Joe Ramage: Keith Curle has given Hartlepool United a chance ahead of January transfer window on the back of sub-standard 2022

In a year which promised so much after returning to the Football League last summer, and produced an optimistic start in that the club lost just two of its first 12 league games of the year, as well as producing several cup upsets against Blackpool in the FA Cup and both Bolton Wanderers and Charlton Athletic in the Papa Johns Trophy, things have unravelled since.

You can highlight that Rotherham United semi-final tie in the EFL Trophy as a starting point for where things began to decline, but there has been an alarming drop off, across the board at the Suit Direct Stadium, since.

Hartlepool have won just 10 of 46 league games in 2022, ahead of their final outing against Mansfield Town, taking 45 points in total from those games.

And while that total would keep you up in five of the last 11 seasons, considering six of those wins, and 24 of those points, came by March 18, it shows how much things have dropped off.

But if Hartlepool are going to survive the drop from League Two this season then, you suspect, 2023 will be a much brighter year given they will need to take around 44 per cent of the points available to them in the second half of the season if they are to achieve the often sought after 50-point mark.

Keith Curle has shown he can get something from his current group of players to keep Hartlepool in the mix as we head into the turn of the year, and the January transfer window, but he will need help next month if he is to complete the job.

After chairman Raj Singh confirmed Curle as permanent manager at the beginning of December, the Hartlepool boss has already started what is likely to be a busy January process.

Curle has made a decision on two of Hartlepool’s summer loan signings having confirmed Ellis Taylor’s return to Sunderland before revealing Clarke Oduor will return to Barnsley in the New Year.

The decision on Oduor is a bold one given there is obvious ability in the Barnsley loanee, with a goal and a couple of assists to his name, despite featuring predominantly in an unnatural position. But is that the very issue, in that Curle is unable to get him into his preferred role in the team?

Those two exits will free up additional spaces in Curle’s squad should he feel the need to use the loan market next month while there may also be a decision to make on a number of other players such as Jack Hamilton, who is also on loan at the club, Christopher Missilou who only penned a short-term deal last month and Mikael Ndjoli who has been left out of the last two match day squads.

Curle has done well to give Hartlepool a platform to build on heading into January and, after Boxing Day’s win over Rochdale, has given supporters a glimmer of hope things can improve heading into 2023.

And with a number of fixtures against teams around them to come over the next month, there is room for cautious optimism 2023 can be better if the club can get January right.