Mike..

The run up to the big game produced mixed results for Wakeman’s Hartlepool, the press put it down to the bubble bursting, suggesting that a slide might well follow, but Michael Barron has other ideas, “The draw was great for us, but it was a double edged sword. I came back into the squad shortly after the first defeat of the season – a last minute one-nil at Oldham – and it was clear that the cup game was on a lot of minds. We had a lot of local lads in the side; I was born in Chester-le-Street, there was Jimmy Provett – he was from Stockton, Tinks (Mark Tinkler) and Darren Craddock were both Bishop Auckland lads, and the list went on. When Boro came out of that hat there wasn’t one of us that wanted to miss that game, now I’m not suggesting that we started to take it easy but it was understandable that not everyone was going into every challenge fully committed. We’d seen Strach (Gavin Strachan) get crocked in the Blackpool league game and none of us wanted to go the same way”.

For his part Wakeman took the brief slump in his stride, in his program notes for the visit of Port Vale he wrote, “It’s true that we’ve suffered a couple of defeats but both of those were hard fought games, and we can’t lose sight of the fitness issue either – we don’t have the depths of the Chelseas and Arsenals of this world and, we certainly don’t have the facilities. We’ve played two extra-time games in the last few weeks, it was nearly three, and for a squad the size of ours that’s not to be sniffed at. When we play tonight we will attempt to repeat Saturday’s win over Bradford but you, the fans, need to understand that I am not Arsene Wagner (sic) and we won’t be going through the season without the odd defeat here and there”

“He always seems to know what to say to keep us grounded, but at the same time push us to our limits” Tinkler wrote in his web journal after the trip to Walsall, “that’s three wins again and we’re all up for the cup now. Gavin will miss it, that’s a real blow for him but it means that Webster and I will definitely start and if McClaren (Steve – the then Middlesbrough manager) decides to give the youngsters a run then we might be in with a chance”

Mike..

The game against Middlesbrough was a turning point for Wakeman, a fact that he only revealed some years later when he made an appearance on the BBC’s ‘McPartlin’ chat show, “Many people seem to think that I came to England determined to be a top class soccer manager, but in all honesty I would’ve been happy enough with staying in the lower rungs of the ladder back then, or so I thought until that game. Sitting in the dugout watching the likes of Mendieta, Hasselbaink, and Downing run us into the ground, that’s when I knew that I wanted work my way up to the highest level”.

“You can imagine the effect it had on us” Barron remembers “when they posted the team sheets and it was obvious that we were facing most of their first team. In all fairness we had our chances, probably not enough to win it but at least we didn’t disgrace ourselves. When I was asked to take the penalty I was terrified, we were only one down at that point, thankfully I hit it well and got us level but we were under no illusions”. Others have similar memories of that game.

“I don’t think anyone played a particularly bad game, I was certainly happy with my performance, but I think Jimmy Provett was immense even if he did concede three” says Mark Tinkler when asked about his team-mates, “actually that might have been what prompted him to come out in the press and say that he wanted to move to a bigger club. There were managers that would have reacted badly to that but Randy didn’t, he just made a mental note of it and stored it for when he needed it. As for the rest of us, Andy (Appleby) was unlucky not to get on the scoresheet and the back line were pretty impressive too - everyone remembers the incident when Chris Westwood threw himself in front of Hasselbaink’s free-kick. I don’t think I ever saw a player who hit the ball harder than Jimmy, there was some German chap at Villa who had a hell of a left foot (Thomas Hitzlsperger) – and Roberto Carlos used to put some venom into his shots, but for my money Jimmy hit it harder. Anyway he steps up and Mendieta touches the free-kick to him, that touch meant we could charge Jimmy down but he took no notice and hit it as hard as he could, I swear he nearly took Westy’s head off. He claimed that the ringing in his ears didn’t stop for four days and he must have been millimetres away from a broken nose”.

Adam Boyd couldn’t hide his disappointment at his own performance, having returned six goals in twelve games the home-town hero was substituted in the game, “I have no regrets about the game, I just wish I’d been able to make more of an impact, but in all honesty Southgate had me in his pocket from the off. I was still young back then, and I wasn’t the strongest player in the world, Southgate just muscled me out of it – simple as that. Joe (Joel Porter) had more joy when he came on for me, maybe because he had fresher legs, but he couldn’t find the finish. One thing was certain though, we all wanted more chances for that sort of game and we’d already decided that Randy could give us those chances”

Mike..

Boyd actually found himself out of the starting line-up in the games after the League Cup clash, “Everyone told me I’d done alright in that game but I knew I could do better, I struggled in the league defeat to Bristol City and the Vans trophy tie – the third game against Blackpool in a little over a month, and Randy decided to give Joe (Joel Porter) my place for the Brentford game. Watching him hit a hat-trick, and then hearing that the gaffer had taken him off the transfer list, I knew that I had a fight on my hands to get back into the reckoning for the FA Cup game, and my appearance off the bench did little to brighten our defeat to Wednesday (Sheffield)”.

The cup match that Boyd refers to was the first round tie in the famous trophy, and it seemed to the Hartlepool faithful that someone was out to test Wakeman’s capacity for pressure games when they were drawn at home to arch-rivals Darlington.

“A cup run was just what we needed too,” Wakeman admitted in his season retrospective on the club’s website, “with the coaching staff I’ve brought in, and the loan deal, we were pushing the limits when it came to the bank balance, that was my motivation for beating Darlo, the players didn’t need one of course”.

Boyd did in fact make the squad that faced Darlington on a cold and wet Saturday afternoon, “Porter was called up for international duty with Australia,” he says with a smile when reminded of the day, “Randy decided to give me the start alongside Eifion Williams, I think he wanted to keep Andy (Appleby) fresh for the league to be honest, but we weren’t about to complain about his reasons. I really enjoyed the game, we all did in fact, two-nil up and playing against ten men is a great feeling after fifteen minutes, the only shame was that it was Eifion doing the scoring and not me, but it still did wonders for my confidence”

Whilst it may have helped the young striker, the win did nothing to improve the squad situation as Wakeman was forced to deal with injuries to Michael Barron and Darrell Clarke, the latter being ruled out for three months.

Mike..

Fitness issues continued to cause problems in the early days of Wakeman’s career, but some relief was at hand when a loan deal was finally thrashed out for Sunderland’s Jeff Whitley to join Hartlepool for three months, “Whilst nobody wants to lose their spot, it’s good just to know that we have the necessary backup available,” Mark Tinkler wrote in his web journal when the news was announced, “we’ve got a couple of cup games coming up and we seem to have developed a knack for taking them to extra time, it’s been a long time since we’ve had a squad that was at one hundred percent for a game”

“Nobody liked extra time” he says now, looking back “but there was no other way to settle games unless through a replay and then extra time, so it was important for us to get the LDV Vans game out of the way in ninety minutes. We’d come off the FA Cup game only to take a beating at Tranmere, then we limped past the MK Dons – that was a sign of how tough we were finding it physically, the Dons were a laughing stock but they came close to beating us on the day”. Hartlepool did get through the LDV game in normal time, the records show a straight forward two goal win, before coming to what Wakeman described as ‘the most important game of the season’. The FA Cup had seen them drawn at home to opposition from the then National Conference, Tinkler and his team-mates knew that there was potential for an upset. “To a team like Stevenage the second round of the cup was a huge affair and history shows that the minnows frequently produce surprises, but to us it was a matter of ‘must win’ – if you make it to the third round then the big boys go into the draw. For us that meant the possibility of testing yourself against the best, as we did with Boro, for the club it could mean a huge pay day, that’s why the third round draw is one of the biggest days in the football calendar”

Adam Boyd scored the second goal in Hartlepool’s win and felt that he’d turned something of a corner, in an interview for the local paper he said, “It’s been a while since I’ve scored, six weeks or so I think, and I’m hoping that this will put me back amongst the goals again. I’m a confidence player and I need to be scoring to play well, I recognise that and that’s why I’ve been on the bench recently”. Looking back he still carries that same feeling, “It was the same for any striker, when you’re not producing goals you feel like you’re letting the side down, to come off the bench and get that goal gave me a lift and made me determined to get back into the starting line-up, although I did have a feeling in the back of my mind that maybe the way we played just didn't suit me. Our league form was mixed, we were still top but we were either winning comfortably or taking a beating and the top of the table was getting very, very tight”.

Mike..

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | | Hartlepool | 17 | 12 | 0 | 5 | 27 | 18 | +9 | 36 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Bournemouth | 18 | 11 | 3 | 4 | 28 | 21 | +7 | 36 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Sheff Wed | 18 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 32 | 13 | +19 | 35 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Luton | 18 | 11 | 2 | 5 | 23 | 22 | +1 | 35 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Tranmere | 18 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 27 | 17 | +10 | 34 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Hull | 18 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 27 | 11 | +16 | 33 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Barnsley | 18 | 10 | 3 | 5 | 22 | 11 | +11 | 33 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Torquay | 18 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 30 | 25 | +5 | 31 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Oldham | 18 | 10 | 1 | 7 | 19 | 15 | +4 | 31 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Bristol C | 18 | 8 | 4 | 6 | 31 | 19 | +12 | 28 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Swindon | 18 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 20 | 21 | -1 | 24 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Peterborough | 17 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 29 | 33 | -4 | 24 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | Bradford City | 18 | 7 | 2 | 9 | 24 | 22 | +2 | 23 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | Colchester | 18 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 27 | 25 | +2 | 22 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | | Port Vale | 18 | 6 | 4 | 8 | 17 | 22 | -5 | 22 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | | Huddersfield | 18 | 6 | 3 | 9 | 20 | 22 | -2 | 21 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | | Blackpool | 18 | 4 | 9 | 5 | 25 | 28 | -3 | 21 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | | Doncaster | 18 | 6 | 2 | 10 | 24 | 35 | -11 | 20 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19th | | Stockport | 17 | 5 | 3 | 9 | 15 | 26 | -11 | 18 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20th | | MK Dons | 18 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 10 | 18 | -8 | 17 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 21st | | Brentford | 17 | 4 | 3 | 10 | 23 | 33 | -10 | 15 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 22nd | | Chesterfield | 17 | 3 | 4 | 10 | 11 | 27 | -16 | 13 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 23rd | | Walsall | 18 | 2 | 4 | 12 | 11 | 23 | -12 | 10 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 24th | | Wrexham | 17 | 0 | 9 | 8 | 11 | 26 | -15 | 9 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

retired_heathermarie

Doing just a *wee* bit better than me (and others) at that point I see.

Good write-up so far - keep it up.

Mike..

Thanks Pierroth, I'm really surprised at how much some people are struggling with the FM2005 incarnation of Hartlepool, and how many changes they've made to what I saw as a fairly decent squad



Gavin Strachan remembers the draw for the cup vividly, “Back then they used to make the draw right after the last games of the round, for us that meant a wait of twenty-four hours whilst the final matches were played out. Randy gathered us all at the training ground to see the draw on the BBC, Tinks had got hold of a list of all the teams in the draw and was ticking them off as the balls came out. There were still a hell of a lot of teams in at that stage and the draw seemed to take for ever, one or two of the youngsters began to wonder if we’d been missed out but Tinks was getting a glint in his eye”

“I was ticking the names off,” the midfielder recalls, “and as it got down to the last ten or so there were still four Premiership teams in the draw, and still we didn’t get pulled out, when it got down to us and three Premiership sides we knew we had a huge game on whatever happened, but we really didn’t want Man United. As it turned out we got a decent draw, United were drawn at Norwich and we got an away tie with Everton – we were the very last name out of the draw. The atmosphere over Christmas was bound to be electric”

Although they’d only been playing for Wakeman for five months the squad, as a whole, had already developed an affinity for him and his enthusiasm at the draw did nothing to lessen this. “Looking back it’s no surprise how quickly we warmed to him,” Tinkler echoes the views of all those that I have spoken to, “he was just an incredibly enthusiastic individual, he had a kind of infectious personality and he was very much an English manager too. When he’d first arrived there’d been plenty of doubts, mainly wondering what his style would be. Some of the lads were worried that he’d be a stereotypical American, all pep talks and motivational speakers, but he was very down to earth. He knew he was good though, and he never hid his light under a bushel”

“I think the simple truth was that he was supremely confident of his own abilities, he didn’t need to bring in power talkers because he believed, one hundred percent, in his ability to motivate us himself, and that certainly came across in the month or so leading up to the third round game” Adam Boyd adds, when asked about the manager’s style. “He turned round to me and said ‘Adam, we’re going to turn you into a quality player’ and there wasn’t the slightest hint of doubt in his face, I know that if I’d have voiced the doubts that I was feeling, he would simply have told me that I was flat out wrong. It was a good job we had that motivation though, because we really got hit hard with injuries and disciplinary issues”

retired_embartl

Great start so far Flippers - and I really like the style too - good luck against Everton, and for keeping the baying throng away at the top there

Mike..

Cheers Brian, the style has been 'borrowed' from a book I recently read but I have to admit this is turning out a little more dialogue heavy, not that it's a bad thing.

The cup game is importnat financially, but a result would be nice too

As for the table, tight isn't the word, a couple of losses could be disastrous......

Mike..

“As soon as I was declared fit to play I was back in the matchday squad,” Gavin Strachan says of his injury, “and half an hour into the game I was brought on to play, on the left. That’s how difficult we had it coming up to Christmas, the English Christmas schedule has always been ridiculous, especially for the lower leagues. We were coming off the pitch after every game and John, the Physio, would give Randy a list of players who needed a rest.”

It was no secret that Wakeman wanted to bring in more players, add depth to the squad, but he felt bound by the wage budget which was already being broken. In an early interview he made specific reference to the financial issues and said how he was determined to not push the boundaries any further, it might have been a sign of unwillingness to be confrontational with the board although that was never a facet of his later career.

“Things actually started off okay over that period, a couple of home wins had us looking very good but then we got thumped at Bournemouth, when we followed that up with a home defeat to the bottom side – losing to a penalty in the first minute – some of the fans started to fear what the press had suggested earlier in the season, that we were going into the predicted slump. To be honest Christmas was pretty much forgotten for most of us, it was just an endless slog of games and we did start to drop down the table, not a happy time at all” says Tinkler.