Joe Ramage: Hartlepool United's corridor of uncertainty with Raj Singh set to sell

After days of immeasurable silence from the football club following their despairing, humiliating and, ultimately, crushing defeat to Crawley Town, Hartlepool chairman Singh announced he will listen to supporters’ requests by looking to move on from the club.

Singh was the target as supporters vented their frustrations his way with their club set to drop back into non-league hell with the chairman now, reluctantly, willing to seek prospective new buyers.

If Singh’s statement does anything, at least, it gives supporters some form of clarity in black and white that he will look to sell the club.

Quite how long the process will take is anyone’s guess and quite how much changes in the meantime is inconclusive.

Singh has frequently said he will not stand in the way of any potential buyers over recent years, but even when suggestions of potential bidders were forthcoming, nothing has ensued – even if those bidders may have been from Hollywood.

In that regard you could argue very little has changed. Singh was willing to sell before and he is willing to sell now. But with the club set to exit the Football League once more, supporters, at the very least, deserve to know what is going on at their club.

The fact Singh suggests he will now publicly pursue the sale of the club is something.

Sales processes, however, can be elongated. We’ve seen it before in the region with Mike Ashley’s ownership of Newcastle United and how long he was said to be looking at selling the club. Sometimes it can even be used as deflection.

Singh’s statement does not necessarily mean a sale is in the works and he will now also have to be willing to accept less for the club should its exit from the Football League be confirmed.

Again, though, it offers supporters something tangible to hold onto in terms of what they can likely expect in the future.

Singh’s legacy with the club will undoubtedly be tarnished once the ‘R’ is locked in next to their name before the end of the season.

Having saved the club and overseen its return to the Football League, to then guide its kamikaze tailspin back into the footballing doldrums will be seen as unforgivable by some.

One thing in which he can do to help that, as suggested in the statement, is to keep John Askey at the club.

Singh insists planning is already underway with Askey to remain in the dugout next season but, until the first day of the season arrives and Askey is still in a Hartlepool United tracksuit, you can’t be too sure.

And yet, Singh’s suggestion of Askey could be flawed if, indeed, he does see the sale of the club through.

With new owners come new plans and objectives and more often than not new staff and personnel.

Should Hartlepool be taken over, who is to say Askey will be their man?

Supporters are angry and they feel justified in their desire for change. Singh is looking to appease that but in doing so it continues to open up more doors to more corridors of uncertainty.