GARY COXALL, the Hartlepool United chairman, last night insisted appointing Craig Hignett as the club’s new manager is a statement of intent.

The former Middlesbrough first-team coach has returned to Victoria Park, after leaving the club in March 2014 to head to Boro.

In a frantic afternoon at Victoria Park, Moore was sacked following Tuesday’s woeful home defeat to Stevenage. They have won only seven times in 26 League Two games this season and Moore leaves with Pools stuttering third bottom in the table, only four points in front of the relegation zone.

Hignett, who will meet the players at the club’s Durham training ground this morning before a 2pm press conference at Victoria Park, has long held ambitions to be a manager.

His first game in charge will be on Saturday at Victoria Park when Pools take on Yeovil.

Coxall, furious with the manner of Tuesday’s defeat in the immediate aftermath of the game, said: “It’s a sad day to replace Ronnie, I love the guy, but at the same time we have to look forward.

“We have to start getting up the league and I’m finding out quickly that what comes with the job is big decisions.

“It’s been a really tough day. We made some tough calls, but for the right decision, it’s a results business and it’s not personal.

“It’s time to showcase what the club is becoming.

“Ronnie is part of this club’s history and always will be. I’ve kept every avenue open to him personally and as a person. We aren’t the club to sever ties with people and we will keep a good relationship with him.’’

While managerial appointments under previous owners IOR often dragged on, this has been done in an instant – another statement of a new era under JPNG and Coxall.

Now they need results to match their own methods and Coxall, in an interview on the club website, admitted Hignett was their first and only real choice for the job: “We can’t have a long transition period, we have a list of three or four and went for number one. Luckily he was interested - for us there’s no reason to drag our heels.

“We said this club would be going places and so there’s a few tough decisions to make. We are making them for the right reasons and going aggressively for our number one target.

“We are bringing something different to the club. We no longer are going to be a club happy to stagnate, we have to look forward and the enthusiasm is infectious – from stewards, to fans, first-team, players and coaches.

“We are doing it now, a fresh start.’’

Coxall, who took over the club during the close-season and backed Moore to the hilt in the transfer market, added: “It’s a sad day, but also exciting. A strange thing to explain. Two emotions – we have parted company with a mate, a friend of the club. At the same time we are a football club and it’s my job to stand up and be counted and act in the best interests of the club.

“He was our No1 target and he was so keen to come in. We didn’t expect it go through so quick. It’s perfect for us, with a run of games to come.

“We need that quick turnaround and it shows enthusiasm from us all.

“We are looking now at a 20-game season. Can we do it? I believe we can with the enthusiasm here. I won’t hang the manager out to dry, and we have to show a new era and moving on.

“We want to show League Two what we are all about.’’

Hignett, considering former Boro team-mate Curtis Fleming as his right-hand man, is looking forward to the chance to implement his own ideas.

“I am clear in what I want, how I want to play and how I want to do things,’’ he said.

“I have enough experience now to know the job – even though I’ve never been a manager I have done everything but and had two spells as assistant that have gone well for me.

“I am ready to be a manager now; I have got my own ideas and I want to do it the way I want to do it, not the way someone else wants me to so I can’t wait to get started.”