Joe Ramage: Hartlepool United revolving door and broken promises

Clarke became the 32nd arrival at Hartlepool since the summer when the 38-year-old penned a deal until the end of the season on what manager Keith Curle described as an incentive-based contract.

But while the turnover of both players and staff is simply unsustainable for Hartlepool, what’s more pressing is where the club find themselves when it comes to some of the players being brought in following the claims being made.

At 38, it’s not unreasonable to suggest Clarke’s best playing days are behind him having also struggled with a number of injuries in recent years when at Shrewsbury Town and Bristol Rovers.

Clarke is well travelled and has plenty of experience and could well be a decent mind to have around the building for the likes of Josh Umerah and Jack Hamilton, but quite how much impact Clarke will have on the field between now and the end of the season remains open for debate.

But this is not necessarily aimed at discussing what Clarke may, or may not, bring to the table. The issue has become greater than that in what Hartlepool supporters have been expecting in relation to what they have got.

Hartlepool’s pursuit of attacking reinforcements was a constant throughout January as deals, seemingly, fell through on a weekly basis.

But after chairman Raj Singh had suggested the club were in negotiations with League One and top-end League Two strikers, the comedown has been quite significant.

With a week to go in the transfer window, supporters had been hoping for significant forward acquisitions with proven goalscoring records this season in the division and from above, before they ended up with Connor Jennings, who had been on loan in non-league, and now Clarke who has been without a club this season.

Again, that is no slight on both Jennings and Clarke, who will each contribute their own things over the remainder of the season and possess their own qualities. But this is not what Hartlepool supporters will feel as though they were promised.

It just adds to what is an ever-growing worrying situation the club finds itself in.

After the midweek defeat at Crewe Alexandra, Curle’s side slipped back into the bottom two, with the six teams directly above them in the league holding up to four games in hand on them.

It means Hartlepool could find themselves being cut adrift before long as we head into the final quarter of the season.

And with that, the pressure then ramps up on the likes of Clarke and the 11 other January signings to make an impact.

It does seem as though there has been some decent business done. But whilst it remains early in several of these Hartlepool players’ careers, it’s whether there has been enough significant business done to keep the club up.

For all the talk, you can’t help but acknowledge Hartlepool supporters have been rewarded with second, third and beyond options after the club were unable to deliver on what was being suggested.

And if Hartlepool are to fall short come the end of the season they are broken promises which will be looked back upon with significant justification.