HARTLEPOOL United yesterday unveiled a new club badge, which “sits in the middle of a wider project of refreshing the club’s identity’’.

Revamping the club’s logo is one of a multitude of changes made, some forced upon them, some forced by the club, over the summer.

As the club starts to prepare for life in the National League following relegation from the Football League at the end of last season, very little remains the same.

There’s a new kit to follow, by new kit manufacturer BLK, a new manager in place in Craig Harrison and returning the ground to being called Victoria Park amid a new sponsorship deal with Hartlepool-based Utility Alliance.

The former chairman Gary Coxall is in the process of being legally and completely removed from the club’s books. Erasing him from the history books is not as easy, following a pitiful two-year tenure.

New boss Harrison has made five signings in recent weeks and he has impressed everyone around the club with his approach and positive outlook; a stark contrast to what went on before him.

The majority of his playing squad is in place for next Monday’s return to training. He hopes to add two more to his squad, while still waiting on Rhys Oates and Brad Walker to sign their new deals.

Walker has firm interest from Morecambe, but talk of a move to Wigan has stalled.

Harrison is yet to confirm the make up of his backroom team, he has a clean slate to deal with, and plenty of positions to fill.

Of the gang of four who made up the management team at the end of last season, only Matthew Bates and Stuart Parnaby remain.

Striker Billy Paynter was released with his contract up, while physio Ian Gallagher was axed last week by.

That decision, nothing to do with Harrison, caused plenty of consternation among both players and supporters, as his 25-year service with the club came to abrupt halt.

Chairman Pam Duxbury went some way to explaining the decision in a lengthy club statement on Friday, and admitted she isn’t afraid to make big decisions if she feels it is in the best interests of the club. More changes are likely to follow.

In replacing Gallagher, it is understood that the club has been in talks with Mark Taylor. He played for Pools in the 1980s, before taking up physiotherapy when his playing career ended.

He was a long-term part of Sam Allardyce’s backroom team and worked with him at Sunderland. Taylor, who lost his wife in the recent Manchester terror attack, still has a house in the town and he could head up a new department at Victoria Park encompassing physio, recovery and sports science.

Goalkeeping coach Adriano Basso was appointed by former boss Dave Jones, and only until the end of last season, while the club has also been operating without a kit man since Jones disastrously took charge of the team.

Their first pre-season friendly is at Billingham Town on Thursday, July 6. They go to Dunston on Wednesday, July 12 and then Blyth on Tuesday, July 18. Wigan travel to Victoria Park on Tuesday, July 25. Pools will split their squad on Saturday, July 29 with a Middlesbrough XI visiting Victoria Park at the same time they send a team to Whitby. The National League season starts the following week.