Where do United need to strengthen?

Following the publication of their long-awaited retained list at the end of last month, Hartlepool United look set for another summer of re-building.

- Robbie Stelling

The need to recruit a whole host of new players is never an easy job - but this summer, given the ongoing uncertainty that is still hanging over Pools, it could be even more difficult than ever.

At National League level, the chance to sign for a club like Hartlepool United has, in the past at least, proved to be an appealing one.

In recent seasons, Pools have been able to cherry-pick talent from below them in the pyramid - signing Dan Dodds from National League North side Darlington - lure players from National League rivals - pinching Mani Dieseruvwe from Halifax and Luke Charman from AFC Fylde - and even from the Football League

Adam Campbell turned down a new deal at Crawley despite winning promotion to League One in order to return to the North East. Yet this summer, the club could be faced with a very different reality.

Even by the standards of Hartlepool United, no strangers to chaos and controversy, the last few months have been dramatic in the extreme. Pools were plunged into a race against time in March when Raj Singh, one of the most divisive figures in the club's recent history, announced his sudden resignation, desire to sell the club and determination to pull his funding at the end of the campaign.

Takeover talks, according to occasional updates posted by a mysterious interim board, appeared to be progressing well and looked to be nearing a conclusion last month; Shelley Hammond, a Hartlepool-born businesswoman who had long retained an interest in the purchase of Pools, even took to Instagram to reveal that due diligence was "really close" to a conclusion. Then, suddenly and bizarrely, everything seemed to collapse.