Takeover latest: Swedish consortium stall on Hartlepool United offer

And, as a result, their interest is being treated with caution by those in power at Victoria Park.

The group headed up by a football agent from Scandinavia have spoken to a string of high-profile businessman on either side of the North Sea about investing in Pools.

The Mail revealed back on February 22 that the group had sounded out Manchester United and Sweden frontman Zlatan Ibrahimovic about joining their bid to wrestle control from Sage Investments and John Blackledge.

Jeff Stelling says Raj Singh is ‘saviour’ and urges Hartlepool fans to welcome him

But the 36-year-old is understood to have politely declined the offer.

That has not stopped the Swedes pressing on with the plans for Pools.

And the Mail has learned that they have managed to get at least one other money man on board with their takeover bid alongside Ostersunds chairman Daniel Kindberg.

Daniel Kindberg in profile: How he transformed Swedish minnows Östersunds and why he is considering investing in Hartlepool United

They have also held talks with a number of other potential investors and are waiting on answers before committing to any deal with Blackledge.

This stalling approach has led to scepticism at the Vic.

FOUR key improvements Pools have made under Matthew Bates

The fear from the Hartlepool end is that this interest may never materialise. There is a suspicion the Swedes could be waiting to see what the club’s league position looks like come the end of the month, when yet more bills are due, with Pools sitting perilously close to the dropzone.

Just three points separate Matthew Bates’s side and fourth-bottom Solihull Moors in the fifth tier.

Should Pools drop to the National League North at the end of the campaign, yet further from a return to the Football League, they become a less interesting prospect to potential investors.

That prospect has not stopped former Darlington chairman Raj Singh agreeing a deal in principle to take over Pools, though, with Jeff Stelling as the frontman.

Singh is understood to be footing most of the bill for this potential venture. Sky Sports presenter Stelling is putting in some of his own personal forture, though, as part of the £1.2million move.

A stalling point in all of this is the legal action against Pools, a completely separate issue to the ongoing Cleveland Police investigation into former chairman Gary Coxall.

Should this issue not be resolved soon, it is difficult to see either Singh or Kindberg’s Swedes taking a punt on Pools.

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One way Kindberg & Co are looking to help the club is by offering to a sponsorship deal.

A package and price list has been sent to the Swedes, who have put forward a proposal to sponsor parts of the club which are yet to be sold, for example executive boxes.

This kind of cash boost could see Pools through to the end of the season.