At the beginning of April, I wrote an article looking at a potential Great Escape as they had clawed their way to within touching distance of Crawley Town at the foot of the League Two table, and had to play their closest rivals at home. Since then, things haven’t worked out well for the men from Victoria Park.
The Paul Hartley Days
It has been a season of upheaval in the manager’s office at Victoria Park, with three permanent managers taking the reins of the club during the 2022-23 season. They started the season under the guidance of former Celtic midfielder and Cove Rangers manager Paul Hartley, who was newly appointed in the summer after guiding Cove to the Scottish Championship.
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Hartley saw somewhat of an overhaul of the playing squad, losing players such as Player of the Year Luke Molyneux and replacing with no fewer than 12 players coming in the door before the end of August. The manager wasn’t to last too much longer than the end of the school holiday himself as he was shown the door in mid-September having not won a league game in charge of the club.
Keith Curle To The Rescue?
Following the dismissal of the winless Hartley, Chairman Raj Singh brought in former England defender and Carlisle United manager Keith Curle in a bid to reverse the club’s fortunes. The change looked to have had an immediate impact with Curle’s men picking up 5 points from a possible 9 in his first 3 games at the helm.
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However, he would go on to then suffer 5 consecutive defeats and would win only 5 more matches in League Two before he too was dismissed by Singh in February having only signed a deal to the end of the 2023-24 season in December. Curle left Hartlepool 1 point above the drop zone but having played 4 games more than rivals Crawley who sat below them.
Hartlepool Under John Askey
The appointment of the new manager perhaps didn’t bring what could be described as a bounce to Pools but it certainly made them tougher to beat and they began to add vital points to their tally, drawing his first 5 games and winning the 6th to get within touching distance of the Red Devils. The 2-1 home win against Swindon Town was followed on Good Friday by a thumping 4-1 away win at Grimsby Town and a positive draw against promotion-chasing Stevenage 3 days later. These results left Hartlepool 1 point above the drop zone and in control of their destiny – the Great Escape well and truly on!
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However, since the very fruitful Easter weekend where Pools took their unbeaten run to 8 games, there have been 3 defeats on the bounce including the hugely disappointing and likely season-defining loss to Crawley on Saturday. For their part, Crawley has taken 7 points from the 9 available over the same period and have given themselves a 6-point gap with as many to play for meaning it would take an Easter-style miracle for Hartlepool to be playing League Two football next season.
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What Next For Hartlepool United?
Well, without being crass Poolies, you’d have to say National League football for the 2023-24 season. The gap of 6 points and 6 goals seems too much to do to bring about safety so planning for next season will begin in earnest following last Saturday’s defeat.
The first question mark will be over the manager, John Askey. He arrived late in the day in a final attempt to save Hartlepool’s season and place in the 92 but now that looks to have failed will he be the man in the dugout come the start of the new season?
Will he want to stay at the newly relegated club, or will he believe that he will be able to find a club in the league after his reputation perhaps wasn’t too damaged by this relegation as he only had a short time in charge? Alternatively, will the club feel he is the right man to take them forward after only winning 2 matches in the 11 he had in charge?
Whoever is in the dugout come the summer will have a big task on their hands to shape a squad that can compete successfully in what is an incredibly tough and demanding league. With the managerial changes has come a large squad but one that has many players nearing the end of their contracts, players such as top scorer Josh Umerah and all of the current first-team goalkeepers. Umerah, as a summer signing from Wealdstone, has found the net 12 times this season and will surely be attracting Football League interest.
Then there are loan players who will be heading back to their parent clubs, such as Dan Kemp who will return to MK Dons after (at present) 11 goal involvements in his 15 games. In all, no less than 16 players are down to be leaving the club this summer.
Whilst the squad was perhaps inflated, it won’t be easy filling the gaps left by key players such as Umerah and shaping a squad that has seen so many enter and exit over the last season will be a challenge for the person in charge. Goals have been hard to come by for Hartlepool, with only Umerah and Kemp bagging more than 5 so a goal scorer will be high on the list for the manager, as well as tying down a number one for the new season.
Writer’s View
After another difficult season for the club, fans will surely want stability first and foremost and for the club to compete towards the upper echelons of the National League next season. Stability can be provided by having a manager in charge for more than just a few months and allowing them to bring in their own players and ship out those they don’t require.
Of course, I am not privy to the sort of budget that the club will be operating with next year and so predicting who they could and couldn’t sign is an impossible task. However, they may look at players such as Torquay United’s Aaron Jarvis who has 15 goals in an almost relegated side or players like Kurt Willoughby and Nick Haughton of Chester and AFC Fylde respectively who both have 20 goals in the National League North and are nearing the end of their contracts.
With some sensible signings of players who have had success at the level along with some shrewd loan market moves, Pools should be looking to stabilise next season and build foundations for moving forward. I don’t see them challenging for an immediate automatic return to League Two due to the strength of the teams already in that division but would likely predict a top-half finish with a brief flirtation with the playoff places.
I am, of course, looking at this from the outside and I would love to know what Hartlepool fans are thinking. What has gone wrong at your club? How can the problems be fixed? What would a (realistic) successful season look like in 2023-24?
