Time to drop the Friday night idea, Pools

By Stef Jelling
January 18 2009

Hartlepool United have been messing about with Friday night games for years now, and chairman Ken Hodcroft has made it clear that he's a fan. But now, even though we know he and the rest of the club heirarchy won't take a blind bit of notice, we've got a request - let's give it a rest, eh? It's not big and it's not clever, and football is meant to be played on a Saturday afternoon at 3pm.

Friday games might have givben pools some good results in the past, of of course good performances encourage good atmospheres.
But times change, and we can't see any advantage in playing on a Friday night.
All right, of the four played at the Vic this season, three have been won and the other was a draw, but nobody can claim that they were good results BECAUSE they were played on a Friday.
Last Friday, the crowd against Northampton was 3,814, but for the Southend game in December it was just 3,123. The best Friday gate this season was 4,018 against Swindon in October, with 3,637 going through the turnstiles for Cheltenham the month before.
Pools crowds this season have been poor anyway, due mainly to inconsistent results and the economic climate. But there never has been and never will be any real evidence to suggest that Friday night games are better for the club in terms of gate receipts.
It all depends on the opposotion, the weather and how recent results have been going. Some people like Friday night games, but we believe that even more people prefer Saturday afternoons.
There are some people who claim that there's a better atmosphere for Friday night games - that's rubbish. The atmosphere's good if Pools are winning, even if they play at 10 on a Sunday morning.
Friday nights mess up my social life, leave me with not to do on a Saturday afternoon and there's no obvious benefit for the club.
So come on Ken, kill them off.