Luton vs. Hartlepool

[PoolieTom]

Poolietom has basically hit the nail on the head about the goings on at this car crash of a football club.

I don't think I've ever felt as low as a Pools fan in my life and I've been going since '94, we've had plenty of shite in those years bar a good 7/8 seasons.This time it just feels real, like we are well and truly fucked.

We always get murdered at Luton, the result was always going to be home banker of the season but there's far more important things to worry about, i.e the mere existence of the club.

I didn't even feel this low during the Ronnie Moore season, despite being 12 points adrift. Yeah, he was clueless, and the players weren't great, but he brought in a couple of players (Hugill, Tish etc) who gave their absolute all every game. Fought till the death to keep us in league football.

We only really have Harrison and Oates who show a bit of passion on the pitch. Can't see us putting up much of a fight from now till May.

 

[Carver]

But our manager/chairman thought it was acceptable to let two first team defenders leave in January, and replace them with 3 19 year old strikers.

Who were they and why were they let go? Was it for the money?

 

[PoolieTom]

Who were they and why were they let go? Was it for the money?

Toto Nsiala went to Shrewsbury - we were told he didn't want to be here
Jake Carroll went to Cambridge - no idea why

Yes, both were for money.

Them leaving isn't the main problem though, it's the fact they were replaced by 3 19 year old strikers, 2 of em on loan, which I doubt we are paying the wages for.

 

[WH_Stag]

should never of sent bingham packing

Ollie palmer though.... why is he still a pro footballer

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

should never of sent bingham packing

Ollie palmer though.... why is he still a pro footballer

Been getting some glowing praise from Jones since his arrival, although he used to be pretty glowing about Joe Piggott so perhaps take that with a pinch of salt!

Hasn't done too badly the 2 times i have seen him though. He's clearly no Danny Hylton but he has done alright so far, prepared to give him a chance despite the negative reviews!

 

[Judge Dredd]

He's averaging a goal every 97 minutes for us

Obviously that stat is tongue in cheek, but it is worth pointing out that in 3 sub appearances he has scored the same amount of goals from open play as Craig Mackail-Smith did in his last 35 appearances for us. So not lost anything in goal threat and probably saved a shit-ton off the wage bill, not all bad despite Palmer's rep.

 

[Vanni]

Ben Williamson = 0
Joe Pigott = 0
Adam McGurk = 0

versus

Ollie Palmer = 1

 

[Judge Dredd]

6 this season if you include his Orient goals as well... he might even hit double figures

 

[Chief Rocka]

6 this season if you include his Orient goals as well... he might even hit double figures

He scored three of them past our mob as well

 

[E10rifle]

Yeah, and that's just behind the scenes.

On the field, we have 33 players on our books. Only 11 of those players are over the age of 23. 5 of them are injured and one is out on loan. In defence, our most 'experienced' available player is 23. After that, it's a 20 year old who's played about 3 matches in his career. Last night we had:

a 19 year old loanee in goal
a 17 year old winger converted to a right back
A 20 year old Centre Mid at Centre Back
a 23 year old who we released in the summer 'cause he wasn't good enough, then resigned him, at Centre Back.
a 19 year old loanee at left back

But our manager/chairman thought it was acceptable to let two first team defenders leave in January, and replace them with 3 19 year old strikers.

I'm sure Gateshead and Darlo will appreciate our existence next season when they are taking 6 easy points off us.

If it helps you feel any better, we only have 27 players, of which:

- 3 (including our only senior goalkeeper) are currently "unavailable for selection" thanks to our glorious leader, one is out on loan and one is out injured for the rest of the season.

- Only 10 of the remaining 22 are over the age of 23. Within that 10 are two players who have never played in this country before and Rowan Liburd, a 24 year old loanee striker who has only ever scored one league goal.

- Of the remaining 12 players, seven of them are either first year pros of have not even got a pro contract yet. Only one player (Paul McCallum) is over the age of 20.

- Tuesday night we started with a 19 year old in goal, a 17 year old right back, our wingers were 18 and 20 and we had a 17 year old on his own up front. On the bench we had five kids, including 3 who have never made a league start for us (the other two have made four between them).

Happy days.

 

[PoolieTom]

That does make me feel slightly better if I am honest. We aren't the only ones in the shit, then.

The only difference is you beat the leagues second best team 3-2 on Tuesday. We've lost our last two 4-0 and 3-0. Your kids must be slightly better than ours!!

Have we still got to play you again this season? If so, it will be like watching a youth team game. Average age is going to be about 20.