A-Z of newcomers Hartlepool United

Boyd, Adam - The Pool’s highly rated striker could have moved away from Victoria Park during the 2003/4 and missed on all the spotlight he has enjoyed since returning from a loan spell at Boston United. If Boston had more money then Boyd would have never returned to fire the Pool’s into 2 playoff campaigns. A highly rated striker who is capable of anything, including an overhead kick he scored over the Imps in a 2-1 victory during the 2002/3 season. Adam is certainly capable of playing at a much higher level and has been heavily linked to Luton over the summer, however, he is yet to make his move. He also doesn’t blink very often.

Cooper, Neal - A manager who took Pool to one playoff campaign and then left 3 days before Hartlepool qualified for another. His time at Victoria Park was a success but after citing a reason that he wanted to be closer to his family in Scotland, Pool’s fans weren’t happy when Cooper turned up in the manager’s seat at Gillingham, a club closer to Spain than Scotland.

Daly, Jon - It’s safe to say that he’ll never go down as the best goal scorer that Hartlepool ever had but he did almost make himself a hero when his goal put Hartlepool 2-1 up in the playoff final against Sheffield Wednesday and they were just 10 minutes away from the championship. Quickly found himself out of the first team after failing to score and was loaned out to Bury last season and his career games:goals ratio is almost as bad as Derek Asamoah’s.

Easy - A word that Joe Allon would use to describe scoring past the Imps as he scored 10 goals past the Imps with nearly a goal a game ratio. Luckily for the Imps, Allon retired a fair while ago

FA Cup - Hartlepool have a habit of playing a lot of non-league clubs in the FA Cup and in the last 3 years, they’ve faced Whitby Town, Burton Albion, Aldershot, Dagenham + Redbridge and Tamworth. Their only league opponents in this time were Sunderland, Boston and Brentford.

Goals, goals, goals - Pool have a habit of having a few games a season with a lot of goals in them. In the 2003/4 season, they won by scorelines of 8-1 and 5-2 and that was followed in 2004/5 by 5-0, 5-1 and 4-0 here and there. However, Pool aren’t immune from having a few goals scored against them and in a bizarre home match in the 2004/5, they lost 6-4 at home to Wrexham.

Humpreys, Ritchie - A classy midfielder who joined in the 2001/2 season from Sheffield Wednesday and he has become one of Hartlepool’s most vital players. His Hartlepool career has been the story of 2 penalties. The first came in the Playoff Semi Final second leg at Cheltenham in 2001/2 where his deciding penalty hit the bar, post and then the goalkeeper and stayed out and Hartlepool were out. 4 years later and Ritchie faced a penalty against Tranmere but this time, his penalty sent Pool through to face his former employers, Sheffield Wednesday. He is another player capable of at least 10 goals this season.

Irvine, Stuart - He was voted as the biggest local hero by the Hartlepool programme last season that contained players who’s Hartlepool career never exactly made the headlines. Paul Robinson, Jon Cullen, Jon Sunderland, Stuart Brightwell, Gustavo DiLella, Matty Hysen, Kevin Henderson, Andy Harbron and Steven Halliday complete the list.

Justice - In 2002/3, although Hartlepool didn’t win the title, they still guaranteed 2^nd place with a final day draw at Rushden. Having spent the vast majority of the season at the top of the table but even 2^nd felt like a disappointment.

Konstantopolous, Dimi - A tall goalkeeper who is another player who deserves to be playing at a higher level. He was backup to Jim Provett but when the younger keeper made a few mistakes, Dimi took over and has remained as the first choice goalkeeper ever since. A reliable keeper who very rarely makes a mistake and he’ll win more games for Hartlepool than the strikers will.

Lee, Graeme - A former midfielder at Victoria Park who was part of the failed playoff campaigns in what was then Division 3. He left to join Chris Turner at Sheffield United when the Pool won promotion to what was then Division 2.

Middlesbrough - The Premiership side have loaned a total of 9 players to Hartlepool in their history. Sunderland have also loaned 9 players out to the Pool.

Nelson, Michael - A defender who joined during the summer of 2003 from Bury and he scored a screamer on the first game of the season against Peterborough to become a fans favourite. He hardly scored after that but his contributions were immense and even after he handed in a transfer request, he still played like nothing was different.

One - The amount of games in the playoffs that Pool have won and that was a 2-0 win at home to Tranmere in the 2004/5 season. They have failed to win their other 10 matches in the end of season lottery.

Porter, Joel - An Australian striker with a keen eye for goal as Imps’ fans would have noticed after he scored a great goal against the Imps in the 3-0 FA Cup win a few years ago. He’s fan favourite at Victoria Park and often pops up with vital goals and that’s why he was voted as the player of the season for 2004/5.

Quiz - Midfielder, Darrell Clarke won Hartlepool’s season long quiz last season after beating Micky Barron 8-7 in the final. Barron would have drawn level if he had completed one of the questions. He was asked “Who are in England’s World Cup group” and Barron just put Paraguay and Trinidad + Tobago, leaving out Sweden.

Richardson, Marcus - He initially joined Hartlepool from Torquay United midway through the 2002/3 season and he didn’t exactly make a success of himself. If you go way back in the message board, you will find a Pool fan describe him as “playing like Bambi on ice”

Sweeney, Anthony - A product of Pool’s famed youth academy and is now a vital piece in the midfield picture. A strong, reliable midfielder with an eye for goal and someone who could go far in the game, especially considering he’s just 22 years old.

Turner, Chris - Still regarded as a legend up north after guiding them to 3 straight playoffs. He was a popular manager before leaving in 2002/3 to manage his home town club, Sheffield Wednesday. After spells with the Owls and then Stockport, he returned north and was a member of the backroom staff last season at Victoria Park.

Unbeaten - For a time a few years ago, Pool had the longest unbeaten run at home in the country. Infact, they went 16 months without losing at home. The run started with a 2-1 defeat against Rushden in August 2002 and ended with a 2-1 defeat to Barnsley on boxing day in 2003.

Victoria Park - The ground of Hartlepool United Football club and one of my personal favourites (despite the score on the ground guide not being particularly big). It holds 7,629 and is rarely full but it’s a ground that can produce an excellent atmosphere. If Hartlepool had won promotion to the Championship, a move away or major redevelopment would have been likely as it would have been one of the smallest grounds in that division.

Williams, Eifion - A very accomplished striker that joined from Torquay United in the early parts of the Millennium and he has been a fairly consistent scorer over the years. A beautiful finisher of the ball as he showed with a neat finish that opened the scoring in Pool’s 3-0 victory over the Imps in the 2004/5. In the same season, he drew Hartlepool level in the playoff final and despite the Pool taking the lead through Jon Daly, Sheffield Wednesday won 4-2. Eifion is the very dangerous striker at this level and could easily surpass the 10 goal mark.

X-Ray - Gordon Watson had one of these went he broke his leg for Hartlepool a few years ago.

Youngest - Pool’s youngest ever goalscorer is Steven Istead who scored in a Carling Cup game against Sheffield Wednesday, aged just 17 years and 112 days old. Adam Boyd is the only player in the top 10 youngest ever Poolie’s scorer to still be at the club.

Zulu - The Zulu war didn’t happen anywhere near Hartlepool.