Hartlepool United head into 2026 with National League play-off hopes still alive - but can Pools steal into top seven?

Amidst all the managerial changes, high profile summer departures, not to mention the relentless drama away from the pitch, perhaps the most remarkable thing about 2025 is that Pools will end the year still in with a fighting chance of securing a National League play-off place.

Pools have moved, almost, to within striking distance of the top seven, something many fans must surely have found hard to imagine when Simon Grayson was sacked in October following a miserable run of just one win in 11 matches.

Certainly, it's been an up-and-down season for Pools, a feeling fans have come to know all too well at Victoria Park.

Following a dramatic summer on and off the pitch during which Pools made headlines, often for all the wrong reasons, there was a renewed sense of optimism ahead of the 2025/26 campaign.

Given all that had gone before - Raj Singh's sudden decision to resign as chairman, the dramatic collapse of takeover negotiations, Singh's bitterly-contested return as well as the controversial handling of head coach Anthony Limbrick's departure - it is remarkable that Pools started the season so full of hope.

Yet, as it is often said, it is the hope that kills you and the new campaign has certainly not turned out as many fans would have been dreaming.

Despite a number of high profile departures over the summer, not least the talismanic Mani Dieseruvwe, who scored 43 goals in 89 games during a prolific spell at Victoria Park, as well as the long-serving Joe Grey, Pools welcomed a whole host of new signings and there was a general feeling among fans that the squad had, on balance, been strengthened.

Led by new manager Grayson, who arrived with four promotions in the Football League already to his name, Pools had managed to secure the signings of the likes of Alex Reid, who scored 17 goals in 32 matches during a prolific spell at Wealdstone last term, Danny Johnson and Jermaine Francis, who arrived having impressed on loan at Braintree for much of the 2024/25 season, as well as a raft of new defensive additions.

Indeed, when Pools made an almost perfect start to the new campaign, taking 10 points from the first 12 available without conceding a goal, fans were already beginning to put one of the most dramatic and divisive summer's in the club's entire history well behind them.

That was, of course, until the wheels started to fall off and Pools slipped out of the National League's top seven and started hurtling towards the bottom half as goals - and, indeed, wins - began to dry up.

Although many supporters felt the sudden decision to sack Grayson in October was harsh and symptomatic of Singh's notorious lack of patience when it comes to hiring and firing managers - after all, Pools were still just four points outside the play-off places at the time of his departure - it is also true that there were some pretty major issues beginning to emerge.

While Grayson's pragmatic approach might have helped solidify his side defensively, it had come at a considerable cost in attacking sense and Pools were, to all intents and purposes, an increasingly blunt instrument towards the end of his time in charge.

Although Grayson might, with some justification, point to bad luck with injuries all over the pitch as well as a difficult run of fixtures that saw his side take on the likes of Forest Green Rovers, Carlisle and York in quick succession, Pools were beginning to look more and more like a mid-table side under his stewardship.

Step forward Nicky Featherstone, the club's third highest appearance-maker of all-time, who replaced Grayson, initially on an interim basis, following his departure in October.

Although the 37-year-old could hardly have endured a worse start to life in the dugout as Pools were dumped out of the FA Cup in ignominious fashion at the fourth qualifying round stage by Northern Premier League Premier Division side Gainsborough Trinity, Featherstone went on to lead his side on an impressive run of seven National League matches unbeaten.

Not only did that see Pools revive their faltering play-off hopes, it was enough to secure Featherstone the manager's job until the end of the season ahead of a looming "review of performance" set to decide his fate at the end of the campaign.

With that in mind, Featherstone will be concerned by his side's recent results since he was appointed permanent boss, in particular the humiliating FA Trophy defeat at the hands of Northern Premier League Division One Midlands outfit Anstey Nomads.

Yet there remains a genuine feeling that Pools have what it takes, at least, to challenge for a play-off place this season.

The next few weeks promise to be a real test of their promotion credentials, with Pools set to host sixth-placed Scunthorpe, one of their direct rivals for a coveted play-off place, on Boxing Day before making the trip to league leaders Rochdale on December 30.

While 2025 might well go down as a year that has been, for the most part, remarkable for all the wrong reasons, Pools fans will surely be hoping that 2026 might prove to be memorable for all the right ones.