Get it right or more misery will follow! Crisis club Hartlepool in limbo – on and off the pitch

By Chris Dunlavy

ANOTHER year. Another basketcase drops out of the EFL. For Hartlepool fans, the fear is that their club could yet become another York City.

“I couldn’t begin to predict how they’ll get on next season,” admitted former manager Ronnie Moore last week. “How can anyone? The president is gone. They haven’t got a manager. The chairman has resigned and the CEO is trying to sell up.”

After the shattering blow of relegation and the divisive reign of Dave Jones, this week was supposed to herald a new dawn.

Pam Duxbury, the chief exec and acting chairman, announced on May 10 that finding a new manager was her “biggest priority” and that he would be installed by Friday.

Yet at the time of going to print, the dugout remains empty. Early favourite and ex-Hartlepool skipper Sam Collins – part of the coaching set-up before being sacked by Jones – is just edging former Cambridge and Tranmere boss Gary Brabin among several candidates interviewed this week. His odds have tumbled from 20-1 to Evens.

Sources close to the Scouser – who reached the Conference play-off final with Cambridge and Luton – say he is keen to take over and has already drawn up a list of transfer targets.

Either way, a decision is badly needed. Head of recruitment Paul Watson has released nine players and offered three more new contracts. Another, Nathan Thomas, was sold to Sheffield United for a bargain £300,000.

Ambition

But whilst rivals court players, Pools are stuck in limbo. For supporters, the current paralysis is just the latest in a litany of frustrations stretching back to 2015 when Ken Hodcroft, whose company IOR owned the club for 18 years, sold his stake to JPNG.

Though fronted by Gary Coxall, who later became chairman, JPNG’s financial muscle was provided by a silent partner named Peter Goldberg.

Hodcroft, though accused of lacking ambition, had run a tight ship. At handover, the club was effectively debt free.

Initially, signs were good. Coxall gave regular interviews and used twitter to answer fans’ questions. He spoke ambitiously of building the club and emulating Bournemouth‘s rise.

Yet by mid-2016, Goldberg and his cash were gone. Winding-up orders were flying in faster than opposition goals. Wages were delayed, tax bills unpaid.

Amidst this chaos, Coxall bizarrely announced that funding had been secured to buy Victoria Park from the local council and resurrect a five-year-old plan to build shops, hotel and homes on an adjoining site.

Baffled, the council told local media that no deal was in place. Furthermore, it transpired the cash was provided by Access Commercial Finance, a broker run by disbarred director and former strip club owner Matt Haycox. “I’m not interested in dealing with big banks,” explained Coxall.

“You can never talk to the decision maker, you can never get an answer right away. Things move fast in football and property and Access provided us the funding we needed three days after the first call!”

But why the need for speed? Why, for that matter, hotels and shops? It wasn’t like Hartlepool needed them. It looked like distress finance. By December, more cash was needed. This time it came from Sage Ltd, who cleared the Access loan in exchange for a 12.5 per cent stake in JPNG.

Duxbury, a football agent and erstwhile Sage director, was subsequently installed as chief executive and also bought into the club. Coxall was quietly pushed aside. By then, however, the final nail had already been hammered home. On January 18, Jones arrived after three years in the wilderness.

The 60-year-old’s perceived negativity and arrogance upset everyone, from backroom staff and players to local journalists.

Demanding

“He was very demanding,” said a club insider. “He set high standards and didn’t brook any argument. It was basically his way or the highway. He got his way but it destroyed morale.”

Thomas, the winger who left for Sheffield United, put it more bluntly.

“We went from a manager who said the sky’s the limit to one who tells you the only way you are going is down,” said the 22-year-old. “How would that make you feel?”

Coxall sacked Jones, then resigned on May 2, four days before relegation. Duxbury stepped up, announcing a ‘mandate’ from Coxall to explore a move to fan-ownership.

To this end, the Hartlepool United Supporters Trust (HUST) are currently conducting a feasibility study to ascertain the state of the club’s finances. Supporters Direct are involved.

Coxall is said to want £600,000 for his shares but, with debts reportedly scaling £1.2m, he may be forced to negotiate. Either way, a community share issue – as utilised by the likes of Portsmouth – will almost certainly be required to raise funds for a fan-led takeover.

In the meantime, Sage and Duxbury are reluctantly running the club as a means of protecting their investment. Theirs are safe but unambitious hands; whilst a double demotion is unlikely, so is a promotion-chasing budget. That is why time is of the essence for Hartlepool. They need owners with money and drive, whether that is HUST or somebody else. They also need a manager who knows the level and has the contacts to build a competitive squad.

At the minute, Pools have neither. Worse still, they are already playing catch-up. Delay much longer and the coming season could be a write off.