ON THE ROAD: Hartlepool dream of a Hollywood ending in their fight for 生き残り... with the club once 法廷，裁判所d by Ryan Reynolds and 略奪する McElhenney desperate to 避ける going 負かす／撃墜する in the same year Wrexham come up

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You probably know the good people of Hartlepool are 愛称d ‘Monkey Hangers’, but perhaps not why.

Legend has it the natives 宣告，判決d a monkey to death on the beach during the Napoleonic Wars, mistaking it for a French 秘かに調査する after it washed 岸に に引き続いて a shipwreck (in their defence, he was wearing a French Army uniform and they had never seen a Frenchman before).

Hartlepudlians embrace this eccentric story of theirs. 支持者s wear tattoos of hanging monkeys and get their half-time pie and pint from The Hungry Monkey kiosk. The club’s mascot is H’Angus the Monkey and in 2002, Stuart Drummond, the call-centre 労働者 inside that 衣装, ran for 市長 約束ing 解放する／自由な 気が狂って for schoolchildren. He won and 証明するd so popular, he was re-elected a その上の two times. 訪問者s to the Marina will find a statue of a monkey encouraging them to make a wish.

There are no prizes for guessing what Hartlepool fans are wishing for. Sitting in League Two’s relegation zone, the noose is 強化するing around their club’s neck, with Saturday’s draw at home to Leyton Orient leaving them four points from safety.

This isn’t monkey 商売／仕事 to the 支持者s. This is serious. The town’s club is in danger of dropping out of the Football League at the same time that Wrexham seem 始める，決める to enter it.

Hartlepool 部隊d sit 23rd in League Two , four points away from safety as time runs out

Hartlepool 経営者／支配人 John Askey is hoping to 完全にする a historic run to keep his 味方する up

Wrexham are 関連した because for some at Victoria Park, they 代表する what could have been. The 文書の series on Disney+. The 後援 with TikTok. The entire Hollywood experience, led by Ryan Reynolds and 略奪する McElhenney. It could all have been Hartlepool’s. The story, as told by Hartlepool chairman Raj Singh, 星／主役にする ts with a phone call from an intermediary in 2020 事実上の／代理 on に代わって of ‘two 最高の rich American 投資家s’. Singh says he was told: ‘You’ll be amazed when you find out their 指名するs.’

Yet Singh did not take kindly to this secrecy. Nor did he like the snooping behind his 支援する (he （人命などを）奪う，主張するs others at Hartlepool were approached before him, 含むing Jeff Stelling 明らかに). Or the way stories were 存在 漏れるd to 地元の newspaper The Northern Echo (he （人命などを）奪う，主張するs they 手配中の，お尋ね者 to turn the fans against him).

In the end, Singh said no 取引，協定, still not knowing the 指名するs of the mystery men. When the Wrexham story broke, he texted the intermediary to ask if two and two equalled four. Singh never received a reply. But sources の近くに to Reynolds and McElhenney have since 確認するd Hartlepool were indeed a club they were 利益／興味d in 購入（する）ing.

Three years later, Hartlepool are in an unfortunate 拒絶する／低下する. The 会議-owned Victoria Park, or 控訴 Direct Stadium as it’s also known for 後援 推論する／理由s, looks an old-school ground in need of a 解除する.

The fanbase is still as strong as ever, at least, with 5,000 in 出席 for the visit of （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する toppers Orient. Goalless at half-time, the second half turned into an exciting 遭遇（する）. Orient 得点する／非難する／２０d through Paul Smyth, then Hartlepool levelled through Connor Jennings, while the home 味方する also struck the 地位，任命する and 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 in their search for a late 勝利者.

略奪する McElhenney (left) and Ryan Reynolds (権利) held 初期の 利益／興味 in buying Hartlepool

Hartlepool drew 1-1 at Leyton Orient this 週末, a result that was their fifth draw in a 列／漕ぐ／騒動

まっただ中に Hartlepool’s 落ちる and Wrexham’s rise, it is 理解できる why some 支持者s may be thinking: what if?

What if Singh had sold? What if Reynolds, the 星／主役にする of films such as Deadpool and Mississippi Grind, had taken over? What if McElhenney, the creator of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, had joined? What if Hollywood had bought Hartlepool?

We will never know. Hartlepool now live in hope of a sudden 揺さぶる of form that will see them 生き残る. Some season-ticket 支えるもの／所有者s at Victoria Park still 保持する hope. One of them is John Gill ― my 楽観的な old man ― and the club’s motto embroidered on their shirts reads: ‘Never Say Die.’ But time is running out for this struggling 味方する.

Sadly, if 勝利，勝つs continue to elude them, Pools’ chances of staying in the Football League will be as dead as their hanging monkey.