Only Pools and Norses

Hartlepool have been owned by Norwegian based oil company Increased Oil Recovery (IOR) for nearly fifteen years now. And throughout those years the Pools ranks have often been occupied by Scandinavian players with unpronounceable names. Most of them came over in the late 90s when Pools desperately needed reshaping but the odd Norse pops up even today. I've got them all here, all with varying degrees of success - the top ten Poolie Norwegians.

10) Tommy Knarvik

Probably the best Norwegian never to play for United. U21 international Tommy arrived on trial in the summer of 2001 after his release from Leeds United. He made only two league appearances for Leeds, which was considerably more than he made for us. Presumably we couldn't afford him as he went home to Norway and played for some big clubs over there including Brann and Viking. Still currently playing for Bodo/Glimt, with some 250 plus total Tippelagen games to his name.

9) Stig Olav Larsen
One of the first players of the viking invasion of 1997, yet the one who made the least impact. Surprising as he seemed to fit the ideals of at late 90s division three striker - big and strong with little skill. On loan to us from Fana IL in December 1997 he made only 5 appearance, all as sub. Released May 1998

8) Rune Vindheim
A central defender who I always thought was dutch for some reason. Was the only norwegan to arrive at Hartlepool from another English club - Burnley. He'd been plying his trade in his home country with Brann, Sogndal and Fana before arriving at Turf Moor in 98/99. He made only eight appearances for the Clarets, making his debut at Maine Road and his last at in a local derby with Preston. He also managed to net two goals. He came to Pools at the start of 99/00 on a short term contract to cover the injured Gary Strodder, and made his debut in a 3-0 win over Plymouth. He played fairly well in his seven starts without really standing out. Boss Chris Turner tried to sort him out with a longer term deal but negotiations didn't go well, and by that time Strodder was back and Chris Westwood outstanding, so Rune's contract was allowed to expire. He returned to Norway and later became manager of Fana in 2010.

7) Thomas Tennebo
One word to some this lad up. Unfortunate. Yet another player to arrive from Fana in summer 1999, this central midfielder looked very promising in his three week trial. Made a superb debut away at Carlisle and took only three minutes to make the assist for the opening goal. Didn't play much after that, picking up a horrendous knee injury that kept him out the rest of 99/00. He returned to play another ten games of so but didn't look the same and returned home to Fana in 2001. Still turning out for Arstad IL where he's been since 2008.

6) Jon Andre Fredriksen
One of the more recent vikings to play for United. Having played for Rade and Moss, he arrived at Pools from Sarpsborg in summer 2009. A midfielder who could be used in middle or on the left, I saw him play Sheff Wed in a friendly I could tell he wouldn't be with us long. Looked too slight and not strong enough for League One. Didn't see him play again after that, but think I was proven right as he made only 12 appearances before his contract was mutually terminated in October 2010. Returned home to Moss.

5) Tim Sperrevik
A big strong striker gave the Pools defence a torrid time in a pre-season friendly at Fana. He duly arrived on trial at Pools and was given a two year contract. Failed to find the form he had showed playing against Pools and struggled to settle in England. Was given a fair few chances in the team, four starts and 11 subs and scoring just once. 'Spunky' though became a bit of a cult hero of mine though, as he always tried his hardest. Despite failing to settle in this country he picked up the swear words easily, which he showed when he was sent off at Brighton for verbally abusing the ref. Returned home to Fana.

4) Armann Bjornsson
Ok I'm cheating a bit here - Bjornsson is Icelandic - but I was struggling for ten Norwegians, but he's still a Scandinavian. Albeit not the best. I remember being fairly excited when he came to us. Had played for some big Scandinavian clubs in Lillestrom, Bran and FH and had a few international caps to his name, plus I'd signed him once on Champ Man and had done pretty well. Made his debut in a 1-1 draw with Wycombe in 2009. Scored his first goal at Elland Road, Pools only of the game. Unfortunately Leeds scored four. After pre-season 2010 Chris Turner pinned hopes of him becoming the big target man Pools had required for a good number of years, and he started in the first game of the season away at Rochdale. And was shit. By far the worst player in Pools colours. Made only 18 appearances for Pools, scoring three. Was voted in a FourFourTwo supplement recently as Hartlepool's worst ever foreign player. And he made it into my top five. Shows the calibre of the Norwegians who have turned out for us...

3) Rune Lange
Certainly the one of the biggest names to played for Hartlepool and he makes it into the top three on reputation only, not what he did in a United shirt. Was a big name in Norway and had played at the highest level in Turkey with Trabzonspor and in Belgium with Club Brugge. In fact with Brugge he'd netted some 50 odd goals in just over a hundred appearances, winning his sole international cap whilst there. He came to Pools from Valerenga in 2008/09 and the 32 year old target man looked promising in draws with Walsall and Leicester. He scored against MK Dons but his shoulder was badly injured in the same game and that was the end of his Pools career. He returned to fitness but was not offered a new contract. A shame.

2) Martin Hollund
Former U21 international Martin arrived from Brann on a free transfer in winter 1997 and finally put and end to Pools goalkeeping issues. Since 1995 we'd used about ten different custodians. He spent the first month at United without a contract but did enough to convince the board he was worthy of a deal. Made a solid debut in a 2-0 over Barnet, the first of 117 Poolie games between the sticks. A good shot stopper with superb reactions, however was indecisive when coming out to catch crosses. Had a minor blip in 1998/99 when Pools were rock bottom of the league and was suffering with low confidence - boss Mick Tait told Hollund he had no future at Hartlepool, opting to play Tasmanian Simon Miotto instead. Eight games later Tait was sacked and caretaker boss Brian Honour reinstated Hollund and with some solid appearances helped us avoid relegation. Eventually ousted of first team duties by Tony Williams in 2001, he transferred to home country club Lov-Ham as keeper, but also curiously playing as a striker for non league Bremnes IL. Retired in 2007 but due to lack of playing staff was Lov-Hams bench keeper in 2010 and made an apperance as sub in 2011 when their first choice was sent off. Holds the distinction of most appearances for a Norwegian for Pools. A legend.

1) Jan Ove Pedersen
Played only 17 games for Hartlepool but ask any Poolie who saw him play and they'll tell you he was pure class. Regularly features in Hartlepool best XI sides despite his low games tally. Arrived on loan from Brann during the Norway winter break, in order to keep fit and make a push for Norway's World Cup 98 squad. Don't think he ever made it to France but we're pleased he made it to French monkey hangering Hartlepool. A cultured midfielder who'd represented Norway at every international level from U15 to full seniors - 17 caps and a goal at full level - and it showed he was a class act, better than anyone Hartlepool had ever had  and arguably have had since. Looked a cut above the shower of shite surrounding him, and was made to look daft at times as the rest of the squad weren't on the same wave length. Still his skills shone through turning Pools fortunes around, as the relegation favourites took the league by storm...and finished 17th. Scored a quality goal at home to Darlo which sticks out in my mind. The fans wanted him to stay but it was never going to happen, and he went home to Brann. Summer 1999 Pools made a rather audacious attempt to bring Peds back, offering him £3000 a week and Brann £50k. But Brann stalled allowing Austrian side Bregnez to table a £60k bid and he promptly joined them, a club he would later go on to manage. The ultimate Hartlepool United cult hero (of any nationality).

Skinhead Moodboard

 

Concert Live

I first became aware of this company when waiting for Madness to come out at the arena in 2006. Adverts were plastered all over stating Concert Live were recording the gig and that'd it be copied, pressed and wrapped ready for purchase some 20 minutes after the Nutty Boys left their encore.

I bought the said CD, albeit later from their website. All the crowd chants, Suggs's cheeky banter and the interuption 30 seconds into NW5 (The biggest bra in the world was thrown on stage and they had to stop playing such was their mirth) were all on there. A great momento of the evening because  let's be honest, for as much as you enjoyed yourself, you'd had one or three beforehand, everything is a bit fuzzy during and then you struggle to remember the track listing the next day.

Imagine my delight when on the recent Mondays reunion they were doing the same. Not at every venue like Madness but just the close gig at Brixton. Good enough for me, same setlist and quality tunes as were played at Newcastle for their opening night. Shaun Ryder's sweary banter inbetween songs and Rowetta's sexy grunting on 'Bobs Your Uncle' were all there and similar in London as it was to Toon. Greatest hits meets Pills N Thrills plus unoriginal line up gem Jellybean. Superb for fifteen quid, reliving one of the best gigs I've been too whilst on iPod on way to work.

1. Loose Fit
2. Kinky Afro
3. Dennis and Lois
4. Donovan
5. God's Cop
6. Judge Fudge
7. 24 Hour Party People
8. Rave On
9. Cowboy Dave
10. Hallelujah
11. Bob's Yer Uncle
12. Holiday
13. Mad Cyril
14. Step On
15. Jellybean
16. W.F.L

Stand AMF

Is it just me or is there a lot of fanzine/mags coming out of late? And they all seem to stem from a disloving of our national game in some form or other. Those dapper gents at Proper mag now prefer their journalism, rambling and real ale, but they had became disillusioned with football long before Stockport County's football league demise. Putting their efforts into the excellent Proper (and Connoisseur Co) with splendid results doesn't leave much time for football. Next up 1500 magazine was released to be distributed at football grounds for supporters do have something half decent to read, rather than the club propaganda issued programmes. Even the majority of fanzines have become less of the fans views as the editors bend over for club and take one so they can get interviews etc.

So this leads me to the next publication, which doesn't so much nail it's colours to the mast, but hoists a massive red socialist flag to right to the very top for all the fat cats and money men to see and fear - ladies and gentlemen I give you Stand Against Modern Football . And it is a mag put together by like minded individuals from all walks of life - supporters of Premier League teams through to non league/foreign and even the odd ex professional footballer - all with the same view. That modern football is shit.

The magazine sets out it's stall by calling itself after something that has become outlawed in modern football. Standing. "Pay up, sit down, shut up, fuck off". That's modern football. And even the odd ground where terracing remains it's overpriced. They talk about living costs and property prices spiraling out of control but I'd dare say the cost of standing has overtaken the rate of inflation - what used to cost a few quid pre 1992 is now (at Hartlepool at least) £20. Same facilities, same ground, same standard of football somehow equals increased price.

This magazine has been coming awhile as more and more get fed up, and in fact it astonishes me that is hasn't come out sooner. The football league has been shafted since 1992 when the breakaway league pulled the ladder up and stopped putting their gold in the sharing pot. It surprises me more clubs haven't gone to the wall in this 20 years period, although many have been, or and still are, threatened with it. Off the top of my head Chester, Halifax and Darlington have all been dissolved to be reformed in the non league pyramid, hearts ripped out of community. But this is what the moneymen wanted, to cut away the dead ducks and make their own businesses more profitable. The likes of C(unt) Martin Edwards himself said in the late 80s that "for the good of the game, they need to be put to sleep".

And where there's a buck to be made even football league teams are guilty of following the Premiership clubs. The template now is to have a souless concrete all seater bowl on the edge of the town in an industrial estate, miles away from the community it serves, whilst the centrally located, run down and ramshackle, but much loved old ground is bulldozed to make flats. Or even the once unthinkable worse case scenario is to have the club taken away and bastardised in attempt to make it more profitable/attractive, as what happened to supporters of Wimbledon when the owners changed them to Franchise FC in Milton Keynes with the full backing of the FA. Delighted to see MK continue to struggle in the lower reaches of the spectrum.

It's all about the money and always will be. The fans are just seen as open wallets to be exploited. The likes of SKY pumps the money in meaning the foreign players came in. Yes the standard of football has increased I'll admit that. But at what cost? Cost! Inflated player wages that the English players also receive by default because 'Johnny foreigner does' but have they improved their game? Have they fuck. Time and time again watching England is a shit experience because the players just haven't advanced or developed. They take this money and they're tactically at the same level they were 20-30 years ago. They're still inept and just plain crap. They're frauds.

Anyway I've gone off on one. Stand AMF is a top mag and it's been needed. And I'll be stood below their red flag saluting and taking arms when the revolution arrives. And arrive it will.

Recent Purchases

A few bits and pieces picked up by the usual thifty means -

First up my dream jacket. One True Saxon Jungle Marsh Parka in brown. Don't care that OTS is now defunct after selling out to the man, this is classic OTS gear when it was at it's finest. Seen these come and go on eBay and I've never managed to land one. Managed to snare this one for under a score (then a bit postage). Quality colourway for upcoming autumn and has some smart features, including more pockets than a kebab shop sized pack of pitta breads, and a basic watch viewer (A short zip on each sleeve, not in same league as CP windows mind). Pleased as punch.

Next having sold a couple of Ralph shirts due to poor sizing, felt I'd left myself open to exposure on the shirting front. Was after a gingham tuktuk in summer sale but missed out on the email informing me on increased reduction, so by the time I'd logged on at tea time all the fat bastard sizes had gone. So picked up a couple of Wolsey's for the price of a pint each, again from eBay. Two nice designs with nice detailing on buttons.

Final bit of clobber in this post is yet another Ralph polo (yawn). Again as per from TKM, my usual haunt for RL polo shirts. A baby yellow with green horse, feel very Brazilian in it despite the fact I haven't shaved. In the clearance for £18, not going to say no to that are you?

Next up some bedtime/bogtime reading. Got issue #11 of Proper a couple of months ago, fairly late in the day for how long it's been out. Just hadn't got round to getting it. The plus side of that move was I didn't have to wait long for number 12. And just the other day an eagerly anticipated Stand Against Modern Football plopped through the letterbox.

Finally a daft little piece. A good few years ago Football Focus did a feature weekly on every clubs top cult heroes - voted for by the fans. This is the book that goes with it. Found in poundland of all places, although I can't remember how much I paid...

Hartlepool v Darlington

Hartlepool are now effectively without rivals after the original Darlington FC were wound up following relegation from the Conference. The new club, forced to play in the Northern League (a full seven divisions below Pools League One), and their fans no doubt harbour the same kind of animosity towards us. But if they don't make a swift return to the Football League then it'll be one of those forgotten rivalries, as the younger generation come through unknowing - I mean how many kids at Stoke City realise Port Vale are supposed to be their rivals, not West Brom or Wolves?

Its mad to think that when I started supporting Pools in the 90s, Darlo always seemed to have the upper hand. Not so much in results against us, we seemed to do better there as form went out of the window, but in league standing - they could have relegated us in the derby at Feethams in 1997 had it not been for a fortuitous and priceless 2-1 winner by Pools legend Joe Allon  They seemed to attract better players too, as in 1997/98 I remember grudgingly looking at their fancy dan international players in their line up - Austrians Duo Mario Dorner and Franz Resch and Canadian Jason De Vos, all capped by their nation. How were capped players allowed to join Darlo in the old division three? I couldn't get my head round it.

Then a few years later Darlo were going places with the squad most division two teams would have been envious of. Led by Premiership loanee Craig Russell and poacher Marco Gabbiadini the Quakers shot up the league and were much fancied when they made the playoff final (beating Pools in the semis). Their fans at Wembley singing 'Are you watching Hartlepool?'. Yes we were. And were having a good chuckle when Peterborough won.

The wheels fell off after that. That squad was disbanded as chairman Reynolds put his money into the new stadium, not players wages. I strongly believe if his policy was the opposite then Darlo would probably be an established Championship team now, such was the momentum behind that squad. The stadium should have come then and could have filled it with new fans from the large catchment area of south Co Durham and North Yorkshire. But they wouldn't come to watch Third Division football. And they didn't.

In later years it was Pools who were going places. Either in League One above Darlo or top of League Two while they struggled. The last league meeting at Darlo in 2007 resulted in a thumping 3-0 rout for Pools, including the best goal ever seen by Eifion Williams. Bar a League cup clash the following year at the Vic (3-1 to United) that's it for meetings between the two clubs.

Darlo went out of the league and had to do all they could to stay afloat - I remember reading an offer where if you bought an executive box for a season, your company name was put into a hat to become the shirt sponsors. I thought at the time is it worth my life savings to watch my rivals play with my company name of 'Darlo R Shit' plastered on their shirts?

New owners came and went, but with constant trouble on and off the field, with one common denominator - a vast money sapping half empty stadium. Except the highlight of the FA Trophy win in 2011 the club hit the ultimate low when it folded a year later, being forced to set up as new club, thus condemning themselves to being relegated further down the pyramid. They reformed as Darlo 1883 and sensibly elected to move away from Darlington, groundsharing at Bishop Auckland for now, but with a target of trying to move back to Feethams.

It's a strange feeling I have. Used to have a seething hatred of Darlo, but now it's impossible to summon up that kind of bile for both a new club and a non league one at that. They're enjoying life again - playing good football with a decent squad of ex pros for that level, getting a good gate every game and are currently unbeaten this season. I actually want my ex rivals, whom I once had such an irrational hatred of, to do well. And the painful thing is it doesn't pain me to say it.

Under Fives

Well, CP Under Sixteens for an under two. Jakey boy, who's partial to a bit of baby Ralph Lauren and also boasts a nice collection of Clarks, got his first bit of fine Italian sportswear recently. Lovely little purchase from eBay for less than the price of a stamp. 99p for as new CP Company zip up sweat.