RONNIE MOORE, the Hartlepool United manager, is to be rewarded for his efforts in keeping the club in the Football League last season with a new contract.

New chairman Gary Coxall took charge on Monday when JPNG completed their takeover of the club from Increased Oil Recovery Ltd.

Coxall, 34, made his first public appearance at Victoria Park yesterday when he announced that talks were already on the go with both Moore and his assistant Sam Collins to keep them at Victoria Park.

Moore signed a 12-month deal last December when he took over with Pools bottom of the table. At the time Pools were due to be bought out by a consortium known as TMH2014, but that failed to go ahead.

The club remained under the control of IOR and Moore is due to be out of contract in six month.

But Coxall, who has already entered into positive discussions with Hartlepool Borough Council chiefs about the future ownership of Victoria Park, said: “A new contract, longer term, for Ronnie and Sam is a priority.

"There is no beating around the bush trying, to be political. We have had discussions, which were positive and hopefully there will be an announcement soon.

"We need to secure those two.’’

He added: “Take out the bad start to last season, this club has fantastic potential and we have a fantastic manager.

“We want to tie him down long term, it’s top of our list. We will talk and get their views and I feel they are happy here. I want them to feel assured their future is at the club.

“It’s an easy thing to sort out.

“We are not sitting down being miles apart, we will work towards what they want and the future of the club is under them.

“We have in Sam a fantastic assistant manager who is only in his 30s. His reputation as a coach and future manager is phenomenal.’’

While Coxall is wary of making bold statements about the new season, the second youngest chairman in the Football League at 34 – he’s behind Wigan’s 23-year-old David Sharpe – he said: “I don’t want to come across too political and not answer questions properly, but we should be looking at a good season.

“I don’t want to be looking at putting pressure on anyone about next season. This is a club is fantastic potential and I think we will realise it.’’