Hartlepool United's Dream Start continues

By Albatross
August 26 2003

Five games, no defeats. Things continue to get better and better at Hartlepool United. Though it seems that if you ask many in the town, they'll still be more interested in discussing the Mags and Mackems than the continuing success of their home town club....

I don't know about you, but it seems at the moment that I'm living a dream: Pools are still unbeaten in Division 2, holding fifth place in the table, and playing some tremendous stuff. Comments by fans of Peterborough and Sheffield Wednesday, and the predictions of pundits like Chris Kamara (though he's far from the only one) about probable relegation for Pools this season look increasingly wide of the mark, and already there are people mentioning the Playoffs.

Will it last? Is the Playoff zone a realistic target for Hartlepool United? Somehow I doubt it - I'm not convinced we have the strength in depth to be serious challengers - but there's no doubt in my mind that relegation is not something that Pools will be talking about come the end of the season. A finish in the top half is starting to look like a distinct possibility, given the failure of highly rated teams like Bristol City, Sheffield Wednesday and Tranmere Rovers to beat us.

One of the astonishing things when you look at the side is how quickly the team has gelled. Of the nine goals we've scored so far, all have been from players who didn't hit the net for us last season - and just two were at the club last year, playing for the Youth Team and Reserves for the most part. No less than four of yesterday's starting 11 hadn't appeared in the first team lineup until this season; another two had made just one senior appearance each in the LDV. Five of the squad on duty yesterday have come through the Pools Youth Team, with David Foley breaking the record for youngest first team player set less than a year ago by Steven Istead.

We're showing the flexibility to play both 4-4-2 and 3-5-2 - something we appeared to have lost following Turner's departure - and Cooper is also making some astute substitutions. Bringing a greyhound like Istead on late in the game is causing tiring defences no end of trouble; and when we have looked a little stale or not competed, Cooper has not been afraid to change personnel and systems to get back into the game. Away from home, we've been behind in all three games and yet have come away with at least a draw every time.

Fighting Spirit; undefeated so far this season; youngsters coming through; good football; what more could we want? And yet it still seems like it's not enough for some people in Hartlepool. Under the circumstances, 5300 is not an impressive attendance. It may be more than 1000 higher than last August Bank Holiday against Hull, but we had more people in the ground half a dozen times last year. It sometimes seems to get a bit boring when Ken Hodcroft mentions it in the programme time and time again; but he has a point. Attendances may be increasing, but for a town the size of Hartlepool not to be backing the club with higher attendances after arguably the most successful spell in our history - and certainly the best since the 1950s - is frustrating for those of us committed to following Pools. It's difficult to see what more IOR can do - they've delivered a tidy ground and as good a side on the pitch as we've ever had, and yet attendances are still only creeping up slowly.

This of course has implications for the future. There's been some talk recently (including on the messageboard on this site) about ground improvements; but even now we're well below capacity. The Town End may sell out from time to time, and the Cyril Knowles occasionally - but there's still plenty of room on the Mill House side, and although the number of away fans has increased somewhat we're unlikely to see many sellouts in the Rink End either. "If you build it, they will come" is not a mantra that applies in the lower divisions at least - they might come once or twice, but as Darlo are now finding out, getting them to keep coming is another matter entirely; their attendance dropped by about 7000 according to the figures between the first two home games at the Reynolds Arena. Until we get more fans through the turnstiles regularly, there's no need to make any more changes - and on the current rate of progress, it's going to take another two years of good performances before we regularly see the 6000+ crowds that IOR would probably want to have before investing large sums in new stands.

This is an issue that will affect things on the pitch sooner or later as well. I don't know how close Pools are to the Salary Cap limits that are being proposed; but even with the current climate, Pools must have several players on good wages. Keeping them, or adding more, is going to need more paying customers if the restrictions proposed by the League are going to be accepted.

For the moment though, the good times continue to roll - and the dream continues. Derbies against Sunderland and Middlesbrough next season? Bring it on!