Pools Party May Have Gone Flat But Askey Offers Hope

The Hartlepool United fans who spend any amount of their day on social media certainly do.

The relentless coverage of Wrexham over the past three or four months hasn’t escaped anyone.

As undoubtedly enthralling as the daily updates on their Vegas trip have been, the Premier League level publicity is probably only just getting started.

If you’re tired of your twitter feed being cluttered by it all, Pools fans are pretty much exhausted.

Rumour has it that before Ryan Reynolds and Rob McIlheney decided on north Wales, they also had a good look at the north east coast.

How different things could have been for all involved.

Instead, Hartlepool swapped places with Wrexham on the same weekend back in April.

Two years after winning back their EFL place thanks to the Promotion Final classic against Torquay, a progressive first season was followed by a harrowing one.

But at least in John Askey, they come down with someone who knows how to go up.

Some good business has already been done with Kieran Burton, the highly rated Scarborough Athletic defender, in-coming.

Goalkeeper Joel Dixon, a title winner with Barrow three years ago, will be between their posts after a deal was done and there will be more to come.

Like Dave Challinor was quick to stress before he took the club to League Two, fan power will be all-important.

“The supporters are massive for the football club,” said Askey.

“That’s what a football club is about, it’s about the community and the supporters.

“When you talk about football in the North East, I can see why people talk about supporters in this area.

“They are passionate about their football in this area, probably as passionate as you’ll come across.”

The manager has so far not yet spoken directly about the task in hand next term, and their chances of an instant return.

Chairman Raj Singh says he is ready to sell the club - but he claims he won’t wind down his financial commitment until that is complete.

“I wanted to reassure the supporters, players and staff that I will continue to back the club as originally intended,” he said in a statement to supporters.

“Other clubs have shown that this kind of thing can take some time if it is to be done properly with the best outcome.

“Darren Kelly and John Askey are being fully backed financially and they are making good progress with recruitment targets.

“They seem confident that they will have assembled the squad they need come the start of the season with focus to immediately bounce back.”

Good to be back? Well Pools fans are about to find out.