https://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/sport/football/four-players-turn-down-new-contracts-hartlepool-united-luke-james-mark-kitching-josh-hawkes-and-kenton-richardson-set-leave-aaron-cunningham-agreeing-terms-2894006

My half full pint just emptied.

Interesting that according to the mail lasts seasons playing budget was £700,000 and a reduction coming this year, so with at least a million pound turnover why is the club in such dire straights,

Playing budget - £700k
What about all of the other costs- travel, hotels, groundsman , other staff, maintenance etc etc.
And where do you get £million turnover ?
Season tickets are about 3000 @ say £200 average = £600k of which £ 100k is vat.
So that's £500k for the club - where is the other £500k coming from ?

Sorry about any players we lose but the reality as I see it is that many of them will be disappointed.If these guys can get better terms from other clubs given the current situation then good luck to them. It is their job and they need to get the best possible income. Thanks for your efforts but we’re in the Conference still, good bye.

Sorry about any players we lose but the reality as I see it is that many of them will be disappointed.If these guys can get better terms from other clubs given the current situation then good luck to them. It is their job and they need to get the best possible income. Thanks for your efforts but we’re in the Conference still, good bye.

This. I personally think 3 of those 4 are lucky to have been offered contracts in the first place. Our fans are too sentimental, we need to get in better and there will be plenty out there available. The only one I'd have my doubts about is Hawkes.

The manager has been on record more than once about how much he wants Luke James in his team and how much he was missed this season after he got injured. He suits Challinor's pressing game down to the ground. I'd say the same about Mark Kitching - he's come on loads this season. I'm taking the paper talk about Hawkes with a pinch of salt, but he's another talented young player who has been unlucky with injuries this season. Richardson ok, looked more of a squad signing.

Yes, there might be better options out there but what chance have Pools got of signing them? Dave Challinor supposedly has the final say on the playing squad and these are all players that he wanted to keep. Can't see us being able to afford the wages any of his loan signings will want either.

I put it another thread, the only info I have is what I've read in the press like the £700,000 playing budget. It has been in the press at different times that season tickets bring in about £400,000 and then at the start of the Corona outbreak the club said they were losing £25,000 per match in matchday revenue, so multiply 25k by 23 matches in a season gives 575k that's nearly a million, on top of that there's money from league, sponsorship deals,cup matches and club shop sales so I would say 1 million is a conservative estimate.
I realise that there are considerable other costs involved but three to four hundred thousand pounds should be able to cover them. And don't forget the generosity of our current owner who, we are told,has put two million pounds into the club in the last two years. I just find it difficult to understand where all that money goes.

I think last season we also made quite a bit in the FA cup run as well as the player sales of Kioso and Kabamba.

if pools actually managed to get a good winning side out on the pitch there would be far more fans turning up every week. 2 to 3 thousand walk ups is hardly being unrealistic. can also imagine more exiles like me will see more games as i did later in the season. shit team equals shit gates and always has done.

exactly. we do not know what they have been offered but they could be all in for a big shock. cannot see their agents phones to be ringing non stop with offers in the current climate. there are going to be better players than these who wished they had taken offers from clubs when they are out of the proffesional game.

Hard to fathom as clubs in the leagues above us will be shedding players wholesale.
Shit contract offer?
Or they know something we dont know.

Luke James could be talking to Barrow about a return there. There will be a lot of out of contract players come September/October so its a gamble not to take a contract that has been offered.

And now it turns out Pools will be signing at least two of the loan players after all:

https://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/sport/football/hartlepool-united-agree-deals-principle-gary-liddle-and-timi-odusina-following-walsall-and-norwich-city-releases-2895385

That puts a different complexion on things! Never been happier to be proved wrong. -)

2 great signings who formed a very effective partnership, would love it if we could sign Macca!

Of the four rumoured to be turning down offers I would be most disappointed with losing Kitching. As somebody has mentioned he improved a lot this season, defending well and making some great forward runs.

Signing the two centre halves would be a major boost.

Liddle and Timi coming back in principle according to the Mail.

Good news if it comes to fruition.

it certainly is. then who is to say that any of the gang of 4 will not re sign anyway if they do not get better offers.

If James and co think they're worth more than we are offering then bye bye. James has left before so it doesn't come as a shock to me.
Before I turned down a contract in these uncertain times I would need to be pretty damn sure another one was nailed on somewhere else.
Maybe it's agents turning heads again.
I think there might be a bit of crawling back to reality in the not too distant future.

Because there was a time limit on the offers and when the date passed and they hadnt signed the offers were withdrawn. And rightly so. Now we can sign better players for the same money

I had a conversation with a gentleman from the Philippines a year ago who whe discussing football in this country was amused how someone with no practical experience of managing finances was happy to give advice to someone who did. A bit like Eskimo’s advising the Congolese on how to cope with heat stroke.

I agree with the sentiment on Kitchings improvement. He is probably one that we could sell at a later stage, if he signs now. Time will tell. On the budget front, that income has to pay for ground maintenance, pitch refurbishment, business rates, electricity, fridges etc. Not all goes on the playing staff.

good. at least the club is not hanging around with the will they wont they around their neck and miss out on players. liked kitchen and james but they are in the past now. i know they will not be coming to pools but when there are players like jay spearing from blackpool and omar bogle available on free transfers it showns the calibre of players who are on offer.