Hartlepool United sporting director gives 'brutally honest' assessment of club identity

Kelly was appointed into a newly created sporting director position at the Suit Direct Stadium in February following the exit of former head of recruitment Chris Trotter.

Kelly had held a similar position with Newport County previously having moved into more consultancy based roles following a spell as a manager.

And it was during his time as a manager with the likes of Oldham Athletic in which Kelly realised the importance of having a figure in a football director role who is able to establish a club identity, something he believes was severely lacking with Hartlepool.

“I think myself, along with the board, have got to create that identity,” Kelly explained in a recent club interview.

“I came into the club and I’ll be honest, there was nothing. There was absolutely nothing there. You talk about the identity of the club, you talk about having a philosophy, a vision – there was nothing there.

“I don’t want to put blame on anything that’s gone on before, but in these roles, as a sporting director, the task is to implement all this to make the club more stable.

“So I can only go from my honest experience of coming in and when I came in there was nothing, and that’s me being brutally honest about it.”

The sporting director role has become more prominent within football as it allows clubs to operate continuously, and somewhat seamlessly, when transitioning through a new manager phase or a squad overhaul – such as what has happened at Hartlepool, perhaps too often, over the last 12 months.

“I don’t think it can ever be a case of the manager just implementing that,” explained Kelly.

“If a manager comes in and puts a style of play in place, say a 3-5-2 and an attractive style of football, and then he recruits the players on the back of that formation, but after a few results he ends up going or he ends up sacked, and a new manager comes in and says he wants to change formation, effectively, the majority of them players are surplus.

“You’re going to be paying out money after money after money.

“What I’ve done previously is I’ve created that identity and created a philosophy that is a club philosophy and a club style of play.

“So when the recruitment process goes through with the manager you can sit down and say ‘this is how we look to play’ and ‘this is our style of play.’

"At least then you know when you’re sitting down there’s a clarity around it.

“The principles may differ slightly within that, but it means when they come in and they adhere to that, players are going to be recruited on the back of that style of play so that when a manager maybe moves on to better things, or whatever that may be, at least then for the next person who comes in it’s all there in place.”