The Poolie Bunker

Now Promotion has gone unless ya got a headfull of magic mushrooms.

Then we have to do something we haven't done in a while and actually treat these with a bit of effort and respect.

Last qualifying draw is live on Talk sport radio at 2pm on Monday

Excellent prize money which can create an extra financial booster towards next seasons Promotion Campaign.
Plus can keep a bit of interest going with our fans to stop the gates from falling.
Once you get to the last 8 of the Trophy then the Wembley dreams start.

Where I dare say we win it and gets the buzz back and could even get this year's ST Holders to even consider renewing plus a bit Xtra.

Keep Harris fit with better service and you just never know.


Or we just do what we normally do?
Nah eh!

Probably get a few Mushroomers still think Promotion is still on

I don’t believe promotion is gone. We’re nine points off the play offs and all teams with have peaks and troughs. If Wild can get this team playing well they’re time enough to recover the season.

Agree entirely Mr I, although I agree that automatic promotion has galloped away into the distance it's ridiculous to write off a playoff push with not even 33% of the season elapsed. The prime directive is obviously to start gathering points PDQ and get into mid-table. Once there we should appreciate that plenty of play-off participants over the years have not been anywhere near the playoffs at the turn of the year. I for one would hate to see the M Mouse cup competitions take priority over accruing league points.

Thing is the cup competitions have never been a priority for the last few years whether we've had a decent season or not, I want us to treat both seriously.

Shouldn’t everything be a priority….other clubs can manage it.
The most important game should be the next game.

A guess some fans want us to try and win every game.
And some don't give a fuck then even have the audacity to moan about defeats.

That's surely the normal thing for a division 5 club or any division club.

I bet you went to Sunderland with 10000 other Poolies.
Maybe fancy dress as Minnie Mouse

The whole foundation of the game is success by winning, pretty basic stuff.
The myth of resting players and not really bothering with anything other than league games might get coaches aroused , but they’re there to win every game , not just specific game to make their lives easier but the fans life a bit more empty.

The league table says 22nd.
The worst position in our entire history.

Id say cup runs would improve confidence to try and win all games.
We supposed to have our best squad in years.

I'm sure Smithy has said to Wildy generate Cup run income to improve our shit midfield.
I messed up big style employing Bromby.
You have full control of new signings.
I'm binning Bromby as soon as the contracts expire.

UTP

If he wants to bin Bromby I'm sure he'd do it, contracts in the football world are easily broken or terminated. And let's face it, hasn't Maxwell recruited Wild and Conlon?
It's the start of October and to talk of the play offs being out of reach and focussing on Cup runs is farcical, Smith will want the ground full every match not just in the case of a rare attractive cup game. We're 9 points off a play off position with 105 to play for!

remember the days of when teams rested players before cup games. in fact burnley got a £1,000 fine in the early 60,s for just doing that.know we are nor going to win the FA Cup but fans will always turn up for an exciting looking draw. as for the trophy, well i know its not exactly a cash cow but imagine the interest across the town and the area if we eventually got to the final at wembley. feel it would be greater than out win at bristol.

I don't often disagree with most of your post's Mr I but this squad haven't got a cat in hell's chance of getting anywhere near promotion. Sadly.

I said focus on trying to win all games.

Still 102 to play for.

After today I told myself to stop talking shite!

Respect for that Mr I.
We all suffer from heart ruling the head.

You are correct KP I was indeed amongst the 10k Poolies at Sunderland that day but I was dressed as Hangus the Monkey not Minnie Mouse, sorry to spoil your fetish. Anyway, after watching yesterday's absolutely pathetic performance it is evident that we will need to produce promotion form just to escape from the relegation zone before too long unless Pete Wild can turn the tide PDQ.

Would anyone else take this.
2 Cup runs and relegation.

Then back to back Promotions to the EFL.

Probably the quickest way to get there and would be a good laff on the way.


I reckon we on a limited timescale now of 3 years maximus or we become the next Darlo.

That was a great day - apart from the fact it took for bastading-eva to get back on the A19 after the game

i,d even copy the length of time york spent in the nat.league north just to get back into the league or stockport if things for pools turned out just the same. i,d say gates would be higher getting promotion from that league as they would if we stagnated and became a regular nat. league member who finished mid table year after year.

You’re not the only one talking shite mate. The league table does not lie, 12 games played , 8 goals scored, 17 goals conceded and 6 defeats on the bounce . A team bereft of confidence and no signs whatsoever of a plan to rectify things . We need to forget promotion, forget a cup run because we are totally shite . However, I’m confident that Wild can turn our fortunes around . Just need to back him up. The task is enormous, the league placing does not lie. From tomorrow the hard work goes on on the training pitch. Some on here need a reality check .

It's worrying imo that some are now implying they'd accept relegation to NLN. It certainly won't be any easier getting out of that league than it is this one!
Wild hit the nail on the head, we've got players whore so low on confidence that everything they do is so rushed that nothing comes off. How many passes yesterday never reached the intended target? It's a case now where he's got to restore confidence and get them doing the basics right, and/or bring in reinforcements. We're in a downward spiral that needs to be reversed and it's a case of just seeing where we end up, hopefully not in those relegation places regardless of what we do or don't do in the Cups.

Relegation to NLN is something we desperately need to avoid IMO.

Like the NL has been, we could end up stagnating there for years.

The likes of Torquay have struggled to get out of NLS and if memory serves me correctly it took Scunthorpe a while to get out of NLN.

The glimmer of hope for me is that in Wild I think we’ve got someone, with the right backing, can get us out of this pickle.

there are some clubs who were once regulars on our football league fixture list that really wish they were in the NLN. Workington and Bradford Park Avenue. if we did stay at that level for more than a couple of seasons without promotion we would be getting less than half the gates we are now and the costs of running pools would be greater than the teams we play. the next step is like talking about a death in the family.

Wearing my pools away top halfway up a hill in Italy earlier this year prompted a fella from Workington to strike up a conversation with me about the time he saw Workington play pools

actually its not that long ago when we played at there place and lost in some ko competition.

My attitude when we've got any chance of promotion is focus on that, give the squad players a run out in the cup competitions.

This season the cups are Pools only chance of a sniff of any success so we need to really go for it.

The draw or the 4th round qualifying stage is today, are Pools in the hat ?

Hartlepool United are ball number 9 in the northern section.

Northern section ball numbers

1 AFC Fylde
2 Altrincham
3 Barrow
4 Boston United
5 Carlisle United
6 FC Halifax Town
7 Gateshead
8 Harrogate Town
9 Hartlepool United
10 Kidderminster Harriers
11 Scunthorpe United
12 Solihull Moors
13 Tamworth
14 Macclesfield or Scarborough Athletic
15 Marine
16 Trafford or Atherton Collieries
17 Guiseley
18 Anstey Nomads
19 Morecambe
20 South Shields
21 Bury
22 Chorley
23 FC United of Manchester
24 Stafford Rangers or Halesowen Town
25 Spennymoor Town
26 Bury Town or Spalding United
27 Harborough Town
28 Worcester City
29 Alvechurch
30 AFC Rushden & Diamonds
31 Leiston
32 Gloucester City

Certainly a few banana skins in there.

Not many teams I would want Pools drawn away to.
Then again, same could apply for a home draw.
How about the Nomads again.

home to Marine, ill take that!

I went to the game in the late 70s.
Think it was a 6 2 win.

A repeat performance would be welcome.
UTP

Lets get the luck of the draw.
Get to Round 3 v Newcastle away.

Win the Tinpot Trophy

And stay up.


Is that treble acceptable
UTP

Yes remember it well! The chance of us scoring 6 is remote although we may well let in 2!

I think we drew 1-1 at their place and won the replay 6-3.

I doubt we will beat the crowd that day unless it is £10 and a free pint.

Late 70s... 50 years ago. Were you still in short trousers Kev?

Ye and Base-trainers.
Did you have ya Boots on from WorldWar2

Correct, the replay was on my birthday

Them hobnails never wear out. I was still wearing the pair me grandda left me in his will.

Ah…boots….always got Doc Martins supplied by my employer….knacked your heel if you didn’t break the back of then in with the ball end of an hammer…happy days

plus once the tread wore down they were leathal on any wet ground. a mate give me a pair and i was like bambi on ice if it had been raining.

luck of the draw, well haven,t we had it in the past and cocked it up like twice last season. to get as far as the 3rd round we,d need a few bye,s. doubt marine are living in fear this morning and the only saving grace is its not at there gaff where you,d need security with you seeing its got a scouse postcode.

I'm 99.9% sure we Gunna enter round 1 just for a change.

Time flies. Was at both games. Mickey Spellman was class. Cant believe that's over 50 years ago. We had a good team then.

as well as players you really liked and missed when they left. compare and contrast to what 50 years have given us. please do not say well they were fitter then. bollocks to that as i,d take a bit of extra body timber for more entertainment like spellman and his ilk gave us.

I was at the original Marine home game, it was actually December '75', 2nd Round replay, 6-3 win with a Mally Moore hat-trick for us, I had my oxblood high tops on that day, Stapress trousers and Ben Sherman shirt on under me Crombie, fully scarfed up...ah the memories, think we already knew the winners were playing Man City away in Round 3, it was a cold winter and snowed on the way down to City and back, I vaguely remember passing a 45 seater coach on fire on the way back on the hard shoulder, wasn't one of ours, think it was a Man Utd supporters coach.

Yep the actual date was December 15th.......my birthday. For those who want to use that information, my favourite tipple is Malt Whisky.

Yes also went to Maine Road, remember the car spinning 360 degrees in the snow and ice coming back and just continuing on!

Of course that match also involved a team scoring 6 (we was robbed) and of course our captain George Potter and Dennis Tueart were sent off. The first for a late tackle and the second for the retaliatory head butt that fractured his cheekbone!