The Poolie Bunker

Who owns the contract of employment?

Are the players contracted to through Hartlepool United FC (or whatever it's registered as these days) paid by HUFC?

Or

Is Smith running us like a leasehold property, he pays B&P like a management service/agency to look after his investment and do B&P own the players contracts and they pay the salaries via Smith monthly payments to them.

How much say does Smith really have in the future or has he signed all his rights away with B&P incharge?

He's stopped talking to us so Fcuk knows whats going on.


I've been a Poolie for over half a century but me hope n patience levels are at an all time low.

Can't believe he didn't address the fans while he was over here, he was quick enough to do it at the start of the season. Think we got more info when Raj was in charge.

Probably had enough already Frankie, and I can’t blame him. Club will be folded end of the year if we go down

Next August it will be 75 years for me.

You have a very short memory of the summer before this one then. And Raj is based just down the road, not 4,000 miles away.

So are you classing the players as employees of the committee and not the club in a package…??

Again the silence is deafening about the whole set up like an RACI Chart for example showing everyone’s duties and responsibilities, I would have thought at least the Season Ticket holders should know what’s going on as they have committed several hundred pounds for season tickets and also the fans who have signed up for DAZN. The fans are the life blood of the club, they saved the club from a winding order from the HMRC by paying the £48000 tax bill. When Smith took over he addressed the fans at the game, why didn’t he do it yesterday or at least issue a statement how Pools are going to move on and even admit he was badly advised by Bromby & Co on the appointment of Clark.
Did Smith even check out Clark’s CV, I think anyone reading it would see he has had no full time experience of running a club for 5 years even a layman would deem him unsuitable. I know you shouldn’t judge people by their appearance but he was carrying a few kilos of excess weight hardly a good example to the players, it has also been mentioned the players don’t look fit.

I could be wrong here, but didn’t Singh make a big song and dance about finding someone suitable to take over?

I'm sure he kept a couple of failed deposits from previous attempts of takeovers.
He will be laffing his bollocks off now.
I imagine he sold Smithy a Wrexham style dream which has very rapidly turned into a Nightmare.
You just know what will happen now.
Both Darlo n Pools get relegated to extend the years of the non derbie.

UTP

I'm a season ticket holder and a DAZN subscriber (more money than sense, obviously) and I'm at a loss to understand what exactly I need to hear from Landon Smith. He isn't going to "admit he was badly advised by Bromby & Co on the appointment of Clark" until he pays them off. That day can't come soon enough, but it won't happen till he's worked out a better way to manage the club's football fortunes remotely.

Apart from Bromby's involvement, the club structure is much same as the umpteen others in the modern game. It looks top heavy for a club of HUFC's size and I'm sure some rationalisation is in the works - we aren't going to keep 4 first-team coaches forever!
I'm old enough to remember the days when Pools' football staff basically amounted to a a manager, a trainer and a chief scout, but those days aren't coming back and it's pointless banging on about them, as some are doing.

Actions speak louder than words. What I mainly need to see from the chairman is continuing commitment to our club - which he's demonstrated by appointing Wild and Conlon. Evidence that he's made a transfer budget available and given Wild assurances that he and Conlon will have the final say on who it's spent on is what I need to see next.

The last thing we need is to start doubting Landon. Let's allow Pete Wild time to get a grip of the squad, get them playing football not hoofball and above all, start scoring goals.

have always felt that many fans got over excited at his takeover expecting pools to become another wrexham just because the owner was from the usa where everyone has money coming out of every pockets of the clothes they own. he is mega rich up to the fans but possibly has no more spare cash for his hobby as the average british owner has. the big question that i,d like to know is has there been any extra investment in the club through sponsorships than in the past.

true, but he should not be given a get out of jail card just because he is not raj singh. criticism is fine if its really warrented and not fans having a pop because they have an agenda of there own.

I get where you are coming from Mr H and your last sentence sums it up but some fans need to see other things. Most people generally feel if communication suddenly stops it means they are deliberately being ignored. That feeling happened in the Raj era and it is fresh in people's minds. Whichever way it is dressed up, it is happening again. A bit of assurance from Landon is all that is needed before people start adding two and two together and getting 46.

I don’t want to criticise the owner at this point . He gambled in taking us over . He admitted he knows nothing about football. However, he was quick in getting another goalie whilst we wait for Merrick and quick in getting Wild an experienced manager . And by golly we need one . Wilds post match appraisal was bang on the money for me and I’m not going to criticise the guy too much whilst we are in transition . He said last night a minimum of 8 weeks to sort the problem and based on what I have seen I couldn’t argue with his analysis . If there are going to be improvements there will be slow and we might get even worse before we get better because the task in hand is big. Good look to Pete and his assistant

It's funny, I don't remember HUFC owners right up until Gary Gibson having much to say to the fans. Gibbo was an extrovert and never shut up. Ken Hodcroft was the exact opposite! Gary Coxall had loads to say for himself, mainly as cover for ruining our club.

It's clear that Landon Smith takes after Ken Hodcoft more than Garry Gibson. He's quite an introverted character, but the fans expectations have changed in this social media age. Maybe he needs a PR manager as well as everything else. I'm sure Nick Loughlin is available

A statement of this would be appreciated to stop speculation created by silence.

Thank you for your excellent continued support of HUFC.
I am still totally committed to return our club back to the EFL.
We going through a bad spell but togetherness can achieve our goals.

Or something like that.

UTP

I'd say actions say far more than words and the signing of the new keeper and the appointment of Wild and Conlon is far more encouraging imo than any statement that LS could make. At the end of the day he's not going to publicly air his views on Lee Clark, Maxwell, or B&P and I don't suppose that his aim to get us back into the EFL has changed.

think its todays world of mass 24 hour news on everything that some fans want to be informed about everything possible from clubs. lots of these statements are just a waste of time and effort anyway where we are no really better informed than before they existed. all this thankyou for your support bollocks. thankyou for your money more like it and i,d charge you moaning bastards more if i could get away with it is closer to the truth. problem is so many fans will believe everything they say as it must be right because the owner says so and its on the club website.

In this day and age with mobile phones people are constantly scouring them for updates, before you only got updates on Pools in The Mail, The Northern, local radio and now and again on the N.E. News.

I think something along those lines would be beneficial.

Just a bit of assurance from Landon that he’s still committed to the club, which I think he is incidentally, and recognition that it ain’t quite going as expected but stick with us and we’ll get there eventually.

I think signing a new manager is proof he is committed…..why this constant need for reassurance…deeds speak louder than promises…he’s acted as he should, constant reassurance for nervous fans after the crap we’ve endured for years is over the top.

Is The Crow still the fans representative??

My first reaction to this post, Snowy, was one of shock.
After reading the words "I think signing a new manager is proof he is committed" my thoughts turned to Raj and his regime.
Nobody in the history of the club "signed a new manager" more than Raj ( if I'm wrong on that stat I will be extremely surprised).
Bromby signed a new manager and now another one. What are they committed to???
I agree with the sentiment deeds speak louder than promises but I would add that the deeds have to be the right ones to be worthy of that accolade, at least in my eyes.

I think we are all in agreement that some of the deeds performed so far are less than beautiful and leave a lot to be desired.

We all see it differently and for me the sound of silence isn't always a bad thing but conversely, it isn't always a good thing either.

Landon has gone from exuding hope, optimism and genuine goodwill to communicating nothing. I think that creates the question why and I, and others, are concerned enough to wonder why.

I respect your opinion as always but this post brought me up with a jolt, probably unnecessarily but I felt obliged to reply.

I am not sure but I am sure of one thing...he doesn't represent me.