Raj Singh on transfers, backing Matthew Bates and Hartlepool's bid to land an ex-Premier League striker

Pools have seen their fine reduced - here's why

The owner, who saved the club from financial ruin last season, has also revealed Pools almost signed a “high-profile, ex-Premier League player” but the deal fell through over finance.

In his Blue Print programme notes, Singh said: “You will have noticed that a couple of players have gone out of the club in recent weeks. We know we need to try and get more goals in to the side.

“I also know what Matty and Craig (Hignett), along with the rest of the management team, are working hard to rectify that - whether it’s by working on different systems or by bringing in new personnel to help us achieve our targets.

“To give you an example of the work going on in the background, we were pretty close to being able to sign a high-profile ex-Premier League player a couple of weeks ago. It fell through in the end because the deal wasn’t right for the club and we’re not going to force things through just to get a big name in the club.”

Singh admits Pools management team and the boardroom are all singing from the same hymn sheet in terms of transfers.

He continued: “We have come a long way in quite a short space of time but we understand there is still a long way to go.

“No one at the club is satisfied, thinking we have done our jobs - everyone is working hard and nobody more than so than the management team.

“The manager isn’t knocking down my door wanting players in for the sake of it.

“We’ve seen clubs in the past rush in to signings and make mistakes - it won’t happen again.

“We will back the manager to bring in players to improve the squad but the whole thing has to be right for the club.”