HUST campaigns for transparency at Club level, so naturally we want to be as transparent as possible about the current process of reaching out to potential investors in a consortium. We’re sure you can also appreciate at this sensitive stage, we have to respect the confidentiality of businesses and individuals.
What we can say though, is that we have met with a number of genuine people and companies over the last two weeks, who have the best interest of the town and Club at heart. All have stated that they could commit as a shareholder in the Club, for a number of seasons, which gives us a fantastic platform to build from. All of those parties are also enthusiastic about the role of the Club in the community, wanting to build ties with local businesses and groups. We have also received further expressions of interest in the past few days and intend continuing those conversations. Other parties may emerge, so naturally we need to be flexible about how the future change in ownership develops.
All of this does, of course, depend on seeing detailed accounts from the Club and linked companies though. A further meeting is scheduled with Mr. Singh towards the end of the week. We would also add that the Club have maintained close contact and we believe are genuine in wanting Hartlepool United to end up in safe hands going forward.
Alongside all of that, we’ve met with a range of people connected with the running of Clubs at our level. Barrow’s supporters’ trust have been very supportive – the reason we reached out to them is that their board structure is similar to the one being proposed and they’ve seen finances move to a better place, as their crowd has doubled over the last few seasons. Critically, they were also clear about the challenges.
We have spoken with a number of individuals who’ve run clubs as part of an executive team, which gave real insight into what may be ahead. Additionally, we’re speaking with local politicians.
HUST are also keen to keep other supporter groups at Pools updated. We’ve had positive meetings with all groups including the Supporters’ Association, Hart Of Our Club, Her Game Too and the North West Corner. We really appreciate the time they took to meet us and we gained a lot from hearing how HUST is perceived outside of our membership. We appreciate their openness to meeting in the interests of creating a better club in future, one that is fan and community centric.
If you’ve not heard it, have a listen to the recent podcast we did with HUFC Chat, which we hope dispelled some myths about the purpose of trusts (available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.) We’ve been at pains to state that HUST do not want to run the club but absolutely do want fans to have a role in ensuring the executive team steering the club on behalf of shareholders and fans is effective, allowing the Club to thrive.
Can we also take the opportunity to welcome new members – we really appreciate the faith you’ve put in us as an organisation and board. Having a large membership is a huge help as we meet with various parties interested in taking the Club forward.
Thanks for your support, please spread the word and if you’re not a member, please sign up at the menu above.
The Board of HUST