From Deadpool to Dead Pools: a season of abject misery for Hartlepool United

How Hartlepool United fell back into the abyss during the worst season in the club’s history. 

“The ambition has always been that if the new players gel in, we should be there or thereabouts with the play-offs. It hasn't been the best of starts, but I think if we can put some results together there is no reason why we can't be up there.
"It seems like a big ask at the moment, but I am confident we are going to start putting some points on the board.”
Raj Singh, Sky Sports News. September 9, 2022.

By the time the Chairman had spoken to Keith Downie, the broadcaster’s North East man, he was already seeking his second permanent manager of the season. There was still another one to come later. 

Singh couldn’t have been more wrong about the play-offs – don’t forget he had already spoke of a ‘play-off budget’ - while bizarrely claiming there was “no reason why we can’t be up there.”

(Note: back in 2011, the Darlington chairman claimed after sacking boss Mark Cooper that: “I feel I have to make it clear to our supporters that if budgets determined league positions, we'd be guaranteed a play-off place this season.”)

He was, however, spot on when of Pools he reckoned of the play-offs: “It seems like a bit ask at the moment.”

To be fair, it was one of the very few things he managed to get right throughout the most miserable of campaigns. 

Hartlepool United have been paying for four managers in one season: Graeme Lee still under contract, in came Paul Hartley who was paid up, replaced by Keith Curle who was paid up, replaced in turn by John Askey, who remains on the pay roll and in charge next season.

 

A pre-season of Sunday League proportions set the tone from day one. 

Not since Bob Moncur missed the preparations ahead of the 1989/90 season in favour of a long-standing sailing commitment around the Med, have Pools been as desperately pitiful at the start of a new campaign. They lost the opening games of both seasons 4-0 away from home. This time there was no Cyril Knowles to turn the ship around. 

However, Stephen Hobin, Chief Operating Officer before his exit in the New Year, was boasting about a pre-season campaign of award-winning dimensions.

He said: “Keith [McGrath, former fitness coach] and myself have worked closely to create a plan we believe is one of the best in the club’s history that incorporates Keith's expertise in designing the necessary fitness programme the players will need, alongside a carefully planned pre-season fixture schedule I have put together, building up the intensity for the team to be ready on 30th July when the season kicks off.”

So Pools went to Portugal with new boss Hartley and his sidekick Gordon Young. 

Hobin took his shorts and flip-flops, but should have taken his boots as a woefully threadbare squad was boosted by the attendance of a hapless Portuguese midfielder who had been playing in the fourth division in his homeland to make up the numbers in a 2-0 defeat. 

Centre-half Neill Byrne travelled, but headed home early to complete a move to Tranmere. 

Meanwhile, a graphic on Pools website promoting the game had it as being played at Easter Road, Hibs’ home in Edinburgh. It was one of many social media posts throughout the season which missed the mark by miles; embarrassingly making jokes of new corner flags another. 

But none of them more so than a photo of Singh with Gary Pallister and Bryan Robson posted before the deflating 2-0 defeat at Salford in April. It was deleted shortly after the second goal went in, but just like anything removed social media, the ghost is still out there. 

Pools also promised to auction off the special one-off Errea kit supplied by Motiv8 which was worn against Hibs for charity. Raffle tickets have yet to be sold. 

The club did – using an outside media agency – produce a smart video for social media to unveil the new kit, designed by Errea, an Italian-based company.

Home shirts were well received and sold well. The club shop was well stocked and a huge improvement, but for anyone who knew, it was simple – and cheaper - to buy one direct from a member of staff who was offering them for sale as a private enterprise away from the club shop. 

It was at the training camp, where Hartley started to exert his influence. 

He banished Antony Sweeney to the sidelines and he officially went back to the Academy. The Scot planned a staff night out in the Algarve, but excluded Sweeney. It is understood club captain Nicky Featherstone refused to join the management in a show of support for the well-respected first-team coach. 

Days later, Hartley cancelled a pre-season game at St Mirren, citing injuries and a lack of options. 

So Pools signed a string of players to boost the numbers. “Delighted to sign…” was the Hartley, player and club website script repeated time and time and time again.

Jake Hastie, Brody Paterson, Reghan Tumily, Euan Murray and Muhamed Niang all arrived from Scotland. Delightful they weren’t.

Hastie had been at Rangers, but failed to make his mark at Ibrox. It was the same at the Suit Direct Stadium, where the abiding moment of his first season – still under contract for another year remember – was to run 60 yards across the pitch to put in a tackle in an FA Cup replay with Solihull. 

The arrivals proved abject, just like the boss. They say a team mirrors the image of their manager: Pools were dishevelled, raggy and unkempt. 

Bryn Morris is of Hartlepool stock and on loan at his hometown club, with a deal in place for a permanent move last summer. 

Instead, Hartley didn’t want him and the midfielder admitted the situation wasn’t dealt with well.

After a move to Grimsby, he said: “I am a Hartlepool lad. I think the manager that brought me in obviously got sacked and the new manager said: ‘Look, I want to bring in my own players.’

“To be honest, I think the way it was handled, if I’m being brutally honest, was really unprofessional. Just in terms of the communication and little bits and bobs that I won’t go into. It left a bit of a sour taste to be fair.”

Pools had earlier appointed, under former boss Lee (someone engrained in the club who couldn’t have made anywhere near the mess of pre-season Hartley did) a head of recruitment.

Quite what Chris Trotter knew of the talent from north of the Border is anyone’s guess, as Hartley got his men. 

It’s fair to say Trotter and Lee had a better standard of footballer lined up before the manager was unceremoniously dumped.

Maybe, as Singh said, Hartley did have a budget of play-off proportions. If so it was wasted. 

Lee was sacked on May 5. Hartley appointed on June 3. 

Singh left the job of finding a new boss to senior advisor Lee Rust and non-executive director Adrian Bevington. 

Hartley wasn’t their first choice and, after his dismissal, Singh, royally chucked Bevington under the bus: "Paul's appointment came about when Adrian [Bevington] made a call to an agent in Scotland to enquire about another manager who had been very successful up there. However, he was told that particular manager is happy where he is and put Paul Hartley’s name forward.

"At that time, I didn't know anything about Paul Hartley.”

Hobin, who also promised regular six-weekly meetings with the various fan groups, had earlier claimed: “We are now in the latter stages of a meticulous process and we are taking the necessary time to ensure we make the correct decision that the Chairman and the Board are confident will be the right manager to take the club forward.”

Bevington is one of English football’s most respected and well-connected administrators and gave up his time free of charge to be part of the board. He could have brought so much to the business and organisation, but instead became another name scratched from the staff list. 

 

On the pitch and the standard was set from the first game of the season, as Pools lost meekly 4-0 at Walsall. It was a shambolic way to start another new era. 

Danny Johnson, on loan from Mansfield, scored a hat-trick. He was lined up by Lee for a move to Pools before the boss was dumped. 

Pools looked unfit and unorganised. Those traits lingered under Hartley. The first instinct of the players at times was to pass the ball backwards. They certainly didn’t go forward much, scoring eight in 11 games, as they shipped 21 in winning one of Hartley’s 11 games. 

After the 4-0 rollover at Blackburn in the Carabao Cup, a long-serving home official claimed he had never, in over 15 years of working at Ewood Park, heard a manager scream and abuse his players verbally and aggressively in the manner Hartley did. 

Ahead of their first home game, a 0-0 draw with AFC Wimbledon, Singh claimed in the match programme: “I have to say, I’m very pleased with the business we have done so far because I feel we are a million miles ahead of where we were this time last year.”

The chance of a first League 2 win for Hartley was squandered in a home game with Crewe when Pools conceded from their right-side. It was an area patrolled by Tumilty, who had ran himself into the ground, but such was the paucity of Hartley’s fitness regime he could no longer race back from a sortie forward and the visitors exploited the hole. 

By the time Hartley conducted his final post-match interview after a routine loss at Sutton, giving pathetic short, sharp answers to the club’s press officer, the game was up. 

His sparky nature wasn’t fitting in with Pools. His attitude and outlook meant he never fitted in with what this club should be all about. Yes, he came from Scotland but he was no Neale Cooper…

He went back home to take over at Cove Rangers, the club from where he came last summer. They were relegated from the Scottish Championship. Two relegations in a season is some achievement. 

His record for the season reads: P29 W3 D8 L18 F18 A66 

“I have to say, I’m very pleased with the business we have done so far because I feel we are a million miles ahead of where we were this time last year.”

By now, Hobin’s profile was much lower. Happy to take the plaudits and praise over the summer as he made his vows, he deleted social media after coming in for flak when things swiftly dropped off a cliff. 

He did, however, surface at a club event where supporters were invited to attend and ask questions to key figures. Hobin said: “We’ve turned a profit for the first time in 10 years – that helps our goal to make this a self-sustaining football club that will be here for generations to come.”

Pools announced before a home game with Crewe that Chris Maguire had signed. 

“Hartlepool United are delighted to announce the signing of Chris Maguire. The experienced forward joins on a permanent deal after recently leaving Lincoln City FC.”

They said he could be available to face Crewe. He never appeared, after he was signed following a FA charge for betting irregularities.

Keith Curle replaced Hartley and took over the situation: “You’ve got the football club, then you’ve got Chris, Chris’ agent, then you’ve got the PFA, then you’ve got the EFL and then you’ve got the actual case that's being brought against Chris.

“It’s between the EFL, the PFA, the player, the players’ agent and the football club with the wording of a contract.

“I think a contract was offered and it got rejected, firstly, by the PFA and then the EFL.”

So did Pools jump the gun by announcing his arrival? There was an agreement in place, nothing more, but the contract was rejected by the FA. 

Club and player parted ways and Maguire was later found guilty by the FA.

To replace Hartley, in came Curle. His first job was to try and engineer some sort of pre-season programme into his unfit charges. 

Hartley didn’t believe in sports science, apparently of the belief that he could see if his players were fit and how hard they were working. 

Curle and No 2 Colin West did get them more organised and fitter. To be fair it wouldn’t have taken much, such was the low base they were starting from. 

 

One of their first tasks was to get Sweeney back into the fold and on the training ground. But never mind coaching, he could still probably have improved the playing squad. 

The new duo, however, were stuck with an imbalanced squad. 

Following the exodus of players (think about how many of those who left over the summer who would be an improvement on those who arrived in their place?), Curle had a squad low on confidence. 

The manager had quite recently enjoyed success in this division with Carlisle and Northampton. He had also suffered a miserable time last season at relegated Oldham.

His stint at Pools was more Boundary Park than Brunton Park. In 40 games at Oldham his record was W9, D9, L22. At Pools, when he exited in February it was W7, D7, L15. 

He did secure an uptick and made Pools look more of a team at first. 

But five points from nine was followed by a run of five successive defeats as Pools were shown up by an Everton Under-21 side 6-0 at Victoria Park. It was the last game that back-up keeper Kyle Letheren appeared after his mobility, or lack of it, was ruthlessly exposed. 

Pools went to Barrow in November, lost 3-1 and had to use Barrow’s physio to treat the players, as Pools didn’t have one of their own. Michael Harding left his position earlier than anticipated. Harding himself had replaced Stephen Haywood, who in turn replaced the much-respected club stalwart Buster Gallagher.

Derek Wright, Newcastle United’s former long-serving physio, was brought out of retirement to work at the training ground with the Pools squad. 

Borrowing the opposition physio is something of a Sunday League standard, not befitting of a professional operation. 

Curle was a temporary appointment and then, on the day Stockport County visited, was handed an 18-month contract, described by Singh in his programme notes as “The best man manager I have worked alongside”.

If it was all about timing to prove a point and make a statement it didn’t end well. 

Full time: Raj Singh 0, Dave Challinor 5. 

The visiting manager should still have been in the home dug out, but the relationship between owner and manager had disintegrated over time. 

When Stockport came calling, with an upturn in wages, the chance to move closer to home, and the promise of a healthy budget, it was a no-brainer. 

Challinor had told privately that his playing budget would be drastically cut if Pools hadn’t prevailed against Torquay at Ashton Gate and escaped the National League.

Singh later told of holding back part of the manager’s playing budget after promotion amid delayed contract talks. The chairman also, rather bizarrely, later claimed that Challinor’s fist-pumps to the crowd after victories were a tool to turn supporters against him. 

A man who got Pools promoted from non league should have been backed to the hilt, handed the keys to the kingdom after going up. 

Instead, the door was locked. Negotiations about a fresh deal took until September 24 to be resolved. 

The promotion-winning manager didn’t make a big issue of it, playing down questions in press conferences about it. 

Equally he didn’t gloat on his winning return to the Suit Direct Stadium. 

Curle was working with an imbalanced squad low on quality and short of numbers. 

He made out of contract signings outside the transfer window, some who won’t even make a footnote in the club’s history. 

Theo Robinson anyone? Or Chris Missilou? 

Pools and Singh promised much in the January window. Top drawer strikers were lined up and Singh wrote openly of the aims and ambitions. 

He penned in the match programme: “We have made enquiries and bids to clubs on four top strikers. Two from League One, and two from League Two are both in double figures with half of the season played.”

None of them arrived, albeit with one of the targets rejecting the move at the last minute. Danny Johnson was again on the list. 

Instead, they later signed Leon Clarke. A 38-year-old striker who had played a minute of competitive football in a year and had been on trial at Arbroath. Little wonder he was abject. 

A man who got Pools promoted from non league should have been backed to the hilt, handed the keys to the kingdom after going up. Instead, the door was locked. Negotiations about a fresh deal took until September 24 to be resolved.

Pools ended up delivering late, with a raft of much-needed deadline day signings. 

It didn’t seem to be too structured and joined up, given the amount of players arriving in the final hours of the window. They needed another new team to give any hope of beating the drop. 

Dan Dodds was a success, Dan Kemp a revelation for a spell as he looked like he was single-handedly keeping Pools up, Jakub Stolarczyk arrived from Leicester and was an upgrade on Ben Killip. 

The rest? It was more about numbers and trying to engineer a new outlook. Quantity after being promised quality. Strikers didn’t arrive as boasted of. And does anyone actually recall anything about Tayt Trusty? 

Dodds scored the winner late at Doncaster to send 1,000 travelling fans into raptures. There was hope. 

But again, too many games passed Curle’s side by. They lacked ambition and drive. Losing at Crewe on Valentine’s Day meekly was as weak as the way they rolled over at Carlisle. 

But it ended with a home defeat to Newport. Pools had stormed back from 2-0 down at Wimbledon to draw 2-2 deep into injury time. 

They took zero momentum into that home game days later, offering nothing as Newport eased to victory. Pools lacked tactical acumen, a game plan or an attacking output. Clarke’s second-half cameo was especially pitiful. 

The final whistle felt like the end for Curle, his side booed off and the manager hounded. 

He went the next day, with John Askey installed 24 hours later. 

 

The former York boss, similar in the way Curle improved things from Hartley, did lift the squad up a notch.

It’s fair to say if Curle had remained in charge, Pools would have been down long before relegation was confirmed. 

The squad started to enjoy training again, as Askey overviewed proceedings, allowing Sweeney to run the sessions with the manager stepping in to stop things and pass on his advice and wisdom when he wasn’t happy with something. 

There was also more advice and analysis on the opposition filtered down to the squad, which was well received. 

The players looked bored under Curle, but played with more energy and organisation under Askey. 

They even managed to go eight games unbeaten, but won only two, when they needed to win four of them. 

Yet they could have done so. At Tranmere, Kemp missed a sitter at the death and Pools were already denied victory by a shocking penalty decision going against them, Northampton scored a leveller from a corner routine that should never have been allowed, Wes McDonald and Kemp both struck the woodwork against Orient. 

At home to Stevenage, Murray somehow blasted over from inside the six-yard area and Oli Finney missed a last-gasp sitter. 

The Easter weekend exertions took it out of the squad. A stunning win at Grimsby was as good as it gets, Kemp becoming the idol after a killer hat-trick. Quite what the MK Dons loanee will think when he looks back at his career and sees the signature of Pools’ media officer on the match ball with the rest of the squad is anyone’s guess. 

But after giving their all in the second-half against Stevenage 48 hours later and only coming off with a point, the sight of the players hitting the desk at the final whistle displayed their dejection. 

It was a game they should have won and Askey later accepted that mentally and physically the game took it out of them. They were playing above themselves for eight games solid and couldn’t go a step further. 

And from then, they never recovered. 

Defeats at Newport and Salford were as meek as those suffered under Curle. Askey couldn’t lift the malaise and their performance in a do or die game with Crawley was shameful, before relegation was confirmed after a 3-1 win over Barrow.

To add more grist to the Pools mill, two players seemingly refused to play in the final home game, as McDonald and Mo Sylla were absent. “I’ve met some of the most selfish individuals I’ve ever met in football,’’ said Askey.

And, after all that, Pools were condemned to a quick return to the National League. 

 

 

The club is now up for sale. Putting the club up for sale and selling are two different things and it is hoped for a swift resolution to the process to allow Pools to plan coherently for the future. 

"Plans have been put together and the manager will receive a budget of around one-third higher than the one that got us promoted a few years ago if we go into the National League," Singh said in a statement before relegation was confirmed [once again, the playing budget was mentioned]. 

"As a local person I stepped in to help Hartlepool United when it was in danger of ceasing to exist and I have done my utmost.

"Despite what some people might want to believe or portray, the club is in a much more secure position behind the scenes than when I arrived.

"I find some of the comments that are being made and the abuse that myself, my family and some staff have received incredibly difficult to hear and digest.”

Singh, who will always have some credit for stepping in when he did in the hour of need, did come in for some flak in the Crawley game, and he left his seat to watch the final stages from the directors’ suite. He didn’t attend the final home game. 

He added: “This comes as an incredibly tough decision, perhaps the toughest I have ever had to make, but I will formally be putting the club up for sale.”

"As a local person I stepped in to help Hartlepool United when it was in danger of ceasing to exist and I have done my utmost. Despite what some people might want to believe or portray, the club is in a much more secure position behind the scenes than when I arrived."

Pools could have been sold in 2020. An approach was made to buy the club, but talks didn’t progress far after Singh became involved.

Jeff Stelling revealed at a recent talk-in in the town that he spoke to a New York lawyer during a Zoom call when it was ALL about buying Pools and taking over at Victoria Park. No other club was mentioned during the introductions. 

NDAs were signed, Stelling passed the mantle over and the trail went dead. 

Months later, the Hollywood A-listers were confirmed as Wrexham’s new owners. 

A former Football League club, a working-class and storied town, with a firm and passionate fan base, and the potential to build something and gain momentum; the similarities between both clubs at the time were clear. 

One club grabbed the opportunity and is the focus of worldwide attention, headlines galore and the owners talk of ambition and the Premier League. 

The other has just swopped places with them and is in a place of great uncertainty.

The Daily Mail recently reported, clearly after being steered by the chairman: “The story, as told by Hartlepool chairman Raj Singh, starts with a phone call from an intermediary in 2020 acting on behalf of ‘two super rich American investors’. Singh says he was told: ‘You’ll be amazed when you find out their names.’

Yet Singh did not take kindly to this secrecy. Nor did he like the snooping behind his back (he claims others at Hartlepool were approached before him, including Jeff Stelling apparently). Or the way stories were being leaked to local newspaper The Northern Echo (he claims they wanted to turn the fans against him).

In the end, Singh said no deal, still not knowing the names of the mystery men.”

Three guesses who they were …..Hollywood COULD and SHOULD have bought Hartlepool. 

If they had then, Pools would be in a better position both on and off the pitch. 

 

The club recently had to pay a former bar manager over £3,500 for unlawful deduction of wages, following a court case. 

It is understood that the case brought by Danielle Kearns is not the only time an employee has had to engage in proceedings against the club. 

Last summer, and Pools have already repeated the outlook this time around as we enter the close season, Pools vowed to improve the matchday experience. 

The much-maligned ticketing system is being replaced by a more user friendly operation, with mobile and digital access at the heart of it. 

There is, however, a lot more to do to win supporters over again. 

Bars and catering kiosks inside the Suit Direct Stadium are regularly closed, they run out of food and hot drinks too often, and it takes too long to get served. 

Rose Stoker, the club’s head of commercial and operations, last summer said: “The chairman is very clear when he says we are an ambitious club and that’s off the field too and I feel it’s important the fans are given the best experience when they come into the ground and leave. 

“Fans will be served a lot quicker with contactless. 

“We are looking at the speakers and we know it’s not good enough. It’s definitely on the priority list.”

The speakers remain silenced and remain a source of loud frustration for supporters. Only around a third of them inside the Suit Direct Stadium actually work.

Hobin’s legacy at the club is the attractive deal with Suit Direct and he deserves credit for the arrangement. 

A three-season deal was agreed, the ground renamed and dramatically spruced up, both externally and internally, before Suit Direct then became shirt sponsors. 

Pools, however, needed a new name on their home shirts after Orangebox ended their deal. The Hartlepool-based training company proudly sponsored the new kits for Pools return to the EFL. 

But they felt undervalued and were unhappy with the relationship and lack of communication from the club over time. The business is no longer involved with Pools and instead became a corporate sponsor of Newcastle United. 

Orangebox were the second town-based shirt sponsor of Pools in recent years. 

Utility Alliance, no longer around after going into administration, signed the biggest sponsorship the club has ever had when relegation arrived in 2017. 

The three-year deal saw instalments paid up front to help the club through their financial crisis. However, they too were snubbed when the club tied a deal with Super 6.

The deal with UA came to an end (long before the Marina-based business went under) without anyone from the club enquiring about the possibility of an extension. 

Let’s all hope the club’s promises about improving the fan experience and engaging with the town prove the case, whoever remains in charge and whoever owns the club. 

 

Pools were riding a wave after promotion. One respected Hartlepool figurehead said that while the town had been awarded millions of pounds in government regeneration money, it was mere pennies compared to what Pools had done to give everyone a lift. 

He was right. A football club is the bedrock of a town. A successful and winning team and everyone feels better for it. 

Instead, as Challinor’s era came to an end – don’t forget how poor the away form was after promotion so it wasn’t all quite sunshine and champagne – things have slipped away dramatically. 

Some sections of support didn’t want Lee in charge. They were critical of his brand of football. Under Lee, Pools reached the fourth round of the FA Cup, the semi-final of the Papa John’s Trophy and were safe in League 2 long before the season ended. 

Be careful what you wish for….

The turnover of staff and players in two years since promotion has been shocking. This season, the most abject of them all, saw Pools give 32 (yes, THIRTY TWO) players their debuts. 

Since promotion – so that’s two seasons – there’s been a total of 122 in and out of the football side. 

That breaks down into: 

• Five managers 
• Six assistant managers 
• Three goalkeeping coaches
• Three fitness coaches
• Six physios
• Three heads of recruitment / sporting directors
• Two kitmen. 
• 42 players out
• 52 players in. 

One key player last summer admitted privately after his exit that he only hoped Pools had enough to stay in the league. He saw what was happening as a successful squad was dismantled and his fears were realised. 

Some players wanted to leave last summer (and have not hit the heights they – Timi Odusina and Luke Molyneux especially - enjoyed at Pools under Lee since they walked away in search of more money), some were forced out. Gary Liddle would have stayed, but there was no-one at the managerless club able to make a decision on his future after South Shields offered a two-year contract and a pay rise. 

Gavan Holohan left, but was edging for an exit, and the management became frustrated with him before he sealed a deal at Grimsby. 

Successful teams have stability. They enjoy continuity throughout, both on and off the pitch. Stability and continuity are not associated with Pools. 

Expect more changes in the squad; how many will want to stay? How many should stay? How many deserve to stay? How many are good enough to stay? 

Askey is the tenth manager in the six years since Pools were first relegated to the National League. Wrong appointments have long been the norm at Victoria Park, even going back longer to the IOR era, when Martin Scott and Paul Murray were as bad as any coronation.

Askey is expected remain in charge, although if and when a takeover happens then that could be open to conjecture. 

He has already enjoyed a title winning season in the National League, when he led Macclesfield into the EFL in 2017, ironically at the expense of relegated Pools.

But the division is a different beast today, it is equally another challenge to the one Pools came through in 2021.

That memorable day at Bristol should be savoured, the players and management cherished in the Pools history books; because after all success doesn’t come around too often for the 11 bold lads from the far-off north…