Lee Clark has promotion and transfer message to Hartlepool United fans
Lee Clark is ambitious to win promotion back to the EFL.
Lee Clark is ambitious to win promotion back to the EFL with Hartlepool United during his time as head coach.
The former Sunderland and Newcastle United midfielder was appointed as new head coach last month and while he will not put additional pressure on an exact timescale, he has stressed that club chiefs are all aligned in that ambition - and will aim to build a squad capable of achieving it.
Pools are yet to make a summer signing at the time of writing but have tied down Jack Hunter and Luke Charman to new deals at The Vic, with the players due back in pre-season training later this month.
Clark, who had a brief spell as Rotherham United boss at the end of last season, said: “I just think it's a club that, once everyone's together and pulling in the same direction, it's a tough place to come for the opponents. The support that you can get from the fans is just amazing. I'm just wanting to get that again.
“I think the fans are excited by the new ownership. They see this as a new era. It's up to me to get them a group of players that they can be proud of and we can all just be one together from top to bottom and go forward.”
Clark added: “It's no hiding from the fact that this club needs to be back in the Football League, should be back in the Football League, but that's the easy part, saying it. We've got to deliver that, and what I'm not going to do is give any timescales, but what I'm going to do is say that's the ambition, that's the ambition of me, that's the ambition of the owner, everyone behind the scenes, and we want to deliver a squad and we want to get there as quickly as possible.
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“And what you have to balance that against is the quality of teams in this league, but also the situation with only one automatic promotion and one from the play-offs. All that taken into context means it's going to be difficult, but it doesn't mean that we're not prepared to do it. I'm looking to build a squad ready to do that. I'm not looking to build a squad that will progress and have us in a progressive position from where the club finished last season. I'm looking to try and build a squad.
“When I'm asking people about players, I'm asking the question, are they good enough to be part of a team that's going to get promotion from the National League? That's in my mindset, but what I can't do, because you just can't in this game and you trip yourself up if you do, is put timescales on it. I haven't been given timescales either, but we're all aligned in that this is what we want. We want the club back in the Football League as quickly as possible and then we can look to build on that then and get it back to the levels where I've seen it before and where this place has been rocking.”
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