Cultural shift needed to fix the problems at Pools

Let’s hope he is the right man to get Hartlepool United heading in the right direction again.

His interview after the FA Cup defeat to Marine was one of the strongest I have heard from a new manager at Pools, and he certainly has a point on a number of issues. Not least about the standards.

I was fortunate enough to be at Pools during the greatest period in the club’s history – a time when we were on the brink of the Championship.

Back then, standards were sky-high both on and off the pitch. The expectations set by the players were instantly replicated by the staff, and vice versa.

The squad effectively policed those standards themselves. As team physio, I wouldn’t even dare eat a bar of chocolate in front of the lads, for example.

It got to the point at the Maiden Castle canteen where chocolate simply wasn’t allowed unless it was an earned treat. That meticulousness extended to everything – even the laundry!

When we had a dedicated laundry man, Gregg over at the Headland, the kits always came back pristine, pressed and smelling lovely. When I returned to the club a few years ago after a brief time away at York City, I couldn’t believe my eyes.

The kit was being washed in a machine at the ground and, on one occasion, casually dumped on the floor next to some fertilizer.

Those traditional standards began slipping right around the time Ken Hodcroft left and new ownership arrived, largely because the club was no longer attracting the same calibre of professional.

When Dave Challinor later got the club promoted, he achieved it through his own relentless personal discipline and drive, masking the fact that the club’s standards had fundamentally dropped.

Today, those missing standards are glaringly obvious. We used to have a scouting system that worked by paying the going rate.

This year, I know we are overpaying and simply not getting value for money. On paper, we signed goalscorers, but those strikers need service.

More worryingly, are these players fit enough? No. If a squad isn’t fit, that comes down to a sheer lack of individual pride.

I was brought up as a young pro with Brian Honour and he would do anything to be fit, he’d literally train himself. 

And if you were unfit in the days of Ritchie Humphreys, Mark Tinkler, Antony Sweeney … they would make that player aware they were not happy. The player would have to work harder or he would be out of the dressing room.

The club spent heavily this summer, but Wild is right – more is required to get us where we need to be. Yet, he has also been brutally honest, admitting he can’t just go to Landon Smith and ask for more money, especially with Lee Clark stating the budget has already gone.

Landon has openly admitted he doesn’t know much about football and is paying people a lot of money to guide him.

I have said this before, but some of the same people who advised Raj Singh are still advising Landon. I repeat what I said in a previous column, we had a blank summer to reset standards, bring in new staff and add proper players. It doesn’t look like that has happened.

As a passionate fan who cares about this club, I worry. Pete knew the size of the task before he took the job. Perhaps his public honesty is a bit of reverse psychology to spark a reaction.

I hope so, because they are quickly running out of chances.

The recent win against Forest Green only papered over the cracks and offered false hope, while the defeat to Marine highlighted exactly where we are.

We have a run of tough games ahead before the schedule supposedly eases up.

Make no mistake, Hartlepool’s current problems are much bigger than just match fitness. A massive cultural shift is still needed.

We cannot afford to fall into the arrogant trap of believing Pools are too good to go down.

Just look at the past struggles of York, Scunthorpe, Stockport and Yeovil, to name a few.

If we aren’t careful, this drop in standards will drag us down into the National League North.

The players need to show some real bravery when the pressure is on. We are a massive club at this level, and whoever wears the shirt needs to be able to handle that weight.

Let’s hope they finally can!