✍ Hartlepool United contract latest

Robbie Stelling and Rich Mennear discuss all the latest contract news from Hartlepool United as the retained list deadline closes in.

Transcript

00:00It would be very difficult, as I say, to begrudge these players the chance to secure their livelihoods.

00:05I mean, you mentioned Nathan Sharon, you know, he and his wife welcomed their second child in March.

00:11And you certainly couldn't question his commitment.

00:13He played, I think, less than 72 hours after the birth of their son.

00:20These players are clearly committed to the club.

00:23But this is the National League. These guys are not multimillionaires.

00:26They need to be able to secure their futures, not just their own futures, not just their footballing futures.

00:33But I think crucially, the futures of their families as well.

00:38Look, I think Pools have the core of a very decent squad.

00:42I don't think it's necessarily cause for all out panic, yet certainly in terms of the publication of the retainer list.

00:48I think about a third of clubs in the National League have already published their retainer list.

00:53It took Pools, I think, two weeks from the end of last season before they published their retainer list,

00:57albeit that was probably because of the fact that they made the decision to replace Kevin Phillips with Darren Song.

01:02And at the time, that felt like a long time, really, to publish the retainer list, didn't it?

01:08I think fans were already growing concerned there.

01:11But you would like to think that, obviously, Anthony Limbrick and whoever else is making the decisions would have a pretty clear idea.

01:19I think the players did come in for meetings immediately after the Forest Green game, probably in the two or three days after that.

01:26So I think the club will have a clear idea of who they'd like to keep and who they are willing to let go.

01:31But it's just it's almost impossible to act upon that when you don't know what kind of budget you're going to be working with.

01:37You don't know who's going to be calling the shots.

01:39You don't know who is going to be in charge of the club.

01:42So obviously, if they can't get something sorted in the next couple of weeks, they are effectively powerless.

01:47They run the risk of losing pretty much all of the players who aren't under contract.

01:52And I mean, they've only got a handful of players currently tied down to deals.

01:56Sam Falarin and Jamie Minley, who obviously signed in January, they signed 18-month contracts.

02:02Tom Parks and Adam Smith, who both agreed new deals in January.

02:05Nikki Featherston, we believe, has signed as well.

02:08I understand that there might be a few others who have already committed their futures to the club.

02:14But obviously, you run the risk of losing the majority, if not all, of the rest of them.