Lennie Lawrence: could veteran caretaker manager be set to become the next permanent Pools boss?

Remarkably, Pools are on the hunt for their 16th permanent manager since October 2014.

During that time, there have also been 10 caretaker managers to have taken temporary charge, albeit on various occasions the same person has fulfilled the role more than once; club legend Antony Sweeney has done it four times, Sam Collins twice, Craig Hignett and Matthew Bates once each and, now, Lennie Lawrence is in his second spell since January.

It has been a remarkable decade at Hartlepool United, and mostly for the wrong reasons.

Paul Murray was sacked after winning just one of his first seven games, the highlight of Dave Jones' infamous tenure was when he ate a sausage sandwich at his unveiling, Craig Harrison's wife had to cook the team meals and wash the kits, while Richard Money left the club after being verbally abused in a fish and chip shop.

Dave Challinor led Pools to promotion and Paul Hartley was leading them back to the National League when he was sacked after one win in his first 11 games, Keith Curle made national headlines after discussing his wife's libido in a post-match interview but lost 15 of his 29 matches in charge while John Askey couldn't quite save Pools despite his best efforts.

Things seemed to be looking up when Pools managed to secure the services of former Sunderland striker and England international Kevin Phillips but insisted on replacing him with former Stevenage, Yeovil and Woking boss Darren Sarll at the end of the 2023/24 campaign.

"Uncle Darren", as the outspoken boss often referred to himself, alienated the already frustrated fan base with unfulfilled promises of high pressing, energetic and exciting football and did himself no favours when referring to supporters as "clever dicks" following defeat to Forest Green Rovers.

Sarll lasted just 15 games, during which time Pools received four red cards, failed to score in almost seven hours of football at the Prestige Group Stadium and were knocked out of the FA Cup at the fourth qualifying round stage for just the second time in their history.

His relationship with the fans was fractious at best and appeared to break down altogether after he blasted supporters for what he alleged was unacceptable levels of "personal abuse" aimed in his direction during the win over Sutton.

Step forward Lennie Lawrence, whose first managerial role was in caretaker charge of Plymouth in 1978, five years before Sarll was born.

Lawrence, who turns 77 in December, is one of a select few managers to have been in the dugout for more than 1,000 games during his long and distinguished career.

He became a legend at Charlton, spending almost a decade at the helm and leading the Addicks back to the First Division after a 29 year absence, helped Middlesbrough win promotion to the inaugural Premier League, was in the dugout when Grimsby beat Liverpool in the League Cup and steered Cardiff to promotion to Division One.

Following a brief spell as caretaker manager at Crystal Palace in 2012, he worked in a variety of consultancy roles before returning to the dugout with Pools in January following the sacking of John Askey.

Of his eight games in charge across two interim spells, Lawrence has led Pools to a creditable three wins and three draws.

And up until Saturday, when Pools produced their best performance of the season to secure a dominant victory over Aldershot Town, the expectation was that Lawrence would likely return to his advisory role, with the club tipped to make the most of almost two weeks without a game to secure Sarll's successor.

All of a sudden, it's starting to look possible, even probable, that the veteran, who also holds a position on the board, might have a hand in appointing himself as the new manager.

Right now, few would begrudge him a belated return to permanent management. After all, he has a remarkable record, an almost endless list of contacts, an encyclopedic knowledge of the beautiful game and has managed to transform Pools from a side who rarely even looked like winning into a team who are all of a sudden being talked up as play-off contenders again.

If there is one question mark against him, then it is perhaps his age and the fact that football has changed and developed since he was in his managerial pomp.

Looking back at the last 15 permanent managers at the Prestige Group Stadium, the five with the best records - Dave Challinor, Kevin Phillips, Graeme Lee, Matthew Bates and Craig Hignett - were all under 50 when they were at the helm.

In terms of the over 50s, Keith Curle, Richard Money and Dave Jones all failed in fairly spectacular fashion despite their considerable experience.

That said, there are one or two outliers; the legendary Ronnie Moore helped Pools achieve the miraculous 'great escape', leading the club to survival despite finding themselves 10 points adrift at the bottom of League Two. He was 61 when he took over.

Meanwhile, Darren Sarll, who is 41, and Paul Hartley, who was 46 when he was appointed Pools boss, rank as two of the most contentious and divisive managers the club have ever seen.

Age, of course, is but a number and Lawrence certainly doesn't seem to share any of the entrenched qualities that made the likes of Curle, Money and Jones struggle at Pools; rather than being a disciple of direct, route one football or having a stern - or even mean - streak to his character, Lawrence has looked to get the best out of the attacking talent at his disposal while helping players to rebuild their confidence and self-belief.

Even so, it's important Pools should not lose sight of the bigger picture and it's hard to tell just how much of a long-term solution Lawrence would represent.

Yet, if Pools are unable to secure one of their first choice targets, then Lawrence, who is one of the country's most experienced manager's and who clearly commands the respect of both the players and fans, might just be their man, for now at least.