CRAIG HIGNETT admits he has considered a dramatic change to the way Hartlepool United do things in a bid to land better players - including asking his team to work nightshift.

The Pools boss, who is in his second spell in charge and has operated as a director of football and assistant manager, is looking to sign “three or four” players before the end of the campaign.

Two arrived this week, defender Fraser Kerr from Gateshead and midfielder Gavin Holohan on a short-term deal.

While Hignett is confident Hartlepool are in a strong place to compete for players available at National League level, he would love to bring in the best from the divisions below.

But he knows that financially, despite the prospect of playing at a bigger club and a higher level, it does not always make sense for the most gifted players at semi-pro level to make the step up.

That is why Hignett, whose side travel to Sutton United today, has thought about a different approach, including asking Hartlepool’s full-time professionals to train during evenings rather than mornings.

“Some players don’t want to move because of their jobs, some want to play full-time, and that is a big pull for us when we are in the National League. We are one of the bigger clubs,” he said.

“But at the start of the season I looked at this, I thought there must be a way to integrate the best part-time players into a full-time football club. We have sat and talked about it, talked about changing days and nights, just so we could get the very best we can.

“That might be a route we look at but whether we go down it is a different thing altogether. I was thinking about that last time I was here because we couldn’t offer them what they were already on.

“We’d be offering them a year, some are unlikely to give a good job up on a good salary for a year of being at a full-time club even when we were in the Football League.

“Now we are in this league we might have a chance to create something different so that we can integrate those.

“It might only be two or three but they would be the very best. We are a full-time club, we are probably looking at the worst full-time players. Now the best part-time players are probably better than the worst full-time players, so there has to be a crossover somewhere.

“Now, if you have a family and a missus and you go home one night and say 'I am giving up by job, earning £50,000-£60,000 a year to go and play football for £25,000-£30,000', she’d say you are a nutter. She’d probably kick you out.

“It would take a lot of thinking, the players would have to be worth it, the lads couldn’t be shift workers, it is a tough one but I am convinced it can be done.”

Hartlepool welcome back Luke James at Sutton today, while Kerr could slot straight into the back line.

After the trip to Sutton, where Pools are looking to bounce back from the defeat to Bromley, Hignett will then get back to thinking about who else he can sign.

“We are looking at players who can handle men’s football. Anyone who has played men’s football then we are looking at them,” said Hignett.

“The Bromley game was probably a game too far, we were progressively losing more and more players. We weren’t quite at it on Saturday, although they did have a right go.

“They didn’t have that energy I wanted. Bromley were good, we caused them problems, but it was just a little too far.

“We have a list of targets, if I can get three or four in who can train with the lads, know they club, then it will save me from bringing five or six in the summer who have to learn everything about the club. The chairman is right behind it.”

With Hartlepool sitting in mid-table after a season of ups and downs, Hignett insists that next season was always the target to be much stronger.

He said: “This year we wanted to get rid of all the legacy stuff, finish around tenth, then crack on next year. The plan is exactly the same.

“It felt like we were taking one step forward and two back at times this season, but we are through that now. Hopefully we can crack on. The lads here are still playing for their futures, they have to earn their deals in the remainder of the season.”