The Poolie Bunker

Where do you think Pools will finish in the 2026/27 season?

I will go for 3rd, close but not close enough but a go at the play-offs instead and you never know!

5th with the semi final away from home.

Then anything can happen.

Maybe promotion at Wembley with at least 15000 Poolies.

UTP.

Cock on the block- we'll do the double!

Champions and FAT winners at the elusive Wembley

Though knowing our luck should we get to the FAT final- no doubt some chain of events like a gas leak at Wembley will mean the final will be played at the Valley!

Yeah, I’m going with 5th too.

Playoffs and then god knows what happens after that.

Hopefully a couple of decent runs in FA Cup & FA Trophy too. Maybe an improvement in our all-time FA Trophy record of 2 wins and 7 defeats in 9 games.

Second, boat load of points but Carlisle to pip us to the league.

It looks like we have strengthened last season's already reliable defence & we have certainly improved the attack, bringing in Nolan, Harris & Hughill. I am, however, worried about the midfield not being mobile enough or capable of supplying the attack with enough chances, but I can see us winning a lot of games 1-0.

However, everyone is always positive at the start of the season, so I think we will finish top 4, then in the lottery of the play-offs anything can happen. A trip to Wembley in either the play-offs or the FA trophy would be a successful season.

We'll all have a much better idea 10 or 12 games into the season, when we've seen how our main rivals are doing as well as Pools.

For now I'll stick to predicting that Pools will at least make the play-offs, given that we weren't that far away last season with a much smaller squad and an inexperienced manager.

I think the other thing that's changed is that Landon Smith won't hesitate to do whatever is necessary if Pools unexpectedly struggle. Coming in half way through last season, he treated it as a free hit. No way that happens this time around,

After today’s performance I’ll be surprised if we at least don’t get in the playoffs. As well as a lot of talented players we also have a very good work ethic, collectively the effort and pressing is very impressive. We also have what I believe is the best squad we have ever had at Pools. Never before have we had such strength in depth. We had a great start last season but the wheels came off when McNally got injured - this season we will have cover.

I’ll stick my neck out and say top two.

I honestly fancy us to win it, defo top three.

Reaching the playoffs would be a vast improvement on our past 5 seasons so I'm hoping for that (7th would do tbh). Anything better would be a huge bonus.

Also I really hope to goodness that Lee Clarke turns out to be a fantastic appointment and that we can get through a whole season with the same gaffer for a change.

I don't know if it's because I've had a bottle of red, or it's because of his stature and his voice , but I'm getting Bob Paisley vibes

I can certainly see where you're coming from - fingers crossed he's half the manager eh?

i,ll come back in a few weeks after seeing us play and what the opposition looks like. really though it should not be a massive achievement finishing 2 places above last season with its injury hit squad and the joker in the managers chair.

My hope, as always, is promotion and obviously we have to finish top seven to achieve that so first target is top, then top three, then top seven.
Not sure which of the three options to expose my neck to but will have a better idea after the first ten or so games.
How quickly a good looking bunch of talent becomes a good team, worthy of promotion, is crucial for me plus of course the avoidance of suspensions and injuries, especially lengthy ones.

It's fair to say Lee Clark has made a very good impression on Pools fans since he came in - he is straight talking, enthusiastic and radiates confidence. I've got my fingers crossed that he can keep it going too.

Wind the clock back 12 months though and most of us were equally happy with Simon Grayson. The crunch comes after Saturday when Pools start playing 2 competitive games a week every week.

In recent seasons we've got used to Pools making fast starts in the league but not being able to sustain them. Is Lee Clark the man to change that? New signings are one thing - what the manager makes of them is more important.

I'm predicting a 5th or 6th finish.

I think we'll have a slow start as the players gel. Once it clicks - perhaps with an additional central midfielder to the building - I think we'll win enough games to be play-off bound this time around.

One other prediction - Stuart Maynard is now on the market after a shock departure from York City. If we get into November/December, and things aren't where they need to be for a play-off finish, it wouldn't surprise me...

lets not even think about going down that line this season. no matter where we are playing in a years time i hope its under the same manager unless he makes an absolute hartley of the job.

All I'm saying is. It wouldn't surprise me.....

I caught the last ten minutes of their 0-2 home defeat to Crawley last night, the home fans were shouting for Maynard. An air of discontent prevails…

Seriously? Pre-season is a honeymoon period for every newly appointed Pools manager. Once the season starts it only takes 3 or 4 iffy performances on the bounce for the fans' mood to change. The pressure is on Lee Clark to deliver a consistently good points return. He'll know that as well as anybody - he's been there plenty of times before.

I expect there to be 7 players in the first 11 on Saturday making their competitive debut for the club, with 5 of the 7 subs also having never played a competitive game for us. It will definitely take more than 3-4 games to get the best out of the team, but hopefully will still be good enough to get a few early wins on the board.

Agree with Hogans. If we don't score many goals and start drawing too many matches in the first 10, he will definitely come under fire. I remember it didn't take long for Sarll to go hero to zero & there was optimism heading into that season too.

And the Maynard availability 100% changes the dynamic at play. It does for any of the top 4 or 5 clubs in the division this season. He is a proven promotion winner who has only just come out of work. Once a Carlisle, Pools, Southend et al start slipping... Maynard looks very appealing now.

But anyway, positivity says that Lee Clark is going to get us off to a barnstorming start!

[quote="thebigdog"

I think we'll have a slow start as the players gel. Once it clicks - perhaps with an additional central midfielder to the building - I think we'll win enough games to be play-off bound this time around..[/quote]

I think the difference this time around is that we have strong cover in every outfield position, even including Sheron or Hunter , which I think is still our weakest position, on Saturday against Fleetwood, he made substitutions which I though might take the tempo down from us, even weaken us a bit, they didn't ,every one of them that came on pretty much slotted in seamlessly. For that reason, I don't think injuries will affect us as much as they have in the past, normally it always seems to be our more 'outstanding ' players who seem to get hit but this time around there's another 'star' waiting to take their place. For a team to gel as well usually needs a bit of time for a team spirit and togetherness to build but it's already there, you can see it. Even in the friendlies against the lesser teams, the passion they've shown when scoring or even missing or someone has been hacked down or invovled in a bit of a scuffle has been unbelievable especially for friendlies, i've never seen it before, if they can transfer that to the crowd in the proper games we could be unstoppable at times. Here's hoping , just my opinion but hope I'm right.

since when did changing the manager actually improve the team. you have to go back to challinor getting the job for that to happen. before him you are getting into the real pools past.

No, I just think the situation has unexpectantly changed. Stuart Maynard becoming available for National League clubs is significant & puts more pressure on managers that are in post at club's who are expecting to be at the top end of the division.