SEPTEMBER Hartlepool United 1 (Adryan 27) Sheffield Wednesday 0 I expected to win by much more than this but I suppose 3pts is 3pts.
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UEFA Champions League Group F
Juventus 3 (Fierro 55, 64, Scarpa 75)
Hartlepool United 0
For the best part of an hour we were fine but then we just capitulated.
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Hartlepool United 1 (James 24pen) Queens Park Rangers 0
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Manchester City 2 (Whelan 46, Jovetic 73) Hartlepool United 1 (de Bruin 18)
Another defeat - our 4th of the season in all comps already!!!! Worse still is that Newsome got injured and is out for 2-3 months.
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Swansea City 0 Hartlepool United 2 (Thorne og63, Adryan 65)
Thats better.
Frustrating month! We havent clicked into gear yet which is a bit of a worry but we are fortunate that our defeats have all come in different competitions so our league form hasnt really suffered. Having said that we have just scraped past teams so far but surely it is a matter of time.
I loaned out Joao Paulo to Lokomotiv Moscow until the end of the season.
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UEFA European Championship Quals Group I
Italy 3 (Insigne 17, 71, Destro 90) Denmark 2 (Cornelius 52, Evald 85)
Thank good ness for Destro's injury time winner!!!
Well done on winning the league, cup and Euro cup! Crazy but ****** brilliant. Not looking so good at the start of this season but that will all change! In Klipp we trust.
UEFA Champions League Group F Hartlepool United 1 (McKinney 19) AS Saint-Etienne 0
I took a risk and played a backup side and we just sneaked it. Surely if we beat Dinamo Bucharest home and away that will be enough lol.
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Wolverhampton Wanderers 1 (Davis 23)
Hartlepool United 5 (Kakuta 33, 35, de Bruin 49, James 54, Connors 73)
A great win. Kakuta had a hat-trick goal disallowed too.
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Capital One Cup 3rd Round Hartlepool United 3 (James 48pen, Connors 52, Adryan 78) Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Bale 42, Matip 90)
We get revenge for the Community Shield defeat a few months back. I rely on cup runs to give my backup players games so a win was vital.
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Hartlepool United 2 (James 42pen, Basic 89)
Newcastle United 0
I always feel dirty when we defeat Newcastle lol
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UEFA Champions League Group F Dinamo Bucharest 1 (Buduru 58) Hartlepool United 4 (Dimosthenous 14, Tucker 16, Basic 43, 65)
The backups did a fine job here. Basic had a goal disallowed too.
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Everton 0
This time it was Luke James' turn to have a goal disallowed.
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West Ham United 0 Hartlepool United 1 (James 17)
This game was a must win as it kicks off a run of 4 consecutive away league games with the other 3 being against Spurs, Man Utd and Chelsea!!!
This month was a knock-out success!!!! We won every game and played some great football. My young players are developing nicely and got slightly more game time this month also. A special mention has to go to Tareiq Tucker who is improving rapidly and has even been capped by England!!!
FYI the following players have been capped (there are others more obvious like Walcott and Dimosthenous etc).......
Brazil - Marcelinho, Pedrinho Croatia - Basic, Mijatovic England - James, Connors, Tucker, Chalobah, Shaw Holland - de Bruin Ireland - Mahon Italy - Malara (thanks to me lol)
USA - Schwartz, Foose, Newsome
We both had a goal disallowed in this game. Ours was our only shot on target!
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UEFA Champions League Group F Hartlepool United 3 (Adryan 4, Igor Augusto 30, Mijatovic 56) Dinamo Bucharest 0
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Manchester United 1 (Sandro 62) Hartlepool United 0
We were unfortunate not to get a draw but Kean did save a penalty late on for us. Laurent Blanc immediately resigned as Man Utd manager to take over Atletico Madrid!!!!
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Chelsea 2 (Smalling 27, 45) Hartlepool United 1 (de Bruin 68)
Such a tough run of fixtures in the league comes to an end here. I had hoped for at least 2pts from the last 3 but only managed 1.
Back to winning ways but it should have been far more comfortable.
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Hartlepool United 4 (Malara 22, James 33, de Bruin 43, Adryan 90) Stoke City 1 (Rhodes 60)
Goals galore now!!!
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UEFA Champions League Group F Hartlepool United 1 (Malara 67)
Juventus 2 (Bettega 16, Gabbiadini 70)
We battered Juve here and really should have won but it was not to be. Malara scored against his old club to continue his good form. If we avoid defeat in our last game we qualify.
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Hartlepool United 3 (Connors 12, de Bruin 89, Vergara 90pen) Aston Villa 0
We were missing several players here so this was a great result.
A tough month this!!! We won the easier games but fell short in the big ones despite some good performances but we still end the month top of the league I suppose.
I have made a couple of changes to my first team. Kakuta was playing very poorly so Malara has come in at LW and done superbly while Pedrinho has developed better than Igor Augusto so I have swapped them about. View attachment 472155
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ITALY
Friendly
Italy 4 (Catalano 31, 40, 50, 64)
South Korea 0
DECEMBER
Capital One Cup 4th Round Hartlepool United 1 (Luan Michel 52) West Bromwich Albion 0
My backups did the job here with my on loan Brazilian striker grabbing a goal.
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Capital One Cup QF
Hartlepool United 2 (Kakuta 14, Vergara 61) Stoke City 1 (Rhodes 49)
And once again my backups did well for me. Baldwin made his first start of the season and got the MOM award too!
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Cardiff City 1 (Parr 88) Hartlepool United 3 (Malara 29, de Bruin 56, Connors 60)
This was actually quite an even game but we are banging in the goals in the league at the moment and Cardiff couldnt cope against us.
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UEFA Champions League Group F AS Saint-Etienne 2 (Bensaid 79, de Jong 86) Hartlepool United 2 (Dimosthenous 55, McKinney 84)
All we had to do to qualify was avoid defeat and we managed that. Once again I put out an under strength side which admittedly was a bit risky.
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Arsenal 3 (Papadopoulos 7, Hendrick 50, Wilshere 58) Hartlepool United 0
OUCH!!!!!
Hartlepool United 3 (Connors 15, 26, 56) Liverpool 0
A fantastic victory against the side who was sitting in 2nd place.
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Hartlepool United 1 (Connors 13) Manchester City 1 (Kean og46)
Once again we come up against the side in 2nd place and if we had won we would have went 10pts clear but it was not to be. Our goal came off our only shot on goal.
On the whole this month was a success and it looks as though we may run away with the title. We did however receive 3 nasty cup draws - Man Utd in the League Cup semis, Swansea away in the FA Cup and Barcelona in the Champions League.
So on the pitch life is good as you can see........
COOPER PARK????????? He didnt win any trophies with the club unlike my goodself. Obviously winning 4 league titles, 2 league cups, 2 fa cups and 2 europa leagues amongst other things doesnt count for anything!!!!
At least he was part of Aberdeen's success in the early 80s.
Norwich City 0
Hartlepool United 2 (Connors 68, Basic 90)
A good win and even better - Man City drew!!!!
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Capital One Cup SF 1st Leg Hartlepool United 1 (Basic 61) Manchester United 0
A good win but it should have been by a lot more as we played them off the park and de Bruin had a goal disallowed.
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FA Cup 3rd Round
Swansea City 1 (Woodrow 56) Hartlepool United 1 (A.Williams og61)
I took a risk and played my backups here.
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Hartlepool United 2 (Connors 58, de Bruin 90) West Ham United 1 (Carroll 51)
Newsome finally made his return from injury here and we battled away to get the points thanks to de Bruin's injury time free-kick.
New record signing scored on his debut here with which will hopefully be a trademark free-kick.
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Capital One Cup SF 2nd Leg Manchester United 3 (Cleverley 7, Hernandez 62, 75) Hartlepool United 1 (Chalobah 13)
(Manchester United win 3-2 on aggregate)
The disallowed goal and the failure to convert our chances in the first leg cost us here. ****** off slightly.
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FA Cup 3rd Round Replay
Hartlepool United 2 (Tucker 95, Lamacraft 97)
Swansea City 1 (J.Williams 91) AET
A deserved win here. We are up against a League 1 side next so the backups will get another outing.
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Hartlepool United 3 (Malara 32, Connors 40, Chalobah 68)
Swansea City 0
This could and probably should have been 10-0 lol. Even worse - Shaw got injured and is out for 3-4 months.
A hectic month with highs and lows and incidents and of course transfers!!! On the pitch we progressed in the FA Cup but was knocked out of the League Cup in the semis. We do though have an amazing 11pt lead at the top of the Premiership though. View attachment 471927
Transfer wise it was all happening. Kakuta (139/42) left to join Cardiff for £8.75m and Adryan (87/29) left to go to Marseille for £10.25m. Also Theo Walcott joined Newcastle for £2.4m. All 3 were signed on free transfers so it was all profit.
I had planned to sign a LW in the transfer window but that didnt happen! Instead I absolutely smashed the club record to sign an uncapped French player for £35m from Lyon!!!!!
Finally when Shaw got injured I decided against spending money on a new LB and promoted Lee Armstrong who came in the intake 2 years back. View attachment 471925
We went goal crazy for 15min and naturally that was enough to get the 3pts.
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Newcastle United 1 (*** 68)
Hartlepool United 2 (de Bruin 48, Connors 82)
Connors winner amazingly enough means he has scored in each of our last 10 league games!!!!!
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FA Cup 4th Round
Blackpool 1 (Smith-Brown 85) Hartlepool United 1 (Tucker 6)
Pretty surprised/annoyed that my backups cant beat a League 1 side.
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FA Cup 4th Round Replay
Hartlepool United 4 (Basic 34, Armstrong 78, McKinney 113, 119) Blackpool 2 (Banvo 1, Taylor 17) AET
Both sides had a goal disallowed, Igor Augusto missed a penalty and Mahon got sent-off!!! Safe to say this game wasnt dull.
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Hartlepool United 2 (Malara 8, Schwartz 31) Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Olsson 6, Paulinho 86)
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UEFA Champions League 1st Round 1st Leg
Hartlepool United 4 (James 34, 43, Chalobah 48, de Bruin 90) Barcelona 0
******* ****!!!!!!!
6 seasons ago we were in League 2 and now we do this!!! Barca played Messi and Neymar so it wasnt a weakened side. Amazing. Incredible!!!!!!!
Its funny that this month was a successful month as we were unbeaten however we could have won every game but it would all have been overshadowed by us thrashing Barcelona 4-0!!!!!!!!!!!
To think that along with myself Luke James and Darren Holden were in League 2 not long ago and even Seth Schwartz was in League 1 and now they are competing and beating one of the worlds top sides is crazy!!!!
The league is all but over - all that is left to decide is whether or not we will win a cup.
MARCH
Hartlepool United 1 (de Bruin 34) Manchester United 1 (Hernandez 68)
We were pretty lucky to get a point here to tell the truth but we did and they aint going to catch us.
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FA Cup 5th Round
Manchester United 3 (Zuniga 51, Crisetig 59, Emre Can 76) Hartlepool United 1 (Basic 89)
Had to play a backup side here so it was understandable that we lost. We did well in the first half though.
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Southampton 1 (Sissoko 81)
Hartlepool United 2 (Schwartz 76, de Bruin 86)
A good win this. Moussa Sissoko levelled for Soton against his former team but de Bruin popped up with the winner thankfully.
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Everton 1 (Oviedo 79) Hartlepool United 5 (Khellaf 3, 51pen, de Bruin 25, 76, 90pen)
A fantastic victory however I have a question - why did de Bruin take the 2nd penalty when Khellaf is my designated penalty taker? Both were on a hat-trick..........
Everton had a goal disallowed and missed a penalty while the score was at 2-0.
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UEFA Champions League 1st Round 2nd Leg
Barcelona 1 (Leandro Damiao 48)
Hartlepool United 0
(Hartlepool United win 4-1 on aggregate)
Look at us playing a backup side against Barca!!!!! We got thumped and they had a goal disallowed but we did enough in the first leg.
A decent month. I probably made a mistake going full strength against Man Utd in the league therefore giving away the FA Cup when the league is all but won but hey ho.
We made progress in the Champions League and will play Spurs in the quarter finals.
The youth intake was pretty average but finally there is a player who I am mildly excited about.......... View attachment 471690
Hartlepool United 3 (Malara 18, Connors 30, Chalobah 65) Chelsea 1 (Lewandowski 73)
A good win this as we take another step towards our 2nd title win.
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UEFA Champions League QF 1st Leg
Tottenham Hotspur 3 (Bale 46, 69, Soldado 50) Hartlepool United 2 (Malara 64, Connors 80)
Connors late goal could prove to be so crucial as 3-1 would be a tough score to overturn. Pretty content with this result.
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Aston Villa 1 (Guidetti 25)
Hartlepool United 1 (Kopric 77)
I rested my players for the Champions League game and we were slightly fortunate to get a point. Kopric and Rugg came off the bench to make their debuts and Kopric marked the occasion with a goal to become the Premier League's youngest ever scorer.
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UEFA Champions League QF 2nd Leg Hartlepool United 2 (James 11, Connors 90)
Tottenham Hotspur 0
(Hartlepool United win 4-3 on aggregate)
Into the semis we go. We absolutely battered Spurs and deserved to win the tie over the 2 legs.
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Stoke City 1 (Borini 33)
Hartlepool United 2 (Connors 39, Pedrinho 90)
This win means we are 1pt away from retaining the title........
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Hartlepool United 2 (McKinney 50, Rugg 90) Cardiff City 1 (Watt 86)
WE RETAIN THE TITLE!!!!!!!!!!!
I rested my players for the Champions League game so it was a good experience for my youngsters to wrap up the title. Kean got injured though so Ruben will finish the season in goal.
When Rugg scored he beat Kopric's record as the Premierships youngest goalscorer.
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UEFA Champions League SF 1st Leg Manchester City 2 (Koubek 13, Mrak 25) Hartlepool United 2 (Connors 21, 59)
A great result which gives us a chance of getting to the final but we really should have won. They were poor and scored off their 1st 2 shots while we ended up with 18. Mrak got sent-off for them late on.
This was a fairly successful month as we progressed in the Champions League and of course retained the title. I am going to play my youngsters in the final 3 league games as we are missing some players such as Shaw, Schwartz, Kean, Khellaf and Igor Augusto.
At the moment I am planning for next season and trying to decide who to sell and where to strengthen........
MAY
Hartlepool United 2 (Dimosthenous 40, Mijatovic 81) Arsenal 2 (Insigne 38, Vydra 80)
1st v 2nd here and we would have went 17pts clear had we won but we didnt however the fact that my backups drew with Arsenal is encouraging. Dimasthenous also had a goal disallowed.
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UEFA Champions League SF 2nd Leg Hartlepool United 3 (Chalobah 10, Connors 13, 24) Manchester City 2 (Volland 71, Bartra 80)
(Hartlepool United win 5-4 on aggregate)
HARTLEPOOL ARE INTO THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL!!!!!!!!
We were brilliant here and stormed into a 3 goal lead but amazingly we nearly threw it all away at the end.
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Liverpool 3 (Schumacher 8, 71, Li Yongchao 30)
Hartlepool United 3 (McKinney 15, Basic 48, 50)
An entertaining end to the league campaign.
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UEFA Champions League Final Hartlepool United 3 (James 6, Handanovic og41, Mahon 79) Inter Milan 2 (Icardi 26, Cornelius 42)
CHAMPIONS OF EUROPE!!!!!!!!
What an achievement. It was an enthralling final and we deserved to win it. Once again Luke James popped up with a goal in a final and he can now say he has gone from League 2 to being a Champions League winner and full international.
Hartlepool United - Champions of Europe....... that has got a nice ring to it lol.
It has taken me 7 years to progress from League 2 to Champions League winners. I thought I would do it by the 10th season so I am suitably impressed.
The final few league games of the season went well considering I played a very young side in each game and they avoided defeat. The big guns came back in for the Champions League and with them being refreshed it made us that little bit stronger methinks.
END OF SEASON POST TO FOLLOW...........
Only 2 trophies won this season but when the two trophies are the Premier League and Champions League then its safe to say the season was a success.
We stormed the league and won it with 3 games to go. The domestic cup competitions were both ended by Man Utd but in Europe we reigned supreme. We comfortably got through the group stage, thrashed Barcelona and edged past Spurs, Man City and Inter to take the cup.
Regarding my squad there were hits and misses. The usual suspects performed well while the likes of Ruben, Damasio, Dimosthenous and Malara really came on. Summer signing Newsome was plagued by injuries so hopefully he will contribute more next term.
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AWARDS
Footballer of the Year - J. de Bruin Manager of the Year Players Player of the Year - J. Connors Players Young Player of the Year - N. Chalobah Team of the Year - N.Chalobah, J.de Bruin, J.Connors European Golden Boy - J.Connors
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OTHER NEWS
Schalke thrash Chelsea 5-1 in the Europa League final
Man City win the FA Cup (Man Utd won the Capital One Cup)
I am fluent in Italian - didnt realise I even had basic Italian lol
