Howay the Poolies !! (Hartlepool United F.C.)

Member Name: Poonabester

Product:	Hartlepool United F.C.
Date:	05/09/01 (51 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Atmosphere, Confident Vibe, Good Squad

Disadvantages: Reputation, Lack of Support

I've been a follower of Hartlepool United since my youngest days, and I have found out through practical experience that supporting a small league club can be one of the most enjoyable and fruitful hobbies you can have. I don't see the point of being a supporter of a big Premiership club when perhaps you live miles away from the club and can never see them play. When you go to see your club play, you really feel like a part of it, singing on the terraces and everything.

Now as small clubs go, Hartlepool are one of the smallest league clubs going. We are probably among the least successful as well. In this i mean we have never won anything important, and i mean anything. In fact we've only been promoted from our division twice in the last hundred years, and have the record for the most successful 're-elections' to the league, meaning that we had to apply to stay in the football league because we were so bad.

The mid nineties was really poor. This was when I first started going to see 'Pools'. We had not one decent player sometimes, and we were always lucky to escape releagtion from Britains lowest professional division, the 3rd. Yet at least 1,000 loyal poolies came along to Victoria Park to cheer them on. This was one of the things that made me want to keep going to see them. The supporters are brilliant, they make loads of noise and they provide a good atmosphere, especially when things are going good, which they have been over the past couple of seasons.

We've been so close to getting promoted the last two seasons, but been really unlucky which is such a shame for all the supporters who have suck by the team through thick and thin. We've finished 7th and 4th respectively in the last two seasons, meaning that we played in the play-offs to try and get promoted. Both times we were humiliated by the opposition, Arch rivals Darlington (very painful) and then Blackpool. Hopefully this year we can finish in t
he top three, meaning automatic promotion without those stupid play-offs.

A lot of good players have come and gone at Hartlepool. Most recently, super goalscoring midfielder Tommy Miller has just gone off to Ipswich Town for £800,000, a record signing. I'm sure he will do big things with them because after watching him week-in, week-out, you get to really know a player's style, and his was certainly promosing.

In the past we've seen many a young prospect snapped up by bigger clubs, just as they were going to put in a promotion winning season for us. Jon Cullen, Stephen Halliday and Chris Beech to name a couple, but there plenty of talent still at Victoria Park, showing that we are still a side that will be challenging for promotion.

We've got quite a solid defence with the likes of Micky barron, Greame Lee, Chris Westwood and James Sharp, though we do need more defensive stability down the flanks.

Pools will always be a battling team, at the moment boasting midfielders like Mark Tinkler and Tommy Widdrington who epitomise the Hartlepool spirit of never say die. It means they will never be bad to watch because they will always be getting stuck in. After you've watched a team for years struggling against relegation, it's so nice to see them doing well and getting recognition. Just a real shame that we got beat 2-1 off our arch enemies Darlington early on this season, but don't worry, we'll be back.

It's a real joy following lower league football- much better than being an armchair premiership supporter- at least you don't know who's going to win the league every year, theres always new challengers coming through. At the moment Hartlepool are one of them.

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