Pools were just minutes away from the Championship!

My visits to the principality are limited to just three – once to a village overlooking the Menai Strait onto Fishguard, on my way to Ireland via the Rosslare Ferry and a second, like many fans from Hartlepool, to the Cardiff City Stadium on 29th May 2005 for the League One play-off final.

I will start with the good news and my first visit to Port Dinorwic, a village overlooking the Menai Strait. I was there to interview someone called Jones, which is a common name in Wales, but the address I had was not on the street sign in English. It was in Welsh!

In desperation, I went to the village Post Office and asked to see the electoral roll, a list of residents. That was of little help as everyone in Port Dinorwic was called Jones! 

The post master, sensing my frustration, asked what I was looking for, and I replied “a man called Jones”. The crowded Post Office erupted in laughter!

He responded, “Everyone in this place is called Jones. What does he do for a living?” I told him he worked for a dairy and he said: “Oh, you mean Jones the Milk”. 

Problem solved, I interviewed the milkman and made my way south to Fishguard to catch the ferry to Rosslare. The trip takes about three and a half hours across some of the roughest seas I have ever experienced. If you are planning “to go across the sea to Ireland”, whether it be at the end of the day, take my advice and fly to Dublin from your North East airports.

I did fly to Bristol and complete my journey to the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, by train for the biggest game in Pools’ history to date  – Sheffield Wednesday!

As both teams traditionally play in blue and white, the stadium was awash with those colours, although, at the end of the day, Hartlepool United played in an away strip of red, which was the colour of the card shown to Chris Westwood in the 81st minute, with Pools just nine minutes away from the Championship.

I have researched many reports of the day, and if you attended, you will know the truth. At kick-off, it is claimed 59,808 fans were at the game, with 41,000 coming from South Yorkshire. 

At half time, Wednesday led 1-0, with a goal from Jon-Paul McGovern, but things would change after the break. In the 47th minute, a long throw-in from Ritchie Humphreys found Eifion Williams, who equalised for Pools. Our section of the crowd went wild! Darren Craddock came on to replace Micky Barron, and Joel Porter pulled up with an injury, and he was replaced by Jon Daly. The signs did not look good, but in the 71st minute, Hartlepool took the lead when Gavin Strachan’s free kick was met by Jon Daly’s head, and Pools went 2-1 ahead.

That signalled reinforcements for Sheffield as Collins, MacLean and Talbot replaced Bruce, Quinn and Peacock in the 75th minute.

It appears in some records that Talbot brought down Westwood in the penalty area. I swear to this day it was NOT inside the area – but referee Phil Crossley awarded a penalty and MacLean took the spot kick and scored past Dimi Konstantopoulos, making the score 2-2 and onto extra time.

I will save Hartlepool readers the pain of reading the rest, but just say that, maybe because of an official mistake made long before the days of VAR, our beloved Hartlepool United were just minutes away from the Championship.

Many years later, in discussion with a Wednesday fan in the Devon Arms, in Los Cristianos, Tenerife, he agreed his team was exceptionally lucky on the day. Pools went on a downward spiral!

I always wonder what would have happened if Neale Cooper, a wise Scotsman, had stayed as manager, as it truly was his team that made it to Cardiff. 

Hartlepool may be looking upwards under new ownership in 2026, but Sheffield Wednesday returned to the Championship, facing financial problems that would dog them, and they would eventually be relegated to League One.

In 2010, they were facing a winding up order, due to unpaid tax and VAT bills. Milan Mandaric , a Serbian/USA businessman, agreed to buy the club and appointed a former Wednesday player, Gary Megson as manager. He took the club in an upward direction before being replaced by Dave Jones who returned them back to the second tier with what basically was Megson’s team. Jones also managed Hartlepool United briefly in 2017. 

After a 2-0 home defeat to Barnet, Dave “Jones the Manager” left us in the relegation zone with the trapdoor to the National League well and truly open!

TV presenter and Hartlepool president Jeff Stelling made a plea for the manager to go, for the good of the club, but Jones told reporters that Stelling showed a lack of respect and accused him of being a hypocrite. 

Jones lost his first game as Pools manager 3-1 to the then bottom of the table club, Newport County. After winning only 13 points from a possible 51, Jones left the club by mutual consent on 24th April 2017. 

His tactics had been criticised by players and fans alike, despite winning our final game of 2017 season against Doncaster Rovers.

 Pools, for the first time since joining the Football League in 1921, were relegated to the National League. To date, I have not returned to Wales but join me next time when I cross the English Channel, not in a small rubber boat, but a regular ferry, to Belgium, France and Holland.