THE battle to save Hartlepool United is gathering pace.

Faced with administration, the club needs to raise around £200,000 by January 25 to pay staff wages, bills and an invoice from the taxman.

And a pile of money has been raised over the weekend, with an on-line fundraising campaign now sitting at over £42,000 since it was launched last Wednesday.

Jeff Stelling, the club’s vice president will today meet an interested party in the hope a deal can be struck to take control of the club.

Owners Sage Investments and benefactor John Blackledge are no longer willing to put money into the club, which has been up for sale for a month. The club's office staff have been informed their positions are at risk of redundancy.

A number of new potential investors have come forward in the last few days and expressed an interest.

However, it remains to be seen at an early stage how genuine their initial moves have been and whether they will progress.

Stelling last week announced he was willing to be part of any consortium and the club’s vice-president would invest some of his own money if necessary.

Pools’ mascot H’Angus the Monkey raised over £3,600 at the weekend. He had a bucket collection in Morrison’s in Hartlepool and headed to St James’ Park in Newcastle where supporters of both the Magpies and Swansea chipped in.

Michelle Taylor-Ward, a Hartlepool-based fashion designer, has created a T-shirt for the weekend with all proceeds going to the fund-raising.

Over £700 has already be raised from sales and she said: “I’m gobsmacked. It shows the love for Pools is out there. My dad Bert and husband Ian are both season ticket holders and I know what Pools means to everybody. Every penny of profit is going towards our beloved club.’’

John McGovern, the former Pools midfielder and twice European Cup winning captain with Nottingham Forest, hopes his former club pulls through.

Now a club ambassador at Forest, said: “It’s a sad situation for the fans and the area as a whole. A football club is the focal point of a community and it would be a big loss.

“I have many great memories from back then. It was where my football dream began. Even today it’s one of the first results I look for.

“I think they’ll find they have enough friends in football. But then they’ll have to get it right both on and off the pitch to progress.”

Signed by Brian Clough from Henry Smiths School, McGovern was held the accolade of being club’s youngest-ever player for around 40 years.

“It’s where Clough and Taylor formed their legendary partnership,” added McGovern. “It was unique and they got away with things you probably wouldn’t now.”

“Clough used to go round the working men’s clubs, making speeches to raise money to help the club. He took me along. I was only 18 and couldn’t have a drink. He did everything he could to help.”

A public meeting is being held in the Steelworks Club in Hartlepool on Tuesday  evening from 7.30pm, where various ideas will be raised and fans will have a chance to debate the problems.

The club’s Supporters’ Trust issued another statement on Saturday evening, announcing their own fund-raising campaign.

It read: “The Trust has a major national fundraising campaign prepared which was sanctioned by our members on 31st December 2017, and we expect to launch this in the next 4-5 days.

“Our campaign is not designed to supplant or hijack the excellent fundraising effort already going on in response to the clubs appeal for £200,000 that they need by January 25. The reality is that those funds will only secure the future of the club this month, and not for the remaining months of the season.

“The HUST campaign is to raise money for a fighting fund to cover operational costs through to June.

“While it has been fantastic to witness the incredible generosity of the football community and the warmth shown towards the town and the club over the last week, we must not allow all this good work to go to waste. It would be a tragedy if the club was saved in January only to fold in February. We cannot, as supporters of the club, let that happen.’’