Lee Clark's intriguing response with Hartlepool United among National League promotion favourites

Lee Clark insists his hard-working Hartlepool United squad will remain humble.

Lee Clark insists his hard-working Hartlepool United squad will remain humble in public regards their targets this season - but admits there is ‘no ceiling’ to what they can achieve.

While the Pools boss is eager to keep a lid on promotion talk this season, that is clearly the intended target and with 14 new players arriving at The Vic this summer, the expectation is high for a successful season. Pools host Barrow in the opening day of the National League on Saturday (KO 3pm). Ahead of the game, Clark has been speaking about how he and the Pools players will approach the new season.

Speaking at Pools’ Maiden Castle training base in Durham, Clark said: “There's no ceiling to what the aims are. As I said at the start, we've talked about it every day as a staff and a group of players. We know what we want to do and what we're setting out to do. We're not going to shout it in the public domain and, you know, we're not like that.

“We're humble, we want to work hard and we know every game's going to be tough. But like I've said all along, and I keep repeating it, I've managed against this club in League One. I've seen the successful cup runs they've had many, many years ago and been witness to that from the stands. I want those days to come back to the football club and I want to give the fans something to shout about. It's been a little bit hard for them over the last few years, but they've shown their support with the season ticket sales and the numbers that would be expected to come to the ground so we've got to give them something back as well,” he told BBC Tees Sport.

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