Hartlepool United are now indebted to club owners Increased Oil Recovery Ltd to the tune of £13.3 million pounds.

At yesterday's annual general meeting, chairman Ken Hodcroft revealed the football club was subsidised by £1.4m in 2010, adding to the ever-growing funding by the Aberdeen-based oil company.

In 2010, turnover decreased to £2.64m and players' wages were up from £2.11m in 2009 to £2.28m. The club made an overall operating loss of £1.4m, compared to a loss of £1.1m the previous year.

Hodcroft, who sacked head coach Mick Wadsworth on Tuesday, yesterday reiterated the desire to complete the purchase of Victoria Park from the town's council and is hopeful of making progress on that front.

Both club and council have engineered an independent economic study into the impact the club has on the town, with the costs spilt 50-50.

"The council say they are open minded to sell the ground to the club,'' said Hodcroft. "Hopefully it will help resolve matters in 2012.

"The sale appears to be progressing, but the owners continue to put any major projects on hold - however, we have continued to make improvements to some areas of the ground.

"We hope to have some feedback from the report by the end of January and start moving forward in March. We feel we are genuinely making progress there and the study will see the economic value the club has to the town.''

Hodcroft also warned the club would continue to be affected by the economic downturn, but everyone at the club was overwhelmed by the response to the £100 season ticket offer during the summer.

"The current economic climate will greatly restrict spending on players, the football department in general and club facilities,'' he said.

"The success of the season ticket offer was a first in the Football League and we hope fans (old and new) have enjoyed coming to the club despite some poor home results.

"Again we still believe we are in a position to remain in League One this season based on the players we have in place if we make full use of our resources and can win some home games. A new club record of seven successive home defeats is not a record the owners of club wanted to have.''

While home attendances at Victoria Park this season have been well up on last term, matchday gate receipts have been down on predictions due to smaller away followings. It's £25 for visiting fans to sit inside Victoria Park this season.

Yeovil recently brought only 55 fans to Victoria Park last month, and only three clubs - Sheffield Wednesday, Huddersfield and Charlton have been followed by more than 300.

He added: "It's very important to us that the council, fans and town support the club. We are all well aware of the importance of Hartlepool as a town and what the football club means.''

On the pitch and Hodcroft is keen to see younger players develop into first-teamers to help the club manage the planned salary cap levels soon to be implemented.

Pools are currently 25 per cent over the current League One recommended salary capping levels and Football League officials are expected to introduce sanctions for clubs from 2012-13.