How do you rate a chairman?--I think 3 main things

1. Integrity...sad this is one but given our experiences--is he trying to rip the club off
I think Singh passes this one with ease--he is not doing this to make himself rich at anyones expense IMO

2. Money--do they have the cash to take the club fwd.
I think on this one its 50/50--he isnt a hugely wealthy bloke, but did save us and invest initially---obviously someone with more funds would help a lot

3. Competency--are they making good decisions
I think this is the one where he falls down badly--especially recruitment wise and that's why we are where we are.

Integrity- I don't think Raj is trying to rip us off, think his hearts in the right place. One question is, what is his final goal?

Money - Raj has invested into the team, twice this season with Two different management teams. So proves he not scared to invest money. One question again is, how does he afford the wage and tax bill?

Competency - Raj is still learning his Apprenticeship still in being a Owner. One still to answer on this, has he learnt from his mistakes at Darlo.

That's my take on Raj.

Integrity:Fails miserably Where has all the money gone from transfers, league payment and the cup run.Why does he not be more honest with the supporters instead of blaming others.
Money: HE has it the club do not if he is such a well respected business man surely he could of got investors.
Competency: Very poor look at his managerial appointments and the number of staff leaving enough said.
This man is totally responsible for the state of our club today.

He hasn't invested in the team at all he has brought in cheap rubbish, while getting average gates of 4500 to 5500, major cup runs from last year selling anything of any value on top of that. When was the last time we signed a quality league 2 player? I can't remember 1 under raj Singh.

I totally understand and hear that.

However, I'm not defending Raj, but it's not up to him to buy and sell players. It's up to the management team to do that. No owner says I want that player, if that was the case all teams will done on the cheap. Unfortunately that's up to the manager, (admittedly Raj might say we can't afford him) but that's why managers make a list of targets.

I personally think Hartley blow all the budget from last season on salaries and signing up fees.

Guys can say what their want about him. I'm in the mine set of, Don't bite the hard that feeds you... If he walks we be playing FC Hartlepool. That's just my personal opinion though

Singh is more interested in paying off his loan to himself than the team. Yes we have signed lots of players but they have mostly arrived from lower echelons of Scottish league or conference/ conference north etc and I expect our wage bill is one of the lowest in the league.

Buy quality and why not take a punt on the odd lower league player who might come off. We haven't bought any true quality at all but have gone for lower league options where only Dodds has come off (he effectively came from Darlo). Likes of Peter Hartley and Leon Clarke should never have been seen here as both are well and truly finished.

1. Integrity. I trust he didn't buy Pools to screw us over in anyway, not intentionally. His agenda is pure. However he does have a tendancy to say things that dont make sense, like how we pursued Hartley and he came highly recommended, to he had never heard of him - plus his constant digs at Challinor demonstrate a lack of maturity.

2. Money. He put his money where his mouth us, over £2M to get us on an even keel in National League. Unfortunately he under estimated the financial requirements of league two and despite making a profit last year, didn't invest enough in the right areas. He gets a much higher score from me for off field investment, on field investment was poor.

3. Competency. He clearly understands business but not the fast and ruthless nature of football, we aren't at a point yet to understand if he has learnt from his mistakes, time will tell. What Raj has failed at is bringing in the right footballing people with the right result.


We have had much worse owners and also much better. If we manage to stay up, he could become one of the better. If we go down, depending on how he handles it, he come become much worse.

Could go either way.

This 100%.
And to do it with 2 NE Clubs.

The warnings from the. loids Wasent just BS.

his heart might be in the right place unlike some others but i doubt he has unlimited funds to throw at pools. if we do survive i cannot see next season being much better unless askey drops lucky with a few more cheepies he is allowed to sign. not oversure if i,d rather have pools as they are or becoming another wrexham or stockport who are just buying success and have very few friends in the game outside of their fans.

I don’t suppose anyone actually takes over a club to look like a divvy and be criticised by every one…I can think of a better way to spend my money, when there is.

I think we are back to the pre IOR days where no matter who takes over if Singh sells the club they will not have cash to burn not unless one of the bunkerites wins the Euromillions.

If I won one of the big Euromillions I wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole….I’d appoint a mug to be chairman….can’t be bothered with getting advice from people in the supermarket trying to tell me how to spend my money, that’s the wife’s job

think most of us could not help having the ego trip with pools if we had a few million to waste. i very much doubt they,d continue posting on here and its very easy to become one of them than remain one of us. football has always really lived in layers. fans who fall out but remain as one. same with the players, then there is the coaching staff and manager and on top directors and owners. none of these layers really mix that well and tend to stick with their own kind.

Raj record of managers:
Hignett sacked - good decision - most supports agreed.
Challinor - turned out to be excellent appointment but let’s be honest his heart was always in the north west and could not refuse Stockport offer which we could never match.
Hartley - Few complained on his appointment but turned out to be a disaster. Allowed to spend the budget on large number of players most of which were poor signings. Raj soon realised he was not up to job and sacked him.
Curle - few complaints on his appointment. Just what we needed an experienced lower league manager. Raj backed him bring large number of players in but like Hartley poor signings. Again Raj wasted no time in sacking him which was a popular decision with supporters.
Askey - Time will tell. Decent start but odds against him keeping us up.

We should not be in the situation that we are in. End of. Sorry.

But we are.

Where would we be if Raj didn't save us?
I do think we would have reformed as a Phoenix Club, but would be playing in the local Northern League with no money no players and about 300/600 average crowd, likes of Macclesfield and Bury.

I know fans will say at least it be our club, our money, ours ours & ours, but would you be happy watching them playing real non League football aka Pub teams?, I know I wouldn't.

I know that the National League is no fool, but at least you get good coverage on B.T Sports and some teams are punching above their weight, but we now have a manager who knows about the league and what's required. Unlike Harrison, Hignett & Bates.

That line of thought is like losing your four bedroom home and moving into a tent in the sand dunes, standing outside it with your arms folded and defiantly telling everyone who passes by…”We’ll at least it’s our home”…….fooling nobody, it’s shit.

Can't keep harking back to that forever. Especially as the rescue money was raised in the form of debt. Not an unusual practice apparently but we will see in real terms whether Raj is the benevolent benefactor when it comes to wanting all this debt repaid.

We don't need an IOR chucking loads of money into the club. We don't even need that so called play off budget, we just need a budget that reflects the size of our club and doesn't mean we have to rely on finding one of those 'hens teeth' managers who can make a silk purse out of a sows ear. They don't come around very often. At the end of the day, does anyone believe that all those clubs above us in the league are there because they ALL have super wealthy owners and we do not? It's clearly possible to sustain league 2 status of we do it right.,

Totally pointless thread!

Have to agree.

It boils down to getting a manager who can manage, Askey could fit that profile, Lee, Hartley and Curle didn’t.

The warriors of loidland survived all the odds..

thruppence..What's the IOU at the end of the day.

One who has a knowledge of football and local or follows the club not one on an ego trip.

Nice work if you can get it, but like most clubs and their fans, beggars can’t be choosers.
You’ve already just excluded 90% of club chairman by the way

90 per cent, i think you are being too kind. stott at stockport admitted he was a man.city fan so possibly he is only there because he hasn,t got the money for them but has for stockport. always worry about people taking over clubs miles from where they live whose heart might not be in it in the bad days. if any of us had money to burn and could not get in at pools i doubt anyone could suddenly start an interest in say port vale and throw in their lot with them if they were asked.

On reflection you were right about my ‘generosity’ at 90% Mr A…..I’ll go for 99.99999999999999999999…….9999999999999999%

I can think of, Whelan at Wigan, Jack Walker at Blackburn, Steve Gibson at Boro, Bill Kenwright at Everton but has since sold most of his stake, Freddie Shepherd albeit he was taking £750k in dividends a season from the Toon so maybe not there for the love of the club, Harrogate chairman probably others in the lower leagues.

Wigan’s Chairman iis Talal al Hammad…there’s only Gibson there who’s current. Harrogate to me comes under hobby owner…..Rushdenitis usually sets it.

Till Carrick turned the Boro's season around loads of their fans thought it was time for Gibson to push off because he no longer had the dosh to match the fans' ambitions.
After nigh on 20 years of bankrolling the club, bet that warmed the cockles of his heart.