Hartlepool and Dave Challinor hold off on contract talks

The Pools boss has one year left on his current deal but the club and the manager have emphasised their desire to extend that deal further. 

Chairman Raj Singh and Challinor held initial discussions shortly after Pools sealed promotion back to the Football League. 

However, after it became apparent there were still a number of hurdles to overcome to come to a deal, the talks were put on hold while Challinor focused on assembling a squad fit enough to consolidate their status as a League Two club. 

A number of players have committed their futures and Challinor has managed to secure a number of signings but there is an understanding that more work needs to be done on the transfer front ahead of the new season.

Chairman Raj Singh told the Northern Echo: "Talks are ongoing because that's one of the important pieces of the jigsaw that we need to secure the manager and a long-term deal.

"Talks are ongoing but we both decided a couple of weeks ago it's more important to get the players signed up first and that's what we've concentrated on. 

"Probably next week or two, we'll probably concentrate on that more and then turn our attention to Dave's deal."

There will no doubt be interesting surrounding Challinor's situation with his contract coming to an end of this season which presents an opportunity for another team to come in and swoop his services. 

Dave Challinor lifts the National League play-off final trophy.

However, while talks are on hold a little further, Challinor is hopeful that both parties can come to a resolution sooner rather than later.

The Pools boss said: "What I said and the important thing from my side was we had an initial conversation where things needed to be a little bit different from my perspective and from the chairman’s perspective as well.

"As with every deal, everybody needs to be happy to get things done. At that point, it wasn’t particularly the case.

"We’re not miles and miles apart but hopefully we can come to an amicable agreement that suits everybody.

"What I wanted to do was make sure that, the important thing for us was the longer that went on around my situation, players weren’t really committing early to get a squad together.

"Because ultimately regardless of what happens, I’m contracted for next year anyway so we’ve been able to do that."

Pools played their first pre-season friendly at the weekend and came out 9-1 winners against Runcorn Linnets. They're back in action tomorrow evening against Spennymoor Town.