By 3Quid
26 bar a ticket???!!! - a big reason why many Pools fans won't be travelling the relatively short journey to West Yorkshire to watch us vs Leeds at Elland Road on Boxing Day.
A fair few lads i've been talking to are refusing to go there and pay that price to be sat in the corner with restricted viewing and also to line the pockets of Ken Bates and his born-again wealthy football club.
500 tickets have already been sold for the game and any unsold tickets will be sent back to Elland Road but travelling fans without a ticket ARE able to pay on the turnstile on match day. So it's likely Pools will have less than a thousand fans there for the game which is a far cry from September 2007 and our first ever league meeting with Leeds at Elland Road when over 2700 made to 90-mile journey to watch us unluckily go down 2-0 in a game we dominated from start to finish!
On the pitch, Pools will be missing Andy Monkhouse after he picked up a fifth yellow card of the season in Saturday's 1-1 draw with Yeovil. Monkhouse is particularly gutted as he is Leeds-born, still lives there and is a big fan of the club. Jon-Andre Fredriksen could fill in for Monky on the left-wing but the most likely choice for Chris Turner would be to play Ritchie Humphreys in his preferred role on the wing and drop Tony Sweeney into centre-midfield with fit again Neil Austin slotting at right-back.
Steve Haslam and Colin Larkin have returned to training but are not expected to be risked for the game. Ben Clark is available again after a one-match ban for a sending-off at Southend.
Chris Turner told BBC Sport...."I was talking to (Yeovil boss) Terry Skiverton on Saturday after the game and Terry made a good point in that the league is littered with good sides with strong squads, bigger than what they and we are," he said.
"You just get a bit of momentum going and your next three games are say, Norwich, Charlton and Southampton, and that halts any progress for teams like ourselves and Yeovil, in terms of getting maximum points and it's a battle.
"It is a tough league and I keep saying we're punching well above our weight, when you consider our attendances and what we can attract to the club compared to a lot of other teams in our division. But it's enjoyable and we are progressing.
"The second half of the season is a tough start with the away games of Norwich, Southampton and Charlton, and hopefully we can pick up better than what we did in the first quarter because there are some winnable games at that back-end of the season."
Leeds are likely to start with star-man and top scorer, Jermaine Beckford despite a row between him and Leeds gaffer, Simon Grayson after Beckford reportedly threw his shirt at the manager and stormed off the pitch after being subbed in the 1-0 win over Southampton. Beckford though has apologised to Grayson and the bad news for Pools fans is that he will more than likely resume his place up-front on Saturday. Leeds have no other injury worries and have a full squad to choose from.
Score prediction - in my opinion when we play the so-called "big clubs" we seem to have a defeatist attitude that has us beat even before we go out and kick a ball, all the bigging up of our opponents before the game and how lucky we are just to be in the same division as them - i can't see this being any different. Sadly, i think we'll get a proper pasting on Boxing Day.
4-0 to Leeds.
A fair few lads i've been talking to are refusing to go there and pay that price to be sat in the corner with restricted viewing and also to line the pockets of Ken Bates and his born-again wealthy football club.
500 tickets have already been sold for the game and any unsold tickets will be sent back to Elland Road but travelling fans without a ticket ARE able to pay on the turnstile on match day. So it's likely Pools will have less than a thousand fans there for the game which is a far cry from September 2007 and our first ever league meeting with Leeds at Elland Road when over 2700 made to 90-mile journey to watch us unluckily go down 2-0 in a game we dominated from start to finish!
On the pitch, Pools will be missing Andy Monkhouse after he picked up a fifth yellow card of the season in Saturday's 1-1 draw with Yeovil. Monkhouse is particularly gutted as he is Leeds-born, still lives there and is a big fan of the club. Jon-Andre Fredriksen could fill in for Monky on the left-wing but the most likely choice for Chris Turner would be to play Ritchie Humphreys in his preferred role on the wing and drop Tony Sweeney into centre-midfield with fit again Neil Austin slotting at right-back.
Steve Haslam and Colin Larkin have returned to training but are not expected to be risked for the game. Ben Clark is available again after a one-match ban for a sending-off at Southend.
Chris Turner told BBC Sport...."I was talking to (Yeovil boss) Terry Skiverton on Saturday after the game and Terry made a good point in that the league is littered with good sides with strong squads, bigger than what they and we are," he said.
"You just get a bit of momentum going and your next three games are say, Norwich, Charlton and Southampton, and that halts any progress for teams like ourselves and Yeovil, in terms of getting maximum points and it's a battle.
"It is a tough league and I keep saying we're punching well above our weight, when you consider our attendances and what we can attract to the club compared to a lot of other teams in our division. But it's enjoyable and we are progressing.
"The second half of the season is a tough start with the away games of Norwich, Southampton and Charlton, and hopefully we can pick up better than what we did in the first quarter because there are some winnable games at that back-end of the season."
Leeds are likely to start with star-man and top scorer, Jermaine Beckford despite a row between him and Leeds gaffer, Simon Grayson after Beckford reportedly threw his shirt at the manager and stormed off the pitch after being subbed in the 1-0 win over Southampton. Beckford though has apologised to Grayson and the bad news for Pools fans is that he will more than likely resume his place up-front on Saturday. Leeds have no other injury worries and have a full squad to choose from.
Score prediction - in my opinion when we play the so-called "big clubs" we seem to have a defeatist attitude that has us beat even before we go out and kick a ball, all the bigging up of our opponents before the game and how lucky we are just to be in the same division as them - i can't see this being any different. Sadly, i think we'll get a proper pasting on Boxing Day.
4-0 to Leeds.
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