Ten years ago Hartlepool United were bought out by Increased Oil Recovery. Nick Loughlin spoke to chairman Ken Hodcroft to look back on a decade to remember for all at Victoria Park.
"WE aren't coming in here with pots of money to invest, but I want to build up a squad with good, local players, some niche players, and see the club do well.
"There will be no rash promises immediately. But we have some good ideas we want to put into practice and, working together, we can take the club forward.''
That was the opening gambit from Ken Hodcroft, newly-installed owner and chairman of Hartlepool United in September 1997.
It was hardly headline-grabbing material. There was no wild promise of Premiership football within five years or brash statements about big budgets and record transfers.
But, in the week marking ten years in control at Victoria Park, it's fair to say that Hodcroft's understatement has proven highly accurate.
Two promotions, five play-off campaigns and a relegation thrown in for good measure, Hartlepool United have never had it so good.
Today they go into their game with Walsall at Victoria Park with the possibility of going top of League One. If they do, it will be the highest league position ever achieved in the club's 99-year history.
But why would a global oil company based in Aberdeen pick Hartlepool United and buy out home-made chairman Harold Hornsey? It's a question which has long been asked.
"Harold was interested in taking the club on, but had gone as far as he could and he was looking for help to do it,'' said Hodcroft.
"I think he was a bit cautious about anyone coming in, but that was his nature. He agreed to chat with us. It came initially from an article in a newspaper with Harold saying he was looking for some help - my ears pricked up on reading it.
"At the time IOR were quite aggressive in the North Sea in the oil business. We wanted to raise our profile.
"We were looking for some good public relations. IOR are an international business and football is an international language - perhaps getting involved with the club would be a good business move.
"The club wanted help, we wanted to raise the profile of IOR, it worked out for everyone.''
Their first big public relations statement came on New Year's Eve, 1998, when Peter Beardsley signed. Pitched into a struggling team, Beardsley didn't make a huge impact, but for Hodcroft and IOR it was job done.
"Bringing him in helped raise the profile,'' admitted the chairman. "At the time the club wasn't doing well - we wondered what we could do.
"We had no experience and we were still learning from Harold. We wanted to bring in a high-profile player who could help. It raised the profile of the club and showed that IOR were trying to assist.
"Without making promises it was the sort of signing we wanted to make and we hoped he would be the first of many.
"He scored on his debut and I thought straight away that the idea had paid off - if he didn't do anything else in his time with us then he had made an impact.''
And while Beardsley's long-term contribution may have been somewhat limited, IOR's first foray into the transfer market paid immediate dividends.
Jan Ove Pedersen made only 18 appearances in a blue and white shirt in early 1998. It was enough for many to label him the best player they've ever seen play for the club.
"It was the same with signing Peter as it was Jan Ove - we needed experience and we had few contacts within football in this country,'' said Hodcroft.
"So we used our Norwegian links and our contacts over there to bring him in. Getting him in on a short-term deal put the club on the map.
"He was a great player and imagine what he would be like in the current side?''
That current side was shaped by Chris Turner, IOR's first managerial appointment at a crucial time in 1999.
Pools were fighting relegation when Turner was handed his first managerial post after Mick Tait's exit.
"Chris came with a very good track record. He was the only candidate we saw who had actually prepared a dossier on the club and told us what he could do,'' said the chairman.
"He was talking during the interview about 'us' and 'we' so I knew he had a feeling for the club and the job.
"We were new to league football and putting Chris in place was building another block - we were building something up all the time.
"We could have gone for an old head, an experienced manager who had his ways and means of doing things. Or we could go for a young, up-and-coming manager, someone who was new to that side of things but was determined to be successful?
"That's why we took Chris. Harold wanted an older manager but we felt if we did that we would have lost the plot. An older type would come in and have his methods - we were trying to get people to work to our ways.''
Those ways and means brought plenty of success until, 12 months after their biggest day - the League One play-off final at Cardiff - Pools were relegated back into League Two, three years after exiting it.
"Relegation wasn't part of the plan,'' said Hodcroft. "We had enjoyed some good times and that season wasn't one of them.
"At the club we have three rules - enjoy the work you do, don't embarrass yourself or the club and don't get relegated. Every one of those was broken that season!
"That's the philosophy of IOR. Maybe if you break one of them you can get away with it - but not all three.
"Cardiff was a memorable day and a memorable occasion, but 12 months later we were relegated. It brought everyone back down to earth with a bang.
"We have been so close to being promoted to the Championship and we had a great crack at it. Cardiff was a proud occasion for everyone connected with the club and the town. It was a fantastic atmosphere and it gives us great pride when you think that something like 18,000 - that's almost a quarter of the town's population - travelled to support us.''
Ten years down the line and no-one could have predicted what has gone on. Equally, the coming decade is impossible to gauge.
There is one key point on the IOR and HUFC agenda, however.
"We will continue to look for steady progress and aim to do the best we can,'' insisted Hodcroft. "We won't be making brash statements.
"But the most important thing is for us to own the ground. The Government allow you to buy a council house after you have rented it for so long and we've been here ten years now!
"That is our key objective. Progress has been made and hopefully things will happen.''
"Hopefully we have proved we are here for the right reasons.
"I would like to think we have helped raise the profile of both the town and the town's football club. Put the whole package together and crowds are up, the supporters have watched some excellent football. Without IOR where would it all be now?'
"Hartlepool as a town is looking fantastic now, the football club is no longer a laughing stock and we have rid ourselves of the image we used to have.
"Within football we have a good name and reputation. Opponents know they are in for a good game and a good test when they come up against us.'
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