Why was Hartlepool United mentioned in The House of Commons on 26 June 2019? John explains why and has high praise for the work of Chester MP, Chris Matheson. John reproduces the text of Matheson’s speech in the House including the amazing line – “Dedicated fans watch helplessly as their treasured clubs crumble from lack of investment or financial exploitation by dodgy owners.” Dodgy owners! The MP said it, not John!

This week’s column also includes regular features such as the Summer Quiz, Notts County Watch, three mentions of Wayne Goldthorpe, and an expression of sympathy towards the Barcodes.

Dear HUST Members, You may remember that last season HUST sponsored the shirts of Peter Kioso.  We now have Peter’s shirts in hand and one lucky HUST member will win his match worn home shirt in an exclusive HUST member prize draw.  To be sure your name is in theRead More →

If you’re not in the HUST Facebook group then you might have missed the photos from our 2019 golf day which was held recently at Wynyard Golf Club. You can find a review of the event, including a selection of photos and an interview with HUFC’s player of the century Ritchie Humphreys here.

This week John talks about numerous football clubs including Darlington Spartans FC, looks at basket cases such as Bury and Bolton Wanderers, and returns to his ‘fondness’ for Notts County. He also manages to give us an insight into the development of breakdancing as an Olympic sport, tracing its roots back to the car park of The Greensides and the pavement outside of what was The Devon. He also tells us about when he met Bolton manager Phil Parkinson in the gentlemen’s toilets at a hotel in Bradford – and he needs to provide far more explanation – and hopefully will, next week.

You could be forgiven for thinking that John plans his articles weeks in advance! The answers to last week’s quiz all seem to be ‘Motherwell’ and this gets him on to asking if Pools are a feeder club for this giant of Scottish football! But it also leads him to a short film from the BBC about Motherwell, the town and the club – an amazing film and the parallels to Hartlepool are powerful. It is worth reading the column just for the link to this film – but he also looks at the success of Cambridge Fans United and concludes by ‘sort of’ inviting the chairman for a pint or three!