This week John celebrates the work of HUDSA and the saving of Bury FC, and exposes Ronnie Harnish’s love of Kylie Minogue. He makes the observation that the hero saviour of Bury FC as recently as December 2018 is now the target of much criticism – how quickly things change in football.

This week John manages to have a whinge about our first televised home game, applauds the work of South East Poolies and looks at the rebirth of North Ferriby United FC. Touching on the continuing woes of the likes of Notts County, Bury and Bolton, he concludes with the point, ‘in Raj we trust’. We do – and we should also acknowledge what he has done for the club over the last year or so.

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.

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!

This week we find John filling his column with quotes from @Hangus99, the Heed Army website, and the Nottingham Post – yes, he’s having another dig at the oldest football club in the ‘whole wide world’ again. But he also manages to give our very own Mr Maguire a lesson in football economics with this quote from Jock Stein – “Without fans who pay at the turnstile, football is nothing. Sometimes we are inclined to forget that. The only chance of bringing them into stadiums is if they are entertained by what happens on the football field.” Actually John – and definitely Jock – might have a point!