Hartlepool United: Will Harris be Unbelievable Jeff?
Hartlepool United’s 2025/26 season was more warning than write-off. Ninth place, 68 points and 17 clean sheets showed they already possessed part of a promotion formula. Only three National League sides recorded more shutouts, and two of them went up.
The 14 draws explained why Hartlepool did not join them. Pools were difficult to beat, but too often lacked the attacking quality to turn competitive performances into victories.
Simon Grayson initially appeared capable of changing that. His side collected ten points from their opening four league matches, before one win in the next 11 brought his reign to an early end.
Nicky Featherstone stepped in during a period of wider change. Landon Smith completed his takeover on New Year’s Eve, ending Raj Singh’s almost eight-year ownership.
Singh’s legacy will always split opinion. He helped save the club, restored stability and oversaw the 2021 return to the EFL. His final years also brought relegation, managerial churn and a fanbase increasingly tired of starting again.
That context made ninth place feel unsatisfactory rather than reassuring. The 7-0 defeat at Wealdstone was an extreme low, but the more persistent problem was Hartlepool’s lack of attacking output.
Alex Reid finished as top scorer with 12 before joining Barrow. Nobody else reached double figures, leaving a side capable of keeping clean sheets without enough match-winners at the other end. Hartlepool have responded with a new head coach, a reworked recruitment operation, greater performance support and an attack rebuilt around proven output.
Among last season’s established National League clubs, Pools look the most capable of making a major jump. An average home attendance just short of 3,800 underlines the club’s potential, although recent seasons have shown that support and stature do not deliver promotion by themselves.
The difference this summer is visible in the squad. Hartlepool are no longer relying on their size to suggest where they belong; they have recruited a team capable of taking them there.
From the dugout
Nicky Featherstone’s departure closed a significant Hartlepool chapter after he guided the side through ownership and operational change. Under Landon Smith, Bromby & Partners have since divided responsibilities more clearly, allowing Lee Clark to concentrate on coaching rather than carry the whole football operation.
Chris Beech leads recruitment, Danny Nye oversees performance and sports science, while Gary Liddle, Adam Clayton and Adam Smith strengthen the support around the first team. It gives Clark a broader staff than his predecessor inherited and removes some of the ambiguity that surrounded Hartlepool last season.
The early signs point towards a side expected to press, compete physically and attack from more than one area. Clark has also placed value on set pieces, reactions to setbacks and ensuring his players are not bullied.
His task is not to design the structure. It is to make the benefits visible on the pitch. Hartlepool have given him the tools; they now need to look like a well-coached team from the opening weeks.
Manager Profile
Lee Clark’s managerial career has never followed a neat upward line. His strongest work came at Huddersfield, where he built consecutive League One play-off sides and oversaw a 43-match unbeaten league run. Birmingham, Blackpool, Kilmarnock and spells abroad then brought very different pressures, with mixed results. Hartlepool presents a cleaner test. He is not arriving to steady a crisis or work around a depleted squad; he has been handed enough quality to shape a team expected to impose itself.
Clark knows the demands of the North East, carries credibility with players and has experienced promotion races before. What he must now show is that he can translate that experience into the detail of a National League campaign, where physical games, set pieces and relentless expectation can punish any loss of momentum.
Summer Mood
Hartlepool have spent the summer acting like a club with promotion in mind. Eleven new arrivals and several statement signings have raised expectations well beyond another season of hovering around the play-off conversation.
Will Harris, Jack Nolan, Jordan Hugill and Chris Popov give Lee Clark a front line with proven output, physical presence and different ways to hurt teams. The reaction to Harris’s arrival said plenty. Supporters saw it as proof that Hartlepool can now win races for players other National League clubs wanted.
The squad already looks considerably stronger. Hartlepool have recruited like title challengers, and their supporters will expect them to play like one.
Squad
Hartlepool have not simply made the squad younger; they have redistributed the experience. Max Kouogun, Nathan Sheron, Luke Charman and Jack Hunter remain in their peak years, while Jamie Miley, Jay Benn, Reiss McNally and Campbell Darcy provide a younger core with National League experience already behind them.
The seniority lost through Tom Parkes, Gavan Holohan, Danny Johnson, Vadaine Oliver and Brad Walker has been replaced more selectively. Jordan Hugill brings authority at the top of the pitch, while Liam Gibson adds EFL experience, balance and composure on the left side of defence. Around them, Charlie Penman, Neo Eccleston, Owen Hampson and Terry Bondo lower the age profile without making the squad look raw.
The shape of the group suggests Hartlepool will be more flexible and more aggressive. Clark can use Hugill as a focal point, play Harris through the middle or surround either with the movement of Nolan, Popov, McKeown and Ilunga. Miley and Nolan also give them high-level delivery from set pieces, with considerably more size available to attack the box.
The main concern is balance. Hartlepool now have several forwards competing for places, and Clark must fit that firepower into a side without leaving the midfield exposed. A first-choice goalkeeper also remains essential. Solve that position, and the squad has enough depth, physical presence and attacking variety to sustain a title challenge rather than simply produce a strong opening few months.
Retained
- Kian Foreman | Forward | Age 18*
- Max Kouogun | Defence | Age 29
- Jamie Miley | Midfield | Age 22
- Nathan Sheron | Midfield | Age 28
- Jay Benn | Defence | Age 24
- Josh Donaldson | Forward | Age 20
- Reiss McNally | Defence | Age 25
- Luke Charman | Forward | Age 28
- Jack Hunter | Midfield | Age 28
- Campbell Darcy | Defence | Age 20
- Adam Smith | Goalkeeper *player/coach | Age 33
*sent on loan to Hebburn Town
Players in
- Jordan Hugill | Rotherham United | Free Transfer | Forward | Age 34
- Jack Nolan | Morecambe FC | Free Transfer | Forward | Age 25
- Brooklyn Ilunga | Bromley FC | Free Transfer | Midfield | Age 22
- Corey McKeown | Spennymoor Town | Free Transfer | Forward | Age 24
- Owen Hampson | Sheffield United | Free Transfer | Midfield | Age 21
- Chris Popov | Leicester City | Free Transfer | Forward | Age 21
- Will Harris | FC Halifax Town | Transfer details unresolved | Forward | Age 25
- Charlie Penman | Brighton & Hove Albion | Free Transfer | Defence | Age 20
- Terry Bondo | Blackpool FC | Free Transfer | Forward | Age 19
- Neo Eccleston | Huddersfield Town | Free Transfer | Defence | Age 22
- Liam Gibson | Harrogate Town | Free Transfer | Defence | Age 29
Players out
- Tom Parkes | Tamworth FC | Free Transfer | Defence | Age 34
- Adam Campbell | Released | Free Transfer | Forward | Age 31
- Matty Daly | Morecambe FC | Free Transfer | Midfield | Age 25
- Nathan Ferguson | Hornchurch FC | Free Transfer | Midfield | Age 30
- Sam Folarin | Sutton United | Free Transfer | Forward | Age 25
- Nick Hayes | Aldershot Town | Free Transfer | Goalkeeper | Age 27
- Gavan Holohan | Boston United | Free Transfer | Midfield | Age 34
- Danny Johnson | Released | Free Transfer | Forward | Age 33
- Vadaine Oliver | Released | Free Transfer | Forward | Age 34
- Alex Reid | Barrow AFC | Free Transfer | Forward | Age 30
- Brad Walker | Released | Free Transfer | Midfield | Age 30
- Louis Stephenson | Spennymoor Town | Free Transfer | Defence | Age 20
One to Watch
Jack Nolan brings the kind of output Hartlepool were missing from areas beyond centre-forward. His 19 goals (all comps) and eight assists for a relegated Morecambe side showed he can influence games without playing in a dominant team.
He can create from wide areas, threaten goal himself and provide the set-piece delivery needed to make Hartlepool’s greater physical presence count. Harris and Hugill may attract more attention, but Nolan could be the player who turns sustained pressure into points.
Bookies’ Odds
At 5/1, Hartlepool are priced as genuine title contenders rather than play-off hopefuls. The market has clearly taken notice of a side that already kept 17 clean sheets and has since added far more attacking quality.
The price assumes those extra goals will turn last season’s draws into wins. Hartlepool still have to prove the new pieces fit quickly, but there is clear logic behind their place near the head of the market.
Prediction — 2nd
No established National League side looks better placed to make a bigger jump. Hartlepool already possessed the defensive base of a contender; the summer work has added the goals and variety that were missing.
A title challenge is now the expectation. Carlisle may still hold the stronger overall hand, but Pools have enough quality to remain in the race deep into the season and finish as runners-up.
