AS they enter unchartered territory, Hartlepool United start life next week in the National League with one of the bigger budgets in the division.

Following relegation from League Two in May, new boss Craig Harrison has reshaped the squad with eight new signings.

Harrison, who yesterday appointed Carl Magnay as skipper, has been able to stamp his own mark on the club after his May appointment thanks to the backing of Pam Duxbury.

“For this season the feedback I’ve had is that the budget is significantly higher than the average in the league,’’ she said. “Obviously, and from last year, the club has lost money for a number of years.

“A lot of players have left, but they needed to come off the wage bill anyway – we were carrying too big a squad.

“You wouldn’t necessarily replace them all man for man, you have to run it tighter.’’

Pools have been recruiting wisely this summer, seeking the right blend in the squad, something they haven’t done in recent seasons.

And she admitted: “This club has lost money for several years and it doesn’t stop overnight. In a normal business if you need to make redundancies you can, but you can’t with footballers. It is a different, very different business.

“You are carrying a squad much bigger than you should, it’s only with players being out of contract we can make changes.’’

Duxbury took control following a protected and delayed takeover from JPNG and the former chairman.

She aims to rebuild and restructure the club from top to bottom following a two-year demise.

Part of her plans are to involve the fans and the club’s Supporters’ Trust have already entered into regular dialogue.

The extent of the fans’ involvement remains to be seen.

“The aim is to build a sustainable club, promotion is part of it,’’ she reflected. “This has to be a sustainable club and has to be the heart of the community, which I feel has been lost. I want to pull the business community in because the club is central to the town.

“Fan ownership is something we want. What percentage of fan ownership is something I need to work on.

“I’m committed to that. People have asked how to invest in the club and I’m trying to keep them engaged, but my first point to them is I am looking at syndicated ownership and a fan ownership model – if they aren’t interested then that’s the end of the conversation.

“The Supporters Trust involvement is realistic. How we own the club at the moment, we have a new holding company in place backed by Sage Investments and we control it. Can we look at it as a piecemeal arrangement with the Trust? It’s not set in stone, but I am 100 per cent committed to getting them involved.

“There is a lot of work to do here, what I want is to get the year end audit completed and it seemed a sensible approach to do an audit and then get Supporters Direct in to partner up with a due diligence process.’’

Something of a reluctant owner, Duxbury is part of Sage Investments, who came in to bail the club out when it was on the verge of administration last season.

A chartered accountant by trade, she is relishing the chance of rebuilding a football club.

And she admitted: “I plan to stay as long as I’m wanted. I’m committed to the club and enjoying it and committed to it. There’s a lot of work to do – a minimum of a three-year rebuild project and an immediate 12-18 month plan.

“The biggest shock was all the financial woes – worse than expected. The process of gaining control of the club over the last few months has been incredibly testing.’’

Season ticket sales are only down some ten per cent on 12 months ago; given the misery surrounding last season, it’s some achievement for fans to show their support at such a high level.

She added: “Things changed over the second half of the season and now I can put my own plans in place.

“There has been a divide between fans and club – there was a grieving process for everybody at the end of last season.

“There’s a lot of things I want to do here. It’s about being measured by actions and not words and it’s important the fans are included, we need an honesty around the club and fans want to be kept informed.

“There is no club without fans and it’s been hugely humbling to sell so many season tickets.’’