I don't want to talk about it - Away (lack of)Form

By Albatross
October 25 2004

Hartlepool United just don't seem to have what it takes to win on the road - or even draw. Another depressing defeat, another three goals conceded... this is getting boring. At least we have a home game or two on the way.

Another away day, another defeat - and compared to the game with Brentford, there was no way that Pools could consider themselves unlucky. A woeful performance all round, Cooper talking about the players being "bullied" and not for the first time, and Posh fans talking about us as the worst team they've played this season. One win, seven defeats, only Oldham with fewer points away from home, depression reigns - especially for those that tend to make more away games than home ones. Other than the victory over Huddersfield, we have conceded at least two goals in every fixture away from Victoria Park.

Trying to in any way justify Pools' poor away form is rapidly becoming a case (if you'll pardon the pun) of defending the indefensible. Not only that, I'm also getting rather bored with the repeated analysis that tends to bring up the same points - essentially that we're not defending properly throughout the team away from home. So what else is there to talk about this Monday morning?

Well one thing is a story reported in the Sunday People that Pools may be about to welcome back a former manager to the club - with the revelation that Chris Turner has been offered a role as Chief Scout, though what Tommy Miller senior would think of this is anybody's guess. Is there any truth to it? Well, there are rumours that there's more than just idle speculation going on, and there's no doubt that Hodcroft and Turner get on very well - with CT even in the Director's Box for the win over Chesterfield. However, for a number of reasons I hope it doesn't come off. The main one is that I feel it would be very unfair on Cooper to have a previously successful boss back at the club - even if he wouldn't be involved on the coaching side. After all, there are still a number of players - Humphreys, Tinkler and Westwood among them - that were brought in by Turner, and they might find it hard not to go to Turner with things that they should really be talking to Coops about.

The other point is that he would apparently be looking for fresh talent for Pools, and his record while manager was far from perfect. Yes, players such as Eifion Williams, Tinkler, Humphreys et al got us promoted; but where are Tim Sperrevik, Danny Hughes and Andy McAvoy these days? (Just for those no doubt about to deluge me with requests for info, I can tell you that McAvoy was playing for Thornaby in the Northern League last season, Hughes is at Porthmadog in the Welsh Premier, and Sperrivik is still with Fana as far as I can tell with my limited Norwegian.)

Pools do at least have a couple of home games ahead now, with Port Vale on Saturday and Doncaster the following week; meanwhile the club have announced that the LDV game sandwiched between the two games will now see Pools fans standing as a safety certificate hasn't been sorted out for the East Stand. Still, at least it will cost Poolies a couple of quid less - the question is, will we actually make a game of it?