Keith Curle discusses the changes to the January transfer window

Curle brought in 11 new players to freshen things up at the Suit Direct Stadium as Hartlepool look to fight off relegation from the Football League.

All 11 of those players were involved in Curle’s match day squad as Pools earned a significant 1-0 win over Doncaster Rovers.

But although Curle missed out on a number of targets throughout the month, the Pools boss has again emphasised the club were not beaten when it came to finances for those players within their structure.

“We’re better now than what we were going into the window,” Curle said.

“I honestly believe that we weren’t chasing rainbows. We weren’t chasing that pot of gold and wasting time on players that we didn’t think we could genuinely compete to offer them the finances and the opportunities to play and, ultimately, what they could bring to us in our quest to maintain league status.

“Having that clarity and being able to compete with some of the people that we were competing with, there were some players who were a no-go right from the start but we made enquiries.

“There were some players where we got positive feedback that were worth pursuing. We weren't let down financially, we didn’t get outbid financially.”

Despite that, however, Curle did concede his frustration at players and their desires to move in the January window - hinting that for a lot of modern day players, the opportunity to play football sometimes comes secondary.

“The way I think it’s changed is it’s being used as an opportunity for players to over-inflate their realistic value,” said Curle.

“In January you can pay a premium for a player, whether that’s wages or a transfer fee. The end of January you find their value, if they stay with their parent club, plummets because they’re not involved.

“Gone are the days now where their first primary thought is they want to play football and be on the grass on a Saturday at 3 o’clock.”