he Board of HUST would like to make the following statement in response to the very large number of enquiries we have had in the last 48 hours in relation to Fund Raising.
The Trust has a major National Fundraising Campaign prepared which was sanctioned by our members on 31st December 2017, and we expect to launch this in the next 4-5 days. Many of you will indeed have helped us with the promotional video for this which we filmed at the ground on the 1st January 2018.
Our campaign is not designed to supplant or hi jack the excellent fundraising effort already going on in response to the clubs appeal for £200,000 that they need by January 25. The reality is that those funds will only secure the future of the club this month, and not for the remaining months of the season. The HUST campaign is to raise money for a Fighting Fund to cover operational costs through to June.
We note that the club received a transfer fee in the region of £60,000 from the sale of Connor Simpson and we also believe that is has sold in the region of 4,000 match day tickets for the game against Wrexham. This should generate a windfall of at least another £70,000. With all the other fundraising activity ongoing, which the Trust Board has fully supported (members were at the talk in on Thursday night and have assisted bucket collections today) we believe the club should have the money it needs for January.
We would like to make it clear that while we support it, HUST is not responsible for the current fundraising campaign being run on Just Giving nor do we have any control over it. We can offer support to the individual behind the campaign, but we are not responsible for what happens with the money raised. We say that in response to those contacting us providing advice on where the money should (and should not) go. It is not our decision to make.
While it has been fantastic to witness the incredible generosity of the football community and the warmth shown towards the town and the club over the last week, we must not allow all this good work to go to waste. It would be a tragedy if the club was saved in January only to fold in February. We cannot, as supporters of the club, let that happen.
We are expecting to launch our campaign using a Fundraising Platform supplied by Supporters Direct. This has a much lower administration/user fee than standard funding platforms, as we know how important it is for those donating that as much of the money they are giving as possible goes directly to the fund.
The campaign has the backing of former players and managers, some of whom you will see during the promotion, and of course of the Trust President Jeff Stelling, who you may have heard discussing the Trust on local radio yesterday.
We continue in discussions with potential investors and as previously advised will update further on Tuesday 16 Jan.
We want to assure everyone that any money raised in our campaign will be administered by the Trust, and used in the way that we are advised will best benefit Hartlepool United Football Club. We will not be unconditionally handing it to the current owners of the club who have financially mis-managed this season, and left us without sufficient funds to see out the second half of the campaign.
In this regard we will be directed by former employees of the club, along with consultants and solicitors who have already offered their services on a voluntary basis. Again we know how important it is to people who give money to ensure it goes to those who need it, and is not spent on fees to advisors.
Sadly we have already been contacted by people running businesses owed money by the club. We know from past experience the damage done to the reputation of the club when it does not pay money owed to small businesses in our community and we will be doing everything in our power to help keep the club from going into Administration. This damage can unfortunately take many years to repair.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the very many people that have contacted us pledging money and promotional support. We are also grateful to the Supporters Trusts across the land that have done likewise.
On a final note we would encourage all Poolies to continue to support the existing fundraising events, and of course to make sure that #savepoolsday is a massive success by turning up and supporting the team on the 20th of January, or by supporting in spirit if you cannot be there.