Joe Ramage: Another week of concern in the life of Hartlepool United with more ins and outs

If there were a manuscript for how to run a football club, Hartlepool appear to be reading it from back-to-front at this moment in time.

Keith Curle’s Suit Direct Stadium sacking can be deliberated - chairman Raj Singh admitting he, too, had to contemplate the decision before pulling the trigger.

The proof will, ultimately, be revealed at the end of the season and which side of the dotted line Hartlepool find themselves.

But if Curle’s sacking, and John Askey's subsequent arrival, did one thing, it was to highlight, again, just how disjointed and unstable Hartlepool, as a football club, currently is.

Askey became the third permanent manager of the club in eight months, the fifth since the club’s return to the Football League 18-months ago. Add in Antony Sweeney and Michael Nelson’s caretaker roles and Singh has seen seven different people occupy the dugout since the beginning of the 2021-22 season.

Unless Singh is modelling his club on that of Watford, that in itself is simply not sustainable to the success of any football club.

But dig a little deeper and the entire club feels like it is currently built on sand, with the tide never too far away.

This week we saw the arrival of Darren Kelly who has been appointed in a sporting director role. Kelly has previous at Newport County but he represents another new member of staff in the building at the Suit Direct Stadium.

Kelly comes into a new role with head of recruitment Chris Trotter believed to have left the club after less than a year in post.

Trotter is not the only one.

Along with the head of recruitment, this season alone Hartlepool have seen their chief operating officer step down, a non-executive club director leave, their club secretary leave, their head of sports science leave, their physio leave as well as several changes or exits to office, commercial and match day staff and that is before you consider the two managers and their assistants and the arrival of 32 new players since June with a considerable number heading in the opposite direction.

It feels like unorchestrated chaos, and the predicament the club finds itself in would suggest the reality is not too far away.

The staff turnover in itself makes it challenging for everyone to be cohesive and on the same page. The player turnover means there is never likely to be a settled squad.

Quite where Hartlepool go from here is anyone’s guess. Regardless of whether the season finishes the way everyone hopes it does and they remain in the Football League, you would suspect yet another squad overhaul to come in the summer.

For all the club has looked to implement roles and strategies behind the scenes, the reality is things are failing given how frequently these positions are turning over. It’s as though Hartlepool are a carousel where players and staff can jump off as they please.

What Hartlepool are currently experiencing, both on and off the field, is not conducive to success and they are issues which need addressing.