retired_bbcarr

well that wasn't the best of opening seasons interesting point, though. i wonder if getting promotion from League Two would count as stage one completed.

all the best for next season, hope it goes far better than this one

retired_heathermarie

I was about to call that loophole if I do gain promotion in season 2. The rules are... shall we say... quite open-ended in that department.

I'm working on the second season now of course, so I can't say anything...

And I think I just got nailed with bad luck. I can't recall the last time an implosion like this happened...

retired_edmari

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Simon F:
well that wasn't the best of opening seasons interesting point, though. i wonder if getting promotion from League Two would count as stage one completed.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

If it does my team's gonna drop like a lead balloon into next season

retired_heathermarie

Preseason 2005

I still can’t believe the board hasn’t let me go after last season, but that’s a moot point right now. At the moment, our goal is simple – to win League Two and head straight back up on our first attempt. It’s not going to be easy however; I have a rather large wage bill to trim down by £5,500, which means a few players have to go…

In: Steffen Hagen (Mandalskameratene, £12,000), John Spicer (free transfer), Per Fahlman (IFK Sundsvall, £0), Kenneth Stenild (free transfer)
Out: Michael Barron (Yeovil Town, £10,000), Michael Nelson (Coventry City, £16,000), Mark Tinkler (Torquay United, £10,000), Jim Provett (Burnley, £14,000), Karl Richards (Stalybridge Celtic, £1,000), Neil Wilkinson (free transfer), Richie Humphreys (Grimsby Town, £45,000), Dimitrios Konstantopoulos (Scarborough, £0)

That, my friends, is what you call clearing out the dead (and expensive) wood. Hagen is a capable defender coming from Norway, Spicer is a talented midfielder who was released by Arsenal at the end of last season, and Fahlman (from Sweden) and Stenild (from Denmark) are our new goalkeepers.

As for friendly matches, we at least showed a marked improvement compared to last year, as I went back to a fairly simple 4-4-2.

July 12: Hartlepool United 3-1 Stockport County (Cutler o/g, Robertson, Porter)
July 16: Cambridge City 1-3 Hartlepool United (Wilkinson, Þórhallsson, Williams)
July 21: Cremonese 1-0 Hartlepool United
July 28: Torquay United 2-2 Hartlepool United (Westwood, Williams)
July 31: Hartlepool United 0-0 Liverpool Reserves

The odds came in for the League Two campaign...

Grimsby Town, Swansea City, Rushden & Diamonds: 6-4
Peterborough United, Macclesfield Town, Port Vale: 7-4
Hartlepool United: 5-1

Not a good sign according to the bookies. Of course, this squad really has to step up its game this season so that we can go straight up...

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pkd | Inf | Name | Position | Club | Nat | Age | Value | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Per Fahlman | GK | Hartlepool | SWE | 21 | £9K | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Kenneth Stenild | GK | Hartlepool | DEN | 17 | £26K | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Chris Westwood | SW/D C | Hartlepool | ENG | 28 | £9K | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Inj | Steffen Hagen | D C | Hartlepool | NOR | 19 | £16K | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Jack Ross | D/DM RL | Hartlepool | SCO | 29 | £14K | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | John Brackstone | D/DM L | Hartlepool | ENG | 20 | £3K | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Hugh Robertson | D/DM L | Hartlepool | SCO | 30 | £14K | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Bruno | DM C | Hartlepool | AND | 21 | £30K | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Inj | John Spicer | M C | Hartlepool | ENG | 21 | £40K | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Gavin Strachan | M C | Hartlepool | SCO | 26 | £10K | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Antony Sweeney | M C | Hartlepool | ENG | 21 | £9K | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Inj | Steven Istead | AM R | Hartlepool | ENG | 19 | £12K | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Matty Robson | AM L | Hartlepool | ENG | 20 | £6K | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Darrell Clarke | AM C | Hartlepool | ENG | 27 | £14K | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Unh | Gabriel Acheampong | AM/F RC | Hartlepool | NOR | 22 | £4K | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Unh | Jóhann Þórhallsson | F LC | Hartlepool | ISL | 25 | £30K | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Lst | Joel Porter | S C | Hartlepool | AUS | 26 | - | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Inj | Jack Wilkinson | S C | Hartlepool | ENG | 19 | £30K | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Eifion Williams | S C | Hartlepool | WAL | 29 | £20K | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|</pre>

retired_heathermarie

August 2005

The League Cup draw sees us traveling to face Wrexham, 9th in League One last season. Considering how they schooled us last season, it’s not a good start to our traditional cup obligations... I mean, campaign. We hosted Shrewsbury Town to start the season, and looked to be in horrendous physical shape, barely managing to get the draw. Rochdale visited us in midweek, and again we didn’t look like we were clicking at all, giving up an early goal to plummet to our first defeat. We looked as if we would earn our first win against Bury, but Bruno was sent off late and Nugent scored for the home team to give us another draw. The match against Barnet was another story, as the League Two newcomers absolutely humiliated us, sending us crashing to the foot of the table. It was then time to get the League Cup out of the way, and despite a brave performance, Hagen accidentally hit the ball into his own net to see us go out of our first cup of the season. Things would look up at the end of the week, as Þórhallsson put together a fine performance to see us get past Chesterfield for our first 3 points of the season. Finally, the last match of the month against York City proved to be a dull affair; neither side really deserved a goal, to be honest.

A copy of more moves took place at the end of the month:

In: Steven Blommaert (Rupel-Boom, £5,000)
Out: Andy Jordan (Gateshead, £0)

Blommaert is a person I’ve had my eyes on for a while; a tremendous left-flank defender who can also move up to midfield if need be.

August 6: Hartlepool United 1–1 Shrewsbury Town (Robertson)
August 9: Hartlepool United 0–1 Rochdale
August 13: Bury 2–2 Hartlepool United (Þórhallsson, Williams pen)
August 20: Barnet 2–0 Hartlepool United
August 24: Wrexham 1–0 Hartlepool United [b](League Cup First Round)
August 27: Hartlepool United 2–1 Chesterfield (Þórhallsson 2)
August 30: York City 0–0 Hartlepool United

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Pos Inf Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag G.D. Pts-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Cambridge 6 5 1 0 8 1 +7 16 2nd Peterborough 6 4 1 1 16 5 +11 13 3rd Cheltenham 6 4 1 1 12 5 +7 13 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------4th Rushden 6 4 1 1 12 9 +3 13 5th Darlington 6 3 2 1 9 6 +3 11 6th Barnet 6 3 1 2 7 4 +3 10 7th Rochdale 6 3 1 2 9 7 +2 10 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------8th Bristol Rovers 6 3 1 2 8 7 +1 10 9th Mansfield 6 3 1 2 7 8 -1 10 10th Kidderminster 6 2 3 1 8 6 +2 9 11th Port Vale 6 2 3 1 8 6 +2 9 12th Leyton Orient 6 2 3 1 8 7 +1 9 13th Southend 6 2 2 2 11 9 +2 8 14th Shrewsbury 6 2 2 2 10 10 0 8 15th Grimsby 6 2 2 2 6 8 -2 8 16th Swansea 6 1 3 2 4 5 -1 6 17th Hartlepool 6 1 3 2 5 7 -2 6 18th York 6 1 2 3 2 10 -8 5 19th Scunthorpe 6 1 1 4 9 10 -1 4 20th Bury 6 0 4 2 5 9 -4 4 21st Macclesfield 6 1 1 4 6 12 -6 4 22nd Chesterfield 6 0 3 3 4 8 -4 3 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------23rd Wycombe 6 1 0 5 4 10 -6 3 24th Northampton 6 0 2 4 6 15 -9 2 </pre>

retired_heathermarie

September 2005

The LDV Vans Trophy First Round draw started off the month, and once again we would have to travel to York, hoping that the match wouldn’t be as boring as the last one. Istead went off for us in the 40th minute of our clash with Rushden & Diamonds, but Burgess went off for the visitors and we ended up with a fair 1-1 draw. We controlled most of the following match against Scunthorpe United, but gave up another late goal, which we have a bad habit of doing, for our second straight draw. Despite outshooting bottom of the table Wycombe Wanderers 11-0, virtually none of those shots were on target and it seems that we’re stuck in draw hell at the moment. We had hopes that this streak would end against York City in the LDV Vans Trophy, but Bishop scored early for them and York held on despite being totally outplayed for large portions of the match. Only the FA Cup remains...

September 10: Hartlepool United 1–1 Rushden & Diamonds (Westwood)
September 17: Scunthorpe United 1–1 Hartlepool United (Spicer)
September 24: Hartlepool United 0–0 Wycombe Wanderers
September 27: York City 1–0 Hartlepool United (LDV Vans Trophy First Round)

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Pos Inf Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag G.D. Pts-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Peterborough 9 6 2 1 20 5 +15 20 2nd Rushden 9 6 2 1 17 11 +6 20 3rd Southend 9 5 2 2 21 11 +10 17 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------4th Cheltenham 9 5 2 2 15 8 +7 17 5th Bristol Rovers 9 5 2 2 14 9 +5 17 6th Cambridge 9 5 2 2 9 7 +2 17 7th Rochdale 9 5 1 3 12 9 +3 16 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------8th Barnet 9 4 2 3 9 6 +3 14 9th Mansfield 9 4 2 3 11 13 -2 14 10th Kidderminster 9 3 4 2 12 11 +1 13 11th Darlington 9 3 4 2 10 12 -2 13 12th Swansea 9 3 3 3 8 7 +1 12 13th Port Vale 9 2 5 2 9 8 +1 11 14th Shrewsbury 9 3 2 4 12 13 -1 11 15th Northampton 9 3 2 4 15 17 -2 11 16th Hartlepool 9 1 6 2 7 9 -2 9 17th Leyton Orient 9 2 3 4 8 11 -3 9 18th Macclesfield 9 2 3 4 8 13 -5 9 19th York 9 2 3 4 6 13 -7 9 20th Chesterfield 9 1 5 3 6 9 -3 8 21st Grimsby 9 2 2 5 7 12 -5 8 22nd Bury 9 1 4 4 10 19 -9 7 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------23rd Scunthorpe 9 1 2 6 12 16 -4 5 24th Wycombe 9 1 1 7 5 14 -9 4 </pre>

retired_heathermarie

October 2005

We traveled to Darlington in an attempt to get our league form back on track, and it works out thanks to Armstrong being sent off for the hosts right before halftime and two advantageous penalty situations. A bit lucky, but we’ll take it. What didn’t rely on luck was our performance against Cambridge United, and it’s a shame that we couldn’t get more balls into the net. Of course, we had gone too long without a thrashing, and that came at the hands of Bristol Rovers; a terrible display there, even being a man down. The month ended on a low note, as we attempted a late comeback against Southend United but got nowhere. We also ended up drawing Rochdale away in the FA Cup First Round, continuing our streak of having no luck when the balls are drawn.

One player in this month…

In: Jason Allen (Banbury, £5,000)

He’s pretty much fodder… I mean, cover.

October 1: Darlington 0–2 Hartlepool United (Ross pen, Spicer pen)
October 15: Hartlepool United 1–0 Cambridge United (Þórhallsson)
October 22: Bristol Rovers 5–0 Hartlepool United
October 29: Hartlepool United 1–2 Southend United (Spicer)

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Pos Inf Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag G.D. Pts-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Peterborough 13 7 4 2 29 14 +15 25 2nd Bristol Rovers 13 7 4 2 21 10 +11 25 3rd Rushden 13 7 4 2 24 16 +8 25 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------4th Southend 13 7 3 3 25 14 +11 24 5th Cheltenham 13 7 3 3 20 11 +9 24 6th Rochdale 13 6 3 4 16 14 +2 21 7th Port Vale 13 4 7 2 15 10 +5 19 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------8th Shrewsbury 13 5 4 4 20 16 +4 19 9th Darlington 13 5 4 4 14 16 -2 19 10th Barnet 13 4 6 3 13 10 +3 18 11th Cambridge 13 5 3 5 11 14 -3 18 12th Kidderminster 13 4 5 4 15 17 -2 17 13th Northampton 13 5 2 6 21 25 -4 17 14th Leyton Orient 13 4 4 5 14 15 -1 16 15th Macclesfield 13 4 4 5 12 17 -5 16 16th York 13 4 4 5 10 16 -6 16 17th Mansfield 13 4 4 5 13 20 -7 16 18th Swansea 13 3 6 4 11 11 0 15 19th Hartlepool 13 3 6 4 11 16 -5 15 20th Chesterfield 13 3 5 5 14 16 -2 14 21st Grimsby 13 3 4 6 12 17 -5 13 22nd Scunthorpe 13 2 3 8 18 22 -4 9 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------23rd Bury 13 1 6 6 14 26 -12 9 24th Wycombe 13 2 2 9 8 18 -10 8 </pre>

retired_embartl

Well I think going out of the cups was a good call - more time to focus on the league. Good luck though - seems you need a bit of it - but early days so far, and I'm sure you've got enough strength to get out of there. Some decent youngsters and Scandinavians there who'll only get better with time. ( hopefully )

Mike..

Well at least you stuffed Darlo on home turf, local rivalries and all that, have to look on the birght side when you can

retired_halo218

Good story. Watch out though!! The Conference is coming to get you!!