Paul Hartley responds to Hartlepool United chairman Raj Singh's comments about summer recruitment and transfer budget

Singh took to the club’s match day programme against Crewe Alexandra to hit back at his critics with regards to the summer recruitment and budget available for the 2022/23 campaign.

Singh suggested he had come under scrutiny having made claims the budget available to manager Hartley could see Pools 'there or thereabouts' in the play-offs in League Two this season, and has defended the investment made in recent months which has seen 17 new players come through the door.

The chairman outlined the difficulties Pools have faced in the transfer market, highlighting the club’s location and poor start to the season as contributing factors in failing to get deals over the line for what he described as ‘tried and tested’ players at League Two level.

“I’d like to put the record straight with some facts on the club’s recent transfer activity and the playing budget,” Singh wrote in his programme notes.

“We have had a lot of criticism regarding recruitment because of where we are in the league. The facts are that there are a lot of factors involved when you are trying to bring a player to the club such as the location, that often goes against us, and our league position at the moment hasn’t helped.

“For example, we were really close to signing a couple of quality players who are tried and tested at this level. One being a prolific goal scorer and the other an attacking midfielder.

“Terms were agreed upon with both the players.

“One decided to move to Rochdale because he didn’t want to move away from home. The other is living in Liverpool with a young family and he didn’t want to move to the North East. So we missed out on both of them in the last few days of the transfer window.”

And asked for his thoughts on the chairman’s comments, manager Hartley confessed he had not read Singh’s pre-match notes, but has reiterated the struggles faced when trying to bring players in.

“I didn’t see it. I don’t read programmes so it’s new to me,” Hartley revealed to The Mail.

“I’ve said [before] that there’s loads of different reasons why you struggle to get players. Location is one of them sometimes.

“They’ve got families and sometimes they don’t want to move up. That’s just the way it is, but you've got to try and move it on and get the next player who will come in.”

And asked for information regarding the two players referenced by Singh, a centre-forward and an attacking midfielder - one who joined Rochdale and the other who did not want to move from his home in Liverpool, Hartley remained tight lipped.

“No [there’s nothing to say]. It’s just what the chairman has said.”

Hartley has been in the role at the Suit Direct Stadium since June after Singh tempted the former Celtic midfielder away from Cove Rangers, and the 45-year-old maintains he continues to have a strong relationship with the chairman.

“It’s fine. I’ve worked with different chairmen in my time,” he said.

“Everyone’s different, but I’ve not got a problem working with our chairman.”