TWO months ago the chatter was all positive about a Hartlepool United takeover. Then things carried on as normal, at least until last week anyway.

Seven days ago The Northern Echo revealed the planned buyout of owners IOR by TMH2014 was not going to happen.

Two days later it was confirmed. IOR and Ken Hodcroft remain in charge, they are most likely seeking extra investment too.

Pools tonight take on Northampton at Victoria Park, before Stevenage visit on Saturday. They are two games which can make or break their season.

While performances and results have improved, Pools sit nine points adrift at the bottom of the Football League. Defeat at Portsmouth was their 18th League Two defeat of the season. They’ve recorded a mere five wins from 29 games and, are likely to need ten wins from their last 17 games to stay up, starting tonight.

Relegation to the Conference for the first time in the club’s history looms.

Whatever issues – and many had plenty with the current owners – they should be put aside.

Hodcroft and IOR firmly believe that by rejecting the takeover they have secured the future of the club.

Slowly, over Christmas and New Year things started to unravel. There were a lot of whispers about the way events were going.

The fact that prospective chairman Peter Harris and his associates were at Wycombe on January 3 and then none of them attended the last home game said a lot.

Behind the scenes, TMH (a newly-formed company) and Harris did pass the fit and proper persons test with the Football League, albeit with a couple of caveats, which included the names of some individuals being taken out of the takeover equation.

It was later discovered that one character who was at Victoria Park with Harris as a round of media interviews were being conducted on December 16 had previously been jailed for two and a half years for his part in a staged robbery involving a trailer of mobile phones worth £1.6m.

On the surface, TMH – a quirky throwback to the club’s history was the name tag of The Monkey Hangers and it brought a bit of relief amid a tough time at Victoria Park – were ideal. Looking to invest in football, Harris and Co spoke openly of their desire to progress and develop the club. They did provide proof of funding and future sponsorship was in place to the Football League.

Perhaps it was a bit naive of them to announce they were keen on signing convicted rapist Ched Evans and not expect any media and social backlash.

It was the sort of controversy Hodcroft would never court. The club stepped back from that one, although the takeover remained well on track. But staff at Victoria Park had their doubts, concerns were raised, investigations carried out and due dilligence done and the conclusion was that Hodcroft staying in charge was the best option by some distance.

It has no doubt cost both parties extra money in legal fees, but the costs were not a concern for Hodcroft, when the deal was so far down the line he could easily have walked away and left the club under the control of TMH.

Hodcroft has his critics and his faults. The club’s statement confirming the takeover was off should have been more detailed. Despite being limited legally about what he could say, a 41-word announcement should have been more elaborate.

Hodcroft is likely to use his column in this evening’s match programme as a platform to get his message across. The Northern Echo would be first in line if he were to conduct any media interviews.

But even when Pools were flying, with play-offs and promotions a regular occurrence, Hodcroft never wanted to be in the limelight, so is he really going to change his style now?

Tellingly, it is worth remembering this is the second time he has rejected the chance of a takeover. And he was proved right then.

First in 2010, a Norwegian group of investors were rebuffed by IOR. Chris Turner then introduced them to Sheffield Wednesday and were later proved to be not all they seemed.

Sky Sports presenter Jeff Stelling, Hartlepool born and bred, revealed on Friday night, posting on an internet messageboard, that Harris had approached him to be club president. “I think they wanted to use me to give them some respectability” he wrote. “They asked if I could be at Saturday’s game – showed how much they knew about me! I didn’t hear from them after that day.’’

It’s credit to Ronnie Moore that he has engineered some progress on the pitch amid the off-field concerns. If he had been appointed seven weeks earlier in place of Paul Murray, perhaps Pools would have been in an improved position.

Giving Murray the job in such messy circumstances was a mistake, but it’s gone now. It’s time for the town to rally round the club, put their obvious differences aside, and give the team full support – starting tonight if the greatest of Great Escapes has any chance of happening.