Increased Oil Recovery (OR) have owned Hartlepool United since 1997 and in that period have spent over £12m on the club. But their patience is running out. What particularly aggrieves them is that the local council won’t sell them the club’s ground so that they can invest in major improvements, although some money has already been spent.
Increased Oil Recovery (OR) have owned Hartlepool United since 1997 and in that period have spent over £12m on the club. But their patience is running out. What particularly aggrieves them is that the local council won’t sell them the club’s ground so that they can invest in major improvements, although some money has already been spent.
Chairman Ken Hodcroft wanted, ‘If financial support is withdrawn then the club will disappear from League One (and possibly beyond) and the council will have to answer to the townspeople/businesses and the people who elected them.’
Attendances have fallen to below 3,000 and turnover decreased by 9.5 per cent to £3.04m in 2009, player wages stood at £2.13m and the club made the same loss of £1.1m as in 2008 with IOR picking up the tab. Life isn’t easy in League One, particularly in a not particularly prosperous northern town.