The NLP says… Padraig Amond affair only adds to Pools’ misery

By Alex Narey
AT what point does it start to get critical for Hartlepool United? The month of August may not be the making of you but it can certainly do plenty of breaking. Seven games, one win, four defeats and just four goals scored – the joint-lowest in the division. I don’t think anybody could have written a more miserable opening to the season’s script.
While on the field you could argue (with not much conviction, it has to be said) it was always going to take new manager Craig Harrison time to knit his ideas together, off the field, Pools could have done without the baggage that came with Padraig Amond’s tempestuous transfer to Newport County this week. It’s been a saga that has reflected poorly on both the player and the club.
For a fan, there is nothing that grates more than a player trying to force a move through. Like a loveless marriage, you know their heart lies somewhere else and all parties are seemingly treading water until the paperwork is signed and the handshakes – through gritted teeth – are finally made.
In the case of Amond’s transfer, Harrison went public on the player refusing to play the weekend before last, a claim Amond refuted vehemently. Harrison says there were no fireworks, but by going public and saying the player is refusing to play, the manager is looking for a counter blow and the public will only paint one picture.
While Amond has made no secret of his desire to leave, citing a lack of love for the game at Victoria Park, perhaps Harrison should have acted on this sooner and swept away the debris. If a player doesn’t want to wear the shirt, they are not fit to. Let them go. Very rarely does the relationship rekindle its spark.
With Amond gone, Hartlepool will be turning to the next chapter, hoping the story takes a turn for the better. Monday’s narrow 1-0 victory over Guiseley shows they have to be prepared to roll their sleeves up to slug it out in a relegation dogfight if they cannot build consistency from these much-needed three points.
You can say it’s too early for such claims, but we thought that about York City at the same stage last term. People refrained from laying the boot in too much because they could see a corner in the distance that looked like being turned. But before it was, too much damage had been done.
That’s the nature of the National League, it’s dog eat dog and Pools need to start baring their teeth.