Football Season Guide

Established as a solid midtable club over the last few years, Hartlepool are starting the upcoming season with their usual publicly expressed Play-Off hopes, while the reality is that not enough has been done for such hopes to be justified. All of the players that left bar James Brown and Gary Liddle were backups, with Brown spending too much time on the sidelines over the last two years to justify his wages. The forward moved to Gateshead - and it is indeed sad to see such a talent move down the league ladder, but a lower standard of competition could give him a chance to extend his career. Liddle's departure, on the other hand, is likely to prove to be a huge problem, as he was the Pools' most consistent player over the last few years. However, a capable replacement was signed in Simon Walton, with the former Plymouth man being a proven central midfielder at this level. Veteran Steve Howard joins from Leicester, and while he is certainly another player that is capable at this level, he isn't the type of player that will get you 20 goals per season, and this is something Hartlepool have been lacking for years, but once again failed to address. The third and final signing is Boro winger Jonathan Franks, who drew Neale Cooper's attention to himself after a decent loan spell with Yeovil last season. All in all, the Pools seem to have a squad of similar standard to the one they had last season, which will likely once again not be enough for them to challenge for promotion.