EMBRACE NLD AND DO YOUR BIT FOR CHARITY

NON-LEAGUE DAY is fast approaching – it’s a great opportunity to celebrate this level of the game and raise some vital funds for Prostate Cancer UK, who are teaming up with Vanarama and the National League.

I’d like to think Pools fans are really embracing Non-League. They got to make the trip to Havant & Waterlooville last Saturday, somewhere we’ve never been. It’s an adventure.

Obviously we don’t want it to last for too many years but we can enjoy it all the same.

I mentioned the Harrogate game – their fans were brilliant. Two-one down with seconds to go and they were backing their team like mad.

People who turn up to watch a game on NonLeague Day will see a good standard of football – I think it will surprise them.

The feel of it is also important. You’re very close to the action and it gives you a very different perspective. We could hear everything Martin Allen was barking out at his Chesterfield players recently! It was a brilliant sideshow.

For NLD to be tied in with the charity as well is even better. Vanarama have raised a lot of money in recent years and I’m sure they will over the coming weeks. Anything that can help raise awareness of this terrible disease is fantastic – one man dying every 45 minutes from prostate cancer is a stat we can’t ignore.

The Man of Men badge has become part of footballing life. We see managers in the Premier League wearing it every week. Now I get to go in the posh boardrooms and directors from both sides will be sporting the badge – it’s brilliant to see.