Hartlepool United hope to conclude swift backroom staff appointment

Harding arrived at the club in the summer after the departure of Stephen Hayward at the end of last season. And Harding has had a busy job on his hands of late owing to the number of injuries within the Hartlepool squad.

Interim manager Curle has been without several of his first team players, with the likes of Jamie Sterry, Rollin Menayese, Alex Lacey, Mark Shelton, Mouhamed Niang and Tom Crawford all still out of action while strikers Jack Hamilton and Josh Umerah picked up potential injuries in the FA Cup first round replay success over Solihull Moors.

Curle revealed he hoped there would be some positive news on the injury front ahead of Hartlepool’s trip to Barrow at the weekend, but that may also include the appointment of a new physio to deal with the current injuries.

“Hopefully [we’ll have one or two others back],” said Curle.

“We’ve got a situation now though where the physio is leaving, so we’re in the midst of finalising somebody else to join the ranks.

“We wish Michael well in his chosen career and forward path but the focus now is on getting a replacement and getting somebody else embedded in.

“It’s something we knew was potentially going to happen because he’s had a job offer and he’s just been waiting for clarification on that. It has come sooner than we expected but we’re on the way with trying to fill that position with good personnel.”