milton Keynes Dons Academy Player of the Year in 2021/22 before gaining valuable senior experience through loan spells with Royston Town, Hemel Hempstead Town and Wealdstone.

After making 23 first-team appearances for MK Dons across all competitions, Ilunga secured a permanent move to League Two side Bromley in January 2025.

He made 17 appearances following his arrival during the second half of the 2024/25 campaign before adding a further 30 appearances in all competitions last season, contributing four assists and establishing himself as a regular member of the Ravens squad.

Comfortable operating at wing-back, full-back or further forward on the left-hand side, Ilunga arrives at Pools with a reputation for his athleticism, versatility and attacking intent as Lee Clark continues to strengthen his squad ahead of the 2026/27 campaign.

Ok. Sounds like the reason we didnt pursue Cam John.

if he is an improvement on Cam John then he will do for me and also a younger player welcome and good luck to him.

Think he’s more of a wingback in a 352 or a winger in a 442, whereas Cam John would be LCB in the 352 or the LB in the 442.

Sounds like a good un, good luck and welcome Brooklyn.
Interesting that there does indeed seem to be a longer term plan with the new arrivals getting 2 year deals.

Got to admit- I'm loving these 5pm announcements!
I wonder who we'll reveal tomorrow

I'm hoping for an uncompromising midfielder (ala Willie Boland),
Someone with the ability AND shithousery of Andy Monkhouse
Or a decent keeper (like Dimi/ Trev Carson) next, please!

The only thing I'm properly pissed off about (hasten to add nothing to do with the club),
in the article, we are referred to as Teesside - how fucking rude and badly informed is that?

We are NOT and have never been by the Tees.
We're well away from that shit tip, thank you very much!

Other than that- Welcome Brooklyn- may your stay be a trophy laden one!

Well Mctee 1908 either you are a club insider or a medium but you certainly know when players are coming in and which players. Have you any predictions as to who is next????

They do a pre-announcement teaser on Twitter 15 mins before they unveil the player..

But I predict…

Corey McKeown
Elyh Harrison
Will Harris
Paul Blackett

What this week Mctee?

I'll be turning cartwheels and involuntarily Riverdancing,
should they all sign up, this side of the weekend!

As would I. I have no idea though, just guessing hopefully based on rumours

If you're right, then a forward line of Nolan, Harris, Hughill & Blackett would rip the NL to shreds this season.Although Harris is still under contract, so we will need to pay a fee to get him in.

To even be talking about these players & actually signing some of them is a huge improvement on pre-seasons in the last few years, let's hope it continues!!

Odds have plummeted to 8/1 for Pools to win the league now.

Another impressive signing. First time oop North so hope he settles - but playing for a winning team usually works wonders in that regard.

after living at the oasis in the green desert called milton keynes i think you could settle anywhere even peterlee.

That's a positive.
UTP.

problem is every other club is 7/1 on less.

A lot of Bromley fans disagreed with him being released. Interesting that Bromley used him as an attacker when he came on as an impact sub. Their fans see him as a tricky, pacey left winger.

Have a listen here from about the 16th minute mark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pifWDhtrKtE

If there's any comparisons with last season's squad it sounds like he's more of a Tyrese Sinclar type than a Cam John.

And again Corey McKewan from Spennymoor

Another good prospect although unproven at our level.

We could do with a midfield and some defenders now, unless we are looking to win every game 5-4 !

Looks like it…he’s said goodbye to the Spennymoor fans and Tommy Miller has sent a message that said he’s going to a club he knows well with a manger he knows well, if my memory serves me right.

Every signing is ‘unproven’ as we can vouch for….even known players can turn out to be a flop as in our case.

Feeling pretty pleased with my early bird season ticket now. Football's bloody brilliant before a ball's been kicked

I'm pleased with this signing who hopefully has plenty improvement in him at age 22.

It does raise the spirits.

Looks like we building a team from the front.

No more of this boring shit of stay in the game for first 60 minutes.

Was a bit wary at first regarding Bromby.


Early days but so far well done Smithy for changing the structure n method of how to improve running our club.

100 % back in the ground next season after a few years of discontent.

UTP.

know it helps to be positive looking into the future however we do have to learn from the past. before we kicked a ball last season on paper our attack minded signings looked quite good. reid, johnson and campbell were not exactly dregs coming to us because no offers came from anyone else. its just they never came off and it in some ways forced the hand of both managers last season. do not forget oliver either who started reaching fitness and hitting the net only to get injured and was never the same again.

We are still short on defenders and need 2 keepers, times is moving on albeit players contracts don’t expire till the end of June i believe.

Show some patience pal.
We building from front to back this season + we already got 2 decent centre backs.

Keep the Faith.

Aaron Drewe Has been linked, highly regarded 25 year old RB from Woking, turned down a new contract there and is a free agent.

bringing in the more difficult players to recruit. defenders seem 2 a penny at our level. even we did ok recruiting them last season. keepers are another matter. get the right loanee or a hayes play alike

Aaron Drewe, Woking out of contract of interest to us and Southend United in the past would have been a no contest. Now several Southend player have opted to leave at the end of their contracts including the captain and also the top scorer signing for a club in the National league South depends if the player southern based is prepared to venture up North.

Anybody heard any whispers regarding an announcement today????

I have to admit- I've missed not having a new player revealed, after 3 consecutive days!
No doubt the Recruitment team are busy working their plums off- so I'll let them off today,
after an excellent week of great work by all involved.

well the language is still the same and there is no passport checks coming off the A19. know that type of thing happens and wonder if 2 to 300 mile moves are thought of the same in other countries.

Yep me too.
I was thinking that they might have had a dozen or so players lined up for July 1st and were announcing them one by one for the best effect.
Funny the things that go through your head !!!!!
Let's see what next week brings. So far so good.

Around 3 weeks to Pools first friendly albeit it’s only against Seaton and Pools still haven’t amassed a full squad including a keeper, I am starting to be concerned it will be another pre season the same as the Harley fiasco.

Yeah I'm concerned also, especially seeing the number and quality of signings that Yeovil in particular and Southend have been making. Barrow also signed four players in one day. Come on Pools get cracking and give the supporters something to get excited about. We need a keeper, another striker, some cover in defence and most importantly some attacking midfielders, cause lets face it a midfield of Miley, Sheron and Hunter are not gonna contribute much in terms of goals or assists. Would be interesting to see their stats for last season. Don't wanna wait for a raft full of triallists coming in when pre season training starts as is usually the case.

Who cares who other clubs sign…something no one can control.
Worry about who we sign.

There's a reason the recruitment is slightly slower than previous seasons.

We bringing in better players.

We Gunna have a lot better team come game 1.

UTP.

Miley was at the front of Newcastle's U21 midfield diamond playing just off the striker so no worries at all about his attacking ability or creativity, quite often picked a pass to split the defence last season even though he was stifled massively by the system out managers insisted on playing.
Tuchel hit the nail on the head, be yourselves, even if you lose then lose being yourselves. Forget the choreographed predictable playing out from the back negative stuff. Goals win games and goals are rarely scored from your own half.
I do agree we need more in and soon with pre season starting in just over a couple of weeks. Not panicking yet though, hoping the delays are down to negotiations to get our 1st choices.

I'm pretty sure, judging by the signings already in, that everything is in hand. Doesn't look like they're winging it.
I get the feeling there will be quite a few players lined up, targeted players, I reckon by the beginning of July we will be almost there.
Saying that I'd love to see a signing today

Only signing today will be Starmer at Islington Dole office

exactly. its not some race where the team who gets its squad first gets a bonus point. if clark had been with us last season we possibly would have had more signed by now.

Who other teams are signing is only an issue if they are players Pools were interested in but didn't get. Can't see any evidence of that, though as fans we're not in a position to know every twist and turn.

it's true though that we're into the back end of June and as it stands Pools' squad is only half-complete. A signing (or two) today would be a great way to finish the week.

Some people are clutching their handbags every time a rival signs a player…..we can only stifle this by having a squad of over 200 players and a bank balance to finance it.

Heard an interesting fact the other day. Tat is some clubs that have better players out of contract who will not let an announcement come out while still under contact for fear it will harm season ticket sales pr appear that the club did not try hard enough to keep the player. Makes sense to me.

I see Darlo forward Jack Maskell has signed for Barnet for an undisclosed fee.

There could be an element of truth there as players contracts won’t have expired yet and Pools can’t approach them until they do.