Club legend Micky Barron still remembers the impact the
Victoria Park crowd had on the Pools teams he played in – and is backing the
Barron amassed 374 appearances for the Club in over a decade
as a player, captaining the team to two promotions from League Two and leading
them out in the 2004/05 League One Play-Off Final.The former defender still holds special memories from his
time in blue and white stripes and won't forget the way the home crowd got
behind them during their successes in the 2000s.And despite watching from afar in recent weeks, Barron can
see some similarities growing in the way the team and the fans are coming
together on the back of a great run of recent form.“From what I can see, there seems to be a feel good factorbuilding in the last few weeks,” he told us.
“The results have been brilliant, particularly at home, and
they have picked up points at the right time to help them climb the table and
build some real momentum.“I've only seen snippets of things here and there online but
there has definitely been a mood change and it's almost like the Club and the
fans are coming back together – and it's definitely at the right time.”Barron was part of a Pools squad which set an astonishing Club
record of 28 home league games without defeat between October 2002 and December
2003 as they climbed from League Two and established themselves in League One.And while Dave Challinor's Class of 2019/20 has some way to
go to challenge what Barron and his teammates achieved, they are going in
search of a fifth consecutive Victoria Park win this weekend.It's a run which has taken Pools to the brink of the
National League play-off places and, crucially, got supporters believing that
better times are around the corner after a period of decline in recent years.“It's brilliant to see them putting a run like thattogether, particularly at this point in the season,” added Barron.
“I saw last week that Boreham Wood scored in the first minute
and it reminded me of what we used to do to teams who had travelled a long way –
start at a really high tempo and try to win the game inside twenty minutes.“In those days at home I would compare us to the way
Liverpool are now – I've watched them a few times this season and even when
they're not playing well they never look worried about it.“I remember playing a game at The Vic and we went 2-0 down
but I just looked around and thought “it's okay, we'll still win the game”,
because that was the confidence we had at the time and the crowd was the same,
I don't think anyone got nervy.“Obviously there were times when we lost and the fans weren't
happy but when we conceded or didn't play well there was a still a belief we
could win the game – and I think that we're starting to see that with today's
team now.“Teams didn't like coming to The Vic because of the way we put them under pressure both on the pitch and from the terraces and if we can get that combination going again then it will be a very powerful weapon for Dave Challinor during the run-in.”