So it's not complete yet. It's still subject to FA & NL approval which is the stage we all thought we were at already wasn't it?

Still at least it's still on and all but completed.

Onwards and upwards.

Not my personal ideal resolution but I don’t expect everything to be how I want it so onwards, upwards etc.

Up The Trust, lets make sure we have some cash in the bank for future situations (should they hypothetically (of course) arise).

#shorttermfix?

Any port in a storm.....?

Patient out of coma, sat up in bed,off life support, but will not be taking part in tri-athalon for a while.

What's happened to Raj's comments on this article ??

Maybe e didn't make any, could you try a similar stance instead of shit stiring?!

Could have sworn i read more last night,or maybe i had too many shandies .And for the record what he says is our business from now on thank you.

Could have sworn i read more last night,or maybe i had too many shandies .And for the record what he says is our business from now on thank you.

There are comments in this one!

I never said mind your own business, thank you

Proper interview with Singh on the takeover is with the BBC Tees here https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p063m979

Thanks Face Paint. Doesn't fill me with confidence, but we'll see how it goes.

It doesn't start well.

Middlesbrough...Middlesbrough...Middlesbrough....

After that though he doesn't say much wrong unless your expecting massive changes immediately.

I'm exactly doing cartwheels with the thought of Duxbury hanging around but we need to cut Raj Singh some slack as without him we are fcuked. Its going to be a long, hard road to recovery from this mess given that the starting point consists of the spineless, gutless, talentless dross that was on display yesterday for all to see misrepresenting the club and town.

I liked the fact he didn’t make any grandiose statements like most new owners do. You know the stuff........Premier League in 5 years bollocks.

He referenced Burton and Bournemouth but qualified it with pointing out that is everyone’s dream. He seems to have the right intentions and make a careful assessment of what needs to happen rather than make immediate and wholesale changes.

He acknowledged that there will need to be a lot of players moving out and in and that’s why Hignett is here to advise, and we need the right manager appointed.

Not Bates for me. If we’d won both home games this last week or even got 4 points I’d probably think he deserved a go at it.

However, two piss poor performances and worse still results in 2 very important fixtures suggests to me he hasn’t got what it takes. Yes the players are generally shit but I just don’t feel it with Bates.

New manager with credentials and ability to recruit the right type of players to make his chosen formation and style of play work

I think Hignett will still end up manager, which I'm not against I think he has potential as a one and some unfinished business here. I don't think we need a director of Football I think it's just being said now while we get the end of the season out of the way. I could be totally wrong just a gut feeling.

I've been thinking the same again, it could be destabilising to call him the manager in waiting. This director of football role is nothing he has any experience of, and shouldn't really be needed at a club of this size. I think they'll leave Bates in charge until the end of the season, then Hignett will take over, Bates presumably kept on as a coach.

I think the director of football might be part of the plan. If managers do well or badly they get sacked and that tends to bugger up continuity and long term planning at a club. If the plan is to build on Hignett's ability to develop young players by selling them to subsidise the general running of the club we need somebody who stays put and keeps things stable whether the first team is doing well or not.

I can something in that as well, having a long term plan to build the team. But at this level when we are going to have squeeze every penny out of the budget and make changes elsewhere to restructure the clubs finances I don't see financial sense of a director of football.

Totes agree.

At the trust meeting a few months ago hignett spoke very well and very passionately about the club, i dont know if he had plans to come back at that stage but i'd like to think he will be coming back in with ideas and enthusiasm.

I would be interested to know if the serial losers he mentioned that night are still at the club, he had plans to get rid of them, since january 17 we havent really released a massive amount of the squad, most left we're sold, so i'd imagine most are, hopefully this means a big clear out this summer.

Don't shoot the messenger, but I heard from a reliable source that Singh has spoken with Stewart Downing , about becoming player manager next season.

Bang!

Downing who's probably on about £50,000 a week at Boro and still getting a game.

Seems plausible.

I've been told to put money on Tommy Miller

Its a big ask I agree, but would show ambition. Its happened in the past were players have dropped down a league or two, took a pay cut to get on managerial ladder and get regular game in part of something special. If boro go up doubt Downing will get a game , and can never expect to earn 50k a week again if a year, unless he becomes a manager, oh fook, I'm back at the start again

Hignett would be daft to be manager again, look at the physical toll it took on him last spell. Director of football keeps him involved in football without the day to day pressure.

His last spell he was dealing with players not getting paid, watson signing players for him and players getting sold behind his back.

He wont have that now.

Raj mentioned new players for next season, how will affect the current squad, f*** it I am getting ‘sacked’ not really bothered if we get relegated or hey I need to playing for a new contract wether it be at Pools or elsewhere.

it was noticeable at recent trust talk in, that Hignett had got back the missing ten years in age, he had lost when at Pools

Raj didnt exactly have a good track record in picking managers. He had 5 in two years with us before pulling the plug.
From what I have heard of the interview he seems to leave doors open for a get out if things dont go to plan, such as comments about the fans being happy with him etc.
Better not criticise too much because Singh WILL be watching. Even the reliable Hodcroft got some hammer on here.

Well hopefully Hignett is here to help him with football stuff such as appointing managers etc? Did he have a 'football person' at Darlo or was he kinda on his own? Sounds like he knows he made mistakes and will be better prepared this time around.

Personally I like most of what he has said so far and look forward to seeing what he does with us at the end of the season.

Hopefully the meeting goes ahead with the Trust shortly.

The difference with Singh is that we know his background and know he has a track record of running a successful business. None of the other recent ones have had this and got found out quickly by the detectives.

You mean Loughlin didn’t uncover it all?

I have to say that in the meeting I had with him, Stelling and Hignett I found him to be open and honest about what went wrong at Darlo. Some of it was his fault but definitely not all of it. I have some time for him and clearly he's nobody's fool. I suspect that he will shake the place up dramatically very quickly.

Didn't you say the same thing about your meeting with Margaret Thatcher?

watch for an influx of Boro players on loan, #feederclub

At that Trust meeting with Hignett they specifically asked him if a club our size needed a director of football like they already knew months ago that was what he would end up coming back as when Singh took over. I cant remember exactly what he said but it was in the lines of it being a good idea as long as you got the right person in and he was allowed to have a big say in the type of players that got brought in. He said the main problem at Pools was they kept appointing managers with a different way of wanting to play who would bring in players to suit that then the manager got sacked and they had someone else that came in that wanted a different type of player. I think Hignett will definitely be a director of football and decide on the players that come and go and I think they will get someone else in to do the day to day coaching and management on match day. If hes on 50 or 60 grand a year and he signes one good young player a season they sell on for profit like Thomas or Amond or Laurent he will pay for his own salary.

I keep asking but no one will answer, how is Hignett involved in all this? If its just on a mates basis with Singh and Stelling its not going to end well.

If you were investing a heavy wedge of your hard-earned on a dodgy business wouldn't you want to surround yourself with people of confidence who also had the necessary expertise that you yourself lack?

It shows good business sense from Singh, IMHO.

Mr I knows the level of graft he’s put in to get this deal sorted, I think he’s mentioned it a few times.

Singh has partnered up with him to help get the deal sorted so he can have some football men involved.

I think it makes sense.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Cheeky kernt !, I bet I know more about football than Hignett , Stelling and Singh put together. Hignett expertise in what exactly? he has played the game, ran a youth team at boro, wow so have thousands of others, and he hardly covered himself in roses during his spell as manager. If you think that's expertise then crack on. Singh has made his first mistake imo, but only time will tell.

Maybe he just wants a job?

A bit like singh... why us?

You’ve either gotta be mental or have one hell of a point to prove.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hes played at the top level he has coached and managed Pools and he was Assistand Manager at a Premier Leguue club so seeing as how you keep telling everyone how shit we are and what a shit town Hartlepool is who did you think he was going to bring in to run things GUARDIOLA ? Alls I know is that when Hignett were here in both spells he brought in good young players amd most of them are still playing League football like Thomas and Toto for a club about to be promoted to The Championship and if it was a choice between him or Watson in charge of bringing in players its a no brainer because his job will mostly be to identify good young players we can get in cheap then sell on for profit and that is something you either have a talent for doing or you don't !!

He was involved in 2 insolvencies at DFC.

Granted his track record of running businesses that do not include football clubs is impressive with his investments in property, but his actual running of DFC wasn't good.

Don't bury your head like a number of local journalists seem to be doing at the moment...

Singh had Gary Pallister supporting him at Darlo, IIRC. As well as former Darlo & Pools manager Alan Murray.