Club Owner Raj Singh has provided the following comment in relation to the Club statement of yesterday:
“First of all, I would like to thank everyone who has sent me messages of thanks and good wishes for the work that has gone on over the past seven years.”
“As everyone connected to the Club knows I made the decision to step aside in early March in response to some of the fan base wishes for a change of ownership.”
“My thought process was that we were virtually safe in the league, I would fund the Club until the end of the season and there would be ample time for any new owner to come in at the end of April or early May to hit the ground running for the new season.”
“Since then, the chain of events has been well documented and categorically at this time there is no party in a position with funds to immediately take over the Club. That is not for a lack of trying and there has been a huge amount of work going on behind the scenes that people just don’t see.”
“In the absence of a takeover at this point a significant number of people have asked me to reconsider my decision and to step in to support the Club.”
“I think it is only right that I do so if supporters on the whole want me to, and I feel I must respect the wishes of the supporters. As such I have suggested to the Board that they formally get supporter feedback.”
“I feel I must make my position clear that this was not planned, as some people will now regrettably insinuate. I have not attended any games since I stepped down and I was getting used to life after HUFC in all honesty.”
“In this situation I am simply trying to help ensure that Hartlepool United continues to exist and it remains an attractive proposition to prospective investors, without undoing all of the work that has gone in over the past 7 years.”
“If a new owner had been in the position to progress with funds in place we would not be in this position, so it could not possibly have been planned on my part. I have been fully committed to moving on but I cannot control what position other parties are in and their ability to raise or secure funds to progress.”
Raj Singh
