The five worst Hartlepool United managers of the Raj Singh era

With Hartlepool recently appointing their 12th manager of the Singh tenure, it would be rude not to look back at some of the worst appointments under Singh’s leadership so far. 

Whether it be fighting fans in fish and chip shops or signing the majority of your players from the lower leagues in Scotland, here are the five worst managers of the Singh era so far. 

  5. Matthew Bates

 Perhaps a little unfortunate to make this list, Bates was interim manager when Singh arrived at the club in 2018 and had just steered the club to safety in the National League despite a depleted squad and financial issues.   

This prompted Singh to offer the job to Bates permanently heading into the 2018/19 season and was backed with a number of signings such as Liam Noble and Andrew Davies. 

Despite a promising start to the 18/19 season, with the club sitting in sixth place after 15 games, a run of six defeats in a row saw the club slide down the table into 13th position and Bates was sacked in November. 

His time at the club will perhaps be more recognised for a fallout with Noble away at Dover, in which Director of Football at the time Craig Hignett had to stand in as peacemaker. 

 4. Keith Curle

 Curle took over at Pools initially as interim manager in September 2022 with the club winless in their first nine league games and sat 23rd in League Two. 

 After two wins and two draws in his first ten league games, Singh believed this was the right time to give Curle the job permanently, conveniently on the same day former manager Dave Challinor’s Stockport were in town, a game which would end 5-0 to the visitors. 

Despite a number of new signings in January such as Dan Kemp and Connor Jennings, Curle’s side still struggled and he was sacked in February 2023 with the team sat one place above the relegation zone, with 23rd placed Crawley Town having four games in hand. 

Curle’s time at the club will be remembered for his awful brand of football, the multiple panic signings which were made such as Chris Missilou and Leon Clarke, as well as his viral interview in which he hoped his “missus to be in a sexy mood” when he returned home from the game. 

 3. Darren Sarll

Sarll was appointed at Pools in April 2024 with the club controversially letting the contract of the popular Kevin Phillips expire. 

Sarll was allowed to rebuild the squad and focused on signing hard-working, physical players such as Jack Hunter and Greg Sloggett to suit his pragmatic style. 

Despite a positive start to the season, the wheels quickly came off the rails for Sarll’s team as they struggled with discipline (receiving four red cards in 13 league games) as well as getting the best out of their more technical players. 

After getting knocked out of the FA Cup in the fourth qualifying round to Brackley Town, Pools made the decision to sack Sarll with the club languishing in 16th in the National League. 

Sarll’s time will also be remembered for an interview after a defeat with Forest Green Rovers in which he called the fans “clever di*ks” which didn’t help his cause. 

 2. Richard Money

Money was appointed by Pools in December 2018 following the sacking of Bates and came off the back of a 26-day stint in charge of Solihull Moors in the 2017/18 season. 

Despite the warning signs being there from his time with Solihull, the club opted to appoint him anyway, however after just over a month in charge, the club made the decision to give him the job as Director of Football, with the already installed Director of Football, Hignett, becoming manager.  

Money’s time as manager saw the club only win one of his six league games in charge as well as getting knocked out of the FA Trophy to lower league AFC Telford United. 

He would then go on to last just five days in his Director of Football role after he was allegedly involved in a verbal spat with some fans in a fish and chip shop. 

 1. Paul Hartley

At the top of this rather impressive list of poor managers is Scotsman Paul Hartley. 

Hartley was appointed in June 2022 after the controversial sacking of Graeme Lee, and arrived with an impressive reputation from Scotland, with the club even paying compensation to Cove Rangers to buy him out of his contract and securing his services.  

Hartley was backed sufficiently by Singh and brought in a number of players from Scotland who were rumoured to be on high wages such as Jake Hastie, as well as a number of them being on two-year deals. 

In truth, none of the players Hartley signed from Scotland worked out with all of them now back playing in Scotland. 

Hartley was sacked in September 2022, with the club 23rd in League Two and winless after nine games.

Hartley’s appointment damaged Pools massively in the short term as well as long term with many of his below-par signings seeing out their two-year contracts and the club getting relegated at the end of the 2022/23 season.