By Albatross
May 3 2003

Oh well, it's not the Championship Season after all. But it's still been a great time to be following Hartlepool United: we still have plenty of reasons to be cheerful. OK, so we didn't quite make it over the final hurdle, but it's still been a great season to be a Poolie. From the opening victory over Carlisle through to the final game disappointment at Nene Park, it's been a season with far more ups than downs, and the most important up of all is the one that sees us heading into Division 2 next season.

Not winning the title is of course a huge disappointment, not least because just two months ago we looked to have it in the bag. But fair play to Rushden, who have had a storming finish to the season and taken advantage of our slip-ups. No matter what some may think, it wasn't handed to them on a plate: they have performed well all through the season, and have shown plenty of character to keep the pressure on Pools.

There's the Bank Holiday Tour of the Town to come, and Pools still deserve to get a great reception. After all, we have proved ourselves better than 22 other teams in Division 3 this season, won promotion, and that's no mean feat. It's only the third promotion in our history, and after three playoff disappointments I'm sure we all would have taken guaranteed promotion at the start of this season.

Some players have cemented their status as Poolie Legends, and that's something else to celebrate. I was around for our last promotion, and players such as Joe Allon, Rob McKinnon, Paul Dalton and Brian Honour wrote their names into the list of our greatest players: and who can deny that Eifion Williams, Mark Tinkler, Gordon Watson and especially Ritchie Humphreys will be remembered with fondness by a whole new generation of fans.

So let's celebrate the deeds of the Hartlepool United Promotion Squad of 2002/3. It's taken 12 years since our last one, and we've all gone through a lot since then - the period of Garry Gibson closing his wallet, the seasons of struggle, and now four seasons of consistent achievement. I think we owe ourselves a party. After all, things could be a lot worse: we could be Darlington!