Lee Clark reveals conversation with Hartlepool United owner Landon Smith as season ticket sales top 1,000
Lee Clark has been speaking about his meeting with Hartlepool United owner Landon Smith.
The new turf at The Vic - or Prestige Group Stadium - is beginning to show signs of life ahead of the new campaign.
And the club is beginning to move through the gears too with the appointment of new head coach Lee Clark. Clark was interviewed over the weekend and was chosen as the next man to replace Nicky Featherstone in the Pools dugout ahead of what will hopefully prove to be a successful campaign.
Is promotion the aim? Of course it is. Has to be. Pools need to be back in the EFL. Clark made clear that his intention during his time in charge of Pools is to lead them back to League Two, though he stopped short of putting a timescale on it. He and the loyal fanbase - who deserve so much more than what the recent few seasons have thrown at them - will certainly be hoping it comes in 2026-27.
For now, though, Clark and new head of recruitment Chris Beech have to build a squad. Work on that front has started in earnest, both were at The Vic on Thursday as the work continues at pace to add players to the squad. Several meetings about targets have already taken place this week.
Clark, on his unveiling, spoke well, passionate about the task in hand, encouraged by the conversations - and reassurances - he'd been given by owner Landon Smith and Chris Maxwell - head of football operations at Bromby & Partners - about the future direction of travel and vision for the club.
Pools fans are responding, season ticket sales have now reached the 1,000 mark. Clark - who has a wealth of playing and managerial experience to draw upon - has revealed how the weekend talks progressed and what he made of owner Smith's vision for the club.
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Clark - who had a short stint in charge at Rotherham United last season - said: "Out of the blue, over the weekend just gone, I got asked if I would be prepared to speak to the new owner of the club and his other board members and Chris Maxwell and people like that and I thought, yeah, definitely.
"So, when I had the opportunity to speak with them on Sunday evening, the meeting couldn't have gone any better in terms of the alignment of ambition, how I saw the club, how they see the club, what they wanted to achieve, and it was really positive. So, when the decision came from myself and the club, you know, about going forward, I had no hesitation of accepting and informed Rotherham of my decision."
On those discussions with the owner Landon Smith, Clark added: "He was really open and honest in terms of the football side of it. He was going to leave it to people who he brought into his football club to deal with that, but he was going to be very supportive.
"He bought the football club because he could see the ambition, the size of the support, the love of the support. When he's been to the odd game, since he's taken over, he's loved what's been happening. He just wants the team to replicate or mirror what the fans are about and give them a team to be proud of, and the club to just be one and get success from that.
"All that alignment from me was what I wanted to hear. They were basically the questions I was going to ask him, as well as him asking me questions. So, yeah, that alignment was really, really strong between all of us."
The grass is growing at Pools and now the focus quickly turns to growing and building a squad capable of success this season.