CURTIS Woodhouse, the footballer-turned-boxer, says he has has applied for the Hartlepool United manager’s job.

Currently manager of Bridlington Town, Woodhouse claims to have submitted his interest in the position, but has not received a reply from the club.

However, Pools officials are bewildered by his claims and insist there has been no application made from Woodhouse. 

On Twitter, he wrote: “I applied for the Hartlepool job, a club in absolute free fall with serious financial problems, in a right mess. I'd do it for free to get a opportunity and show what I could do, never got a reply, not a thing. I thought I would be just what they needed.’’

And Woodhouse has since deleted his tweet.

The decision to appoint a replacement for the sacked Craig Harrison lies with chairwoman Pam Duxbury. She has put Matthew Bates in caretaker charge and that situation appears to be set to remain.

With the club’s future in serious doubt, Duxbury has not made a managerial search a priority.

Both Ronnie Moore and Lee Clark have offered to work for free. Clark wanted to be manager, while Moore is willing to help Bates and the club in any capacity.

Club president Jeff Stelling has even offered to pay Moore’s wages, but the club’s former manager has yet to be spoken to by anyone at Victoria Park, with his plea to help being ignored.

Bates has been asked to remain in charge, with no time scale in place.

Bet Victor have Moore at 2/1 joint favourite for the job with Craig Hignett, who could be back at the club if the consortium involving Raj Singh and Jeff Stelling gains control.

Clark and Bates are both 4/1 shots.

A Swedish consortium remain interested in taking charge, and are confident they will succeed, but their efforts are being treated with scepticism at Victoria Park.

They first approached Pools seeking a way in during last summer. They claim to be ready to step in, that they have Swedish sponsors willing to get involved and even last week were confident that Henrik Larsson, the former Celtic and Manchester United striker, would be willing to accept the manager’s job at Victoria Park.

He has since rejected their approach.

The agent heading up the consortium has spoken with Stelling, but have stopped short of investing or putting their money forward.