Hartlepool United FC has spent its entire history in the two lower divisions of the Football League.

Formed as a professional football club in 1908 out of an amateur cup-winning team, West Hartlepool, Hatlepool United joined the League's Division Three North in 1921, where they were to stay for almost four decades.

In 1959 Hartlepool United found themselves relegated to the new Division Four after finishing in the bottom half of Division Three North.
However, the arrival of Brian Clough at the Victoria Ground in 1965, along with assistant Peter Taylor, marked a turnaround in Pools' fortunes as they assembled a squad which earned the football club promotion for the first time in its history under Gus McLean in 1968, a year after their departures for Derby.

Promotion was short-lived, however, with the football club relegated after just one season in Division Three. Twenty-two years in the basement division of English football followed, plus many years of nail-biting as Hartlepool United constantly had to apply for re-election.

However, the appointment of former Tottenham and England defender Cyril Knowles as manager in 1989 brought a welcome change to Pools' luck, as he built a squad that achieved promotion in 1991. Tragically, though, he had left the club by then after being diagnosed with a terminal illness.

Pools enjoyed two good seasons, but were then relegated again and a winding-up order was served on the club in 1993, before local businessman Harold Hornsey rescued it.

Four years later he sold Hartlepool United to an Aberdeen-based oil company and they have since invested in the football club on and off the pitch.

Pools reached the play-offs for three successive years under Chris Turner between 2000 and 2002, but he could not take the football club that final step to the Second Division.

It was left to Mike Newell to do that in 2003, but even his squad suffered the play-off jitters as Hartlepool United lost out in 2004 and 2005, the latter in the final to Sheffield Wednesday after extra time.

However, Hartlepool set a club record of 88 points in 2006-07 when the football club finally achieved promotion to League One with Danny Wilson in charge.