Hartlepool United stalwart issues rallying cry amidst takeover uncertainty

The veteran midfielder, who is the club's third highest appearance maker of all time and is coming to the end of his 11th season at the Prestige Group Stadium, has seen it all during his long stint in the North East. Indeed, Featherstone, who turns 37 in September and is expected to continue playing for at least another season, has been promoted, relegated, scapegoated, written off and even released during a tumultuous decade at Pools. While the metronomic midfielder has always divided opinion among fans, he was a regular in the side that won promotion back to the Football League in 2021 and has stuck by the club through thick and thin, despite offers from elsewhere.

Although no stranger to tough times at the club, the last few months have to rank as among the most dramatic of Featherstone's tenure. Pools have been facing a race against time to attract new investment and secure the club's future following owner Raj Singh's sudden resignation last month, suggesting that "personal abuse and the misrepresentation of information" had made his position "untenable". While many fans had indeed been calling for change, citing frustrations with a perceived lack of vision and ambition, the deterioration of the pitch at the Prestige Group Stadium and a sense of stagnation since relegation back to the National League, there are growing concerns about what might happen if Pools cannot complete a deal with new owners.

Although the club has ostensibly been up for sale since April 2023, when Pools were relegated from League Two, there have always been question marks surrounding Singh's sincerity when it comes to the sale of the club. Previously, the enigmatic owner has proved difficult to get to the negotiating table, while Singh has blasted interested parties as "timewasters" even despite strong rumours of an approach from Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, who celebrated leading Wrexham to promotion to the Championship at the weekend. Yet this time feels different. Singh's public resignation of the chairmanship and his decision not to attend matches both seem to be significant steps as he looks to bring an end to his controversial stewardship of the club. What's more, the acknowledgment, albeit through the interim board, that "acceptable offers" have been tabled represents a sea change; previously, Singh has been notoriously tight-lipped about what goes on in any negotiations.

There's no doubt that this is a daunting time for Pools fans, who of course are no strangers to teetering on the edge of footballing oblivion. As time runs out ahead of Singh's self-imposed May 5 deadline, Pools look set to face a new period of uncertainty after the board revealed it was "highly unlikely" that a takeover would be completed before the end of the season. At best, Pools are now likely to run the risk of losing a number of their star players, many of whom are out of contract this summer; Mani Dieseruvwe, Joe Grey, Nathan Sheron, David Ferguson and Gary Madine could all leave on a free. At worst, Pools could plummet into administration.

Yet Featherstone knows all too well that Pools have been in similar - indeed, even worse - positions before. The midfielder first signed for the club in 2014, the year before Increased Oil Recovery and chairman Ken Hodcroft sold Pools to JPNG. While there was a sense at the time that IOR had taken the club as far as they could, what followed were years of chaos, financial mismanagement, unpaid bills, winding-up petitions and a brush with extinction. Under JPNG and colourful chairman Gary Coxall, Pools almost went out of business and were unable to pay for basic amenities like their electric or laundry bills; indeed, things got so bad that then-manager Craig Harrison's wife washed the team's kits and prepared their pre-match meals. Pools were relegated to the National League for the first time and were faced with three winding-up petitions. It wasn't until Singh, who had been regarded as something of a bogeyman since his role in the liquidation of rivals Darlington, stepped in to pull the club back from the brink in 2018 that fans were able to breathe a sigh of relief.

So, perhaps there are lessons to be learned from the club's recent past. Sceptical supporters might well point to the fact that the grass isn't always greener and there is no guarantee that whoever comes after Singh will be able to take the club forward. Yet it also serves as a reminder that the current predicament, daunting as it might be, is by no means the worst case scenario at this stage. Featherstone, who has been at the forefront of the club through good times and bad, is confident Pools can pull together and emerge from another difficult period in good shape.

"I think there have been other times when it's felt much worse," he said.

"Before Raj, I feel like that was a lot more difficult. We were getting payments late, we weren't being paid throughout the season. We haven't had any of those issues, we've been paid on time and as normal.

"Even so, I understand how the fans are feeling. They're the last to know, there's a lot of uncertainty and it's difficult.

"It's a tough time but we'll get through it as a football club."

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